Category Archives: Updates

A Digital Labyrinth: Navigating Information on the Student Life Website
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

A Digital Labyrinth: Navigating Information on the Student Life Website

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By Amani Hassan and Hanisha Mistry Staff at the Centre for Learning Strategies Support take pride in the resource library which offers PDF documents on various topics designed to support academic success and help students adapt to university-level learning. Accessing this library involves three straightforward steps: “Student Life Homepage > Departments > Centre for Learning … Continue reading →

What was Familiar, What was Strange?: Rediscovering the University Through a Lens of Curiosity and Complexity
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

What was Familiar, What was Strange?: Rediscovering the University Through a Lens of Curiosity and Complexity

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By Georgia Hanson, Molly McGouran an Yihang Xu If you are familiar with something, how can it be strange?  Our individual experiences with fieldwork in Student Life presented us with new avenues through which we could explore this question, each of us gaining a new perspective on the university that we had once so confidently … Continue reading →

Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

What Exactly is Participant Observation?

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By Yunshan Li and Georgia Hanson Participant observation is the foundational method of ethnographic research. It requires the researcher to immerse themselves in the field site to gain insights into a culture. However, in the case of our research in Student Life, we were limited from such immersion, barred from participation, and limited to a … Continue reading →

The Online World: Ethnography Behind the Screen
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

The Online World: Ethnography Behind the Screen

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By Molly McGouran and Lukey Lu From our first meetings with Student Life administration, it was clear that our participant observation would be different from what we expected.  Most of the staff work from home; therefore, much of the programming offered by the Centre for Learning Strategy Support (CLSS), where we conducted our work, was … Continue reading →

The Art of Engaging Students: The Impact of Incentives on Student Engagement
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

The Art of Engaging Students: The Impact of Incentives on Student Engagement

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By Yunshan Li, Richard Wu and Amani Hassan On an early afternoon in October, we visited the reception office of the Clubs and Leadership Division of Student Engagement for a social event for club leaders. We arrived to find only one club leader, accompanied by two staff members. Half an hour later, another student showed … Continue reading →

Managing a Problem You Can’t Solve
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

Managing a Problem You Can’t Solve

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By Daisy Sanchez Villavicencio and Lukey Lu Imagine a wilting tree, rotting leaves fall throughout the seasons, the bark is visibly decaying, fungi is sprouting around the roots and bark. Now imagine the role of a forester or dendrologist who was hired to treat the rotting tree; the source of the rot, such as the … Continue reading →

Empowering Students – Shaping Students for The Workforce
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

Empowering Students – Shaping Students for The Workforce

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By Angelina Nguyen, Hanisha Mistry, and Norah Rahman “Why go to University?” Many students pursue higher education to increase their chances for jobs. The University of Toronto entices students with its prestige and reputation for producing high-achieving scholars. However, does your GPA and the name of your academic institution truly matter if you can’t apply … Continue reading →

Assessing Assessment
Ethnography of the University / Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

Assessing Assessment

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By Cameron Miranda-Radbord and Maia De Caro Early on in our class, we read articles and had discussions surrounding audit, evaluation, and efficacy, which influenced our decision to look into assessment processes within the division of Student Life. In this case, assessment is used to identify and understand how effective programs are at meeting their … Continue reading →

What Student Life Did with Student Feedback
Ethnography of the University: Focus on Student Life 2024 / Undergraduate Ethnography / Updates

What Student Life Did with Student Feedback

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By Cameron Miranda-Radbord and Maia De Caro How does student feedback translate into change at Student Life? Attaining feedback is a crucial component of the assessment process. It helps identify gaps in operations and programming, enabling targeted improvements. Feedback can be gathered through various methods, such as surveys, focus groups, reflections, and conversations. In our … Continue reading →

The Ethnography Lab is proud to partner with Toronto Queer Film Fest to present Terrace of the Sea
Events / Updates

The Ethnography Lab is proud to partner with Toronto Queer Film Fest to present Terrace of the Sea

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Saturday, March 29, 2025, 2:30–3:30pm at the Tranzac Club Terrace of the SeaDiana Allan • 52 min • USA/Palestine/Lebanon • 2009 In Terrace of the Sea, anthropologist, author, and filmmaker Diana Allan offers a sensorial glimpse into the lives of the Ibrahim family, a displaced family who have been making a living as fishermen for … Continue reading →