TeachingCity partners - City of Oshawa, Durham College, Ontario Tech University and Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area - are celebrating another successful academic year for City Idea Lab.
Throughout the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 semesters, more than 400 students from the three post-secondary institutions participated across 16 City Idea Lab courses.
The courses focused on a variety of challenge questions, including:
- How the City might improve the function of and access to the Oshawa Youth Council.
- How the City can address and dismantle systemic racism and deliver on actions within the City's Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
- How vacant properties in the city could be developed.
- How the City and Oshawa Senior Community Centres (OSCC55+) might help mitigate social isolation experienced by older adults in the community.
City staff worked closely with the students, delivering presentations at the onset of the courses to provide background information on the topics, and helping co-design solutions to the challenge questions.
The 2020-2021 fall and winter student cohort represented a variety of fields of study, including Child and Youth Studies; Health Sciences; Media, Art and Design; Science and Engineering Technology; and Social Sciences and Humanities.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, City Idea Lab courses were conducted entirely online during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Presented ideas and course work are available for review on the City Idea Lab website.
About City Idea Lab
City Idea Lab is an innovative curriculum-based program that provides post-secondary students the opportunity to work directly with faculty and City staff to co-design solutions to local issues through knowledge transfer, dialogue and experimentation.
The experiential framework of City Idea Lab supports knowledge-building, hands-on skills and civic engagement opportunities for students.
City Idea Lab has been generously supported by RBC Future Launch.
About TeachingCity
TeachingCity brings together the City of Oshawa and its education and research partners - Canadian Urban Institute, Durham College, Ontario Tech University, Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area, and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.
The partners address Oshawa's urban issues through innovation, collaboration, applied research and shared experiential learning opportunities with the aim to position Oshawa as a local, national and global community of urban research and learning.
Quotes:
"City Idea Lab is an amazing collaboration with our post-secondary partners here in Oshawa. Although the courses shifted to virtual platforms this academic year, the students rose to the challenge and presented innovative ideas and well researched solutions to the challenge questions," said Mayor Dan Carter, City of Oshawa.
"While this year has not been without its challenges, I am extremely proud of the City Idea Lab and our students for continuing their courses after shifting to an online format. At year's end, there have been a lot of innovative solutions in response to the challenge questions, benefitting the City of Oshawa and providing the students with unique, transformative hands-on learning opportunities."- Don Lovisa, President, Durham College
"What a remarkable year for our Ontario Tech University students who participated in City Idea Lab courses. We are proud of their accomplishments and the innovative solutions they have uncovered to address some of the most pressing issues in our community," said Dr. Steven Murphy, President and Vice-Chancellor, Ontario Tech University. "We deeply value our partnership with the City of Oshawa, which delivers expanded experiential and work-integrated learning opportunities that position our students for success after graduation."
"As we come to the end of another successful academic year in the TeachingCity partnership, I want to recognize the impact and contributions made by students as they participated in addressing a number of relevant social challenges," said Dr. Scott Henderson, Dean and Head, Trent University Durham GTA. "The pandemic has certainly created a challenging environment to work in, but the students have not only excelled in finding innovative solutions and tangible outcomes, but they've gained valuable research experience along the way."
"It's so inspiring to see how students came together, with mentors and coaches, to resolve complex issues that are meaningful to their community. And they did it all virtually!" said Glen Dormody, Regional Vice President of RBC's Kawartha Durham market. "City Idea Lab in Oshawa - supported by RBC Future Launch - is a great example of how experiential learning helps students develop critical skills that prepare them for the future of work."
