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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Knowledge Café

Back

We have a great talent across our institution and we all have something to learn from one another. The knowledge Café is a forum to allow us to gather, learn from each other, and discuss topics relevant to us all with impacts across work and life. The Knowledge Café sessions provide and open, relaxed and collaborative learning environment that encourages a solid work culture of knowledge sharing and learning, teamwork and cooperation.

Knowledge Café Sessions and Events

  • Facilitate a session

    Email hrtraining@ontariotechu.ca with "Knowledge Café" in the subject line 

    Include in the following:

    1. A sentence or two that describes the session overall
    2. What we will learn
    3. Facilitator Name, contact info

September 2021

  • Everything Google

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Ron and Bevin
    Duration: 9 a.m. to noon
    Date: Tuesday, September 28

    This Google Workshop presentation will share and demonstrate the findings of implementing sustainable, innovative, and cost-effective collaboration solutions that meet the diverse needs of a fast-paced and ever-changing university landscape.

    Key challenges with the university community include user adoption and unclear business requirements. To overcome these challenges a well-designed process was created to help frame requirements and understand end state goals for each department and faculty. We use cloud-based technology and in-house tools to provide more opportunities for collaboration across the university community.

    • Learn how Ontario Tech leverages cloud applications like G Suite for Education to deliver value add collaboration capability.
    • Leverage Google Meet to deliver online lectures to classes with up to 250 students or to connect with your teams.
    • Learn how to store, share, and collaborate files and folders from any mobile device, tablet or computer using Google Drive.
    • Learn about Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms.

    register

  • Campus Connected

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Jeremy Greenberg
    Duration: 10 a.m. to noon
    Date: Tuesday September 28

    Listen - Care - Help
    Join the movement.  Register below for a Campus Connected session.

    What is it?
    • A movement to connect the people who make up our campus
    • An attitude of caring and kindness
    • Listening with empathy and without judgment   

    Who is it for?
    Faculty, Staff, Students, Alumni and Community.

    How can I join the movement?
    • Register and attend a Campus Connected session.
    • Display the Campus Connected symbol (see the following examples)
    • Be available to Listen, Care and Help others
    What does displaying a symbol of Campus Connected mean?
    It means that the person displaying it:
    • Cares about you
    • Will listen to you
    • Will try to help you

    What is it not?
    It is not providing professional counselling support for distressing and crisis situations. In these situations, refer to professionals (details about how and where to refer are in Campus Connected sessions). 

    Why is Campus Connected important?
    Lack of social connection is a common theme that contributes to challenges experienced by university students. Students in need of connection feel profound loneliness, isolation, shame and fear of being judged negatively. Similarly, lack of connection also contributes to staff and faculty’s compromised well-being.

    How would I benefit from becoming involved with Campus Connected?
    Research supports that helping others benefits the helper. Voluntarily giving help to others protects our overall physiological health and emotional well-being.

    register


November 2021

  • Understanding Your Annual Elections

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Bikisha Pascoe
    Duration: 11 a.m. to noon
    Date: Thursday, November 4

    This presentation will review the annual election process, helping you to better understand the election you make for the upcoming calendar year effective Jan 1, 2022.  Your annual election includes changes to your pension contributions and/or your health spending account depending on your employment group.

    register

  • Balance & Burnout
    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Jeremy Greenberg
    Duration: 10 a.m. to noon
    Date: Tuesday, November 30

    This workshop will provide an overview of balance and well-being. It will help identify barriers to balance and risks to well-being.

    Learning Outcomes:
        • Understand the importance of achieving and maintaining balance and well-being
        • Identify symptoms of being off-balance
        • Identify strategies that you can implement to prioritize balance and well being
        • Identify common challenges to achieving-maintaining a well-balanced life
        • Practice setting effective wellness and balance goals

    register


December 2021

  • Sustainment
    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Nadia Harduar
    Duration: 11 a.m. to noon
    Date: Wednesday, December 1

    register


January 2022

  • Problem Solving & Conflict Management
    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Jeremy Greenberg
    Duration: 10 a.m. to noon
    Date: Tuesday, January 25

    This workshop encourages problem solving and teaches conflict management skills.  Critical and creative thinking, conflict resolution and problem solving skills are critical for being successful in the workplace and life outside of it. 

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Explore common workplace conflicts and problems scenarios
    • Develop your problem-solving and critical thinking skills  
    • Practice using communication skills to promote win-win conflict outcomes

    register

  • Blockchain - Trustless Systems

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Stephen Marsh, Assistant Professor, FBIT
    Duration: 10 a.m. to noon
    Date: Monday, January 31

    Trustless systems are, despite the idea that they might be trust-free, taking trust to a different kind of consideration. When we talk about trustless systems, we’re mostly thinking about blockchains.

    Back in the financial crisis days of 2008, a paper was released by a certain Satoshi Nakamoto. It was entitled “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and it described in quite a lot of detail a process by which one could create a system of electronic money. Money is odd stuff – it requires certain things before it can actually be considered to be money – things like exchangeability, ownership, non-repudiation, and value (perhaps through scarcity, perhaps because it takes an effort to make or get it, and so on. Nakamoto’s idea was to have a consensus-based hashed linked list to allow for these things to be achieved. The money was called Bitcoin, but the technology that it is based on is called a blockchain.

    Plenty of things have been written about blockchains, Bitcoin, Ethereum and so on, and indeed many, many different electronic money systems exist. As well, many different blockchains exist, both public and private, to do all kinds of interesting things beyond money: smart contracts, real estate, international shipping and more.

    Join us to learn blockchain basics and discuss use cases that you can relate to.

    REGISTER


April 2022

  • Five Star Leadership

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Jeremy Greenberg
    Duration: 2 - 4 p.m.
    Date: Tuesday, April 5

    This interactive presentation explores the intersections of leadership and health (mental, emotional and physical). It defines leadership as a relational process that happens when motivated people work together to accomplish a shared vision of a better world and examines how best to do that.

    Learning Outcomes:

        • Understand the triangle of health
        • Recognize leadership as a process and not an individual
        • Identify strategies for enhancing motivation and teamwork
        • Examine what comprises a shared vision

    register

  • How Mentally Strong People Handle Rejection

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Jeremy Greenberg
    Duration: 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
    Date: Thursday, April 14

    This workshop will provide an overview of rejection and how mentally strong people handle it. It will help identify the challenges rejection can cause and provide strategies to assist a person to overcome these situations.

     Learning Outcomes:

    • Understand the importance of overcoming rejection
    • Identify the challenges rejection can cause
    • Identify coping strategies that you can implement to better manage rejection
    • Practice coping strategies 

    register


May 2022

  • Nutrition: What's in your genes?

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Dr. Milly Ryan-Harshman
    Duration: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
    Date: Tuesday, May 31

    A discussion of the latest nutrition research focusing on the influence of genes and other substances on diet and metabolism and why this is so important to understanding the uniqueness of every person.

    Facilitator bio:

    Milly has an undergraduate degree in journalism, two advanced degrees in human nutrition, and an M.A. degree in biomedical ethics and health policy with a Catholic concentration from Loyola University Chicago. Her capstone project, a narrative about end-of-life care, was published in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine in 2016.

    Milly currently teaches ethics, academic writing, interpersonal and interprofessional communications, and public health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech. She is a former public health nutritionist and she has written for both public and scientific audienced; she has been an invited speaker to the International Congress of Dietetics (Manila and Chicago), The Nutrition Society (London), and the International Technology, Education, and Development conference in Valencia, Spain.

    Currently, Milly is the BHSc Program Director in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

    REGISTER


June 2022

  • Ethics: Whose business is it?

    Company: Ontario Tech University 
    Facilitator: Dr. Milly Ryan-Harshman
    Duration: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
    Date: Tuesday, June 21

    The value of ethical standards will be discussed especially as it relates to how good employer-employee relationships can improve organizations. Cases will be presented for discussion and feedback.

    Facilitator bio:

    Milly has an undergraduate degree in journalism, two advanced degrees in human nutrition, and an M.A. degree in biomedical ethics and health policy with a Catholic concentration from Loyola University Chicago. Her capstone project, a narrative about end-of-life care, was published in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine in 2016.

    Milly currently teaches ethics, academic writing, interpersonal and interprofessional communications, and public health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech. She is a former public health nutritionist and she has written for both public and scientific audienced; she has been an invited speaker to the International Congress of Dietetics (Manila and Chicago), The Nutrition Society (London), and the International Technology, Education, and Development conference in Valencia, Spain.

    Currently, Milly is the BHSc Program Director in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

    REGISTER