Innovative Learning Opportunities

In the ES&L program, academically excellent students in their final year of study are invited to enrol in an innovative course: Community Research Partnerships in Ethics (CRPE). CRPE provides an incredible experiential learning opportunity for students to learn about and conduct ethical community-based research through an extended partnership with a community organization and a faculty supervisor.

ES&L students share their CRPE experience and discuss their research.

At the weekly Forums (fall term), we will hear brilliant guest speakers discuss the many perspectives, issues and innovations surrounding Indigenous-Settler relations. These sessions will allow you to critically reflect on, and engage with the way in which Canadian society has interacted with Indigenous peoples, has affected their communities and history, and the way in which we can all work to change this relationship to one of mutual respect and understanding.

Together, we can change the narrative surrounding Indigenous-Settler relationships to one far more positive.

Another crucial facet to these sessions are the presentations given by this year’s QES scholars, where they are able to share their experiences from working abroad with various Indigenous communities during their summer internship.

For more information, including the weekly schedule and list of guest speakers, please visit our Facebook page.

Click here to learn more about Trinity’s QEII Scholarship Program (summer internships abroad) in Establishing Right Relations: Advancing Development and Prosperity for Indigenous and Settler Populations in the Commonwealth.

The ES&L program offers two related program opportunities for students: Humanities for Humanity (or H4H) and Humanities for Humanity Two (or H4H2). Each brings together community participants with students from Trinity College and Victoria College to read and discuss rich, influential texts from the humanities; H4H2, a very fun, distinct spin-off project from H4H, is described just beneath the outline of H4H below.

Become a H4H or H4H2 Mentor

Each year, we recruit Trinity student mentors to facilitate Humanities for Humanity. The primary responsibilities of mentors are to create an inviting environment for our community participants and to help nurture conversation and discussion in small groups after the lecture. We are also recruit third- and fourth-year Trinity undergraduate students to act as mentors for Humanities for Humanity Two. Mentors in H4H2 read and discuss literature together with community members who face economic and other structural barriers to post-secondary education. These opportunities can be added to your Co-Curricular Record (CCR) and are a wonderful community service experience to highlight on your resume. Further information about these programs and mentorship opportunities will be sent to students in early September.

Humanities for Humanity (H4H)

In H4H, a joint program between Victoria College and Trinity College, we will work chronologically through significant humanities texts and examine what the past can teach us about the present. H4H is a unique course, because members of the community are invited into the college to listen to lectures by U of T faculty and guest speakers, and also engage in discussion about a selection of broad questions related to these topics. Currently we recruit participants for our programs from The Centre for Community Learning & Development (CCL&D), West Neighbourhood House, Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre, The Stop, Parkdale Project Read and the CRC in Regent Park.

We impose no specific criteria on community members for eligibility into the programs. Anyone intrigued by the idea of working through the subject matter is welcome! We cover the costs of the reading material and public transit to and from the college, and we provide a meal to be eaten in common before each session. There are also no exams or assignments. In other words, we aim to eliminate every barrier that would in many circumstances prevent individuals from enjoying a robust learning experience within the university.

H4H runs in the fall term. To learn more about H4H, visit our media page on the Victoria College website and watch the short documentary, The Ivory Castle, which gives a glimpse into Humanities for Humanity and the general spirit and goal of our programs that involve community members. Philosopher and cultural critic, Trinity Fellow Prof. Mark Kingwell writes about H4H.

Humanities for Humanity Two (H4H2)

Looking for a significant community engagement opportunity this year – or do you just love to read? Now in our sixth year (fall 2018), H4H2 is a spin-off of our very successful H4H program. H4H2 is for students interested in discussing great books with a group of diverse and economically marginalized individuals from the greater Toronto community who would not normally attend university. We will discuss one novel per term. Most of the community participants in this year’s H4H2 reading group are familiar with the H4H2 experience – they will help to welcome you into the community, if this is your first time! H4H2 runs in both the fall and winter terms.

If you have any questions about either program, please contact artsdean@trinity.utoronto.ca.

Walls to Bridges (W2B) brings together incarcerated and university-based students as classmates in for-credit postsecondary courses built around dialogue, collaboration and critical thinking. Convening at the correctional facility, “inside” and “outside” students together build an egalitarian classroom rooted in serious, shared inquiry. This holistic co-learning pedagogy brings together diverse learners who might otherwise never meet, entails active, student-owned learning, and addresses urgent educational equity issues. The Walls to Bridges iteration of TRN321: Selected Topics in Ethics, Society & Law brings together ES&L majors and students incarcerated at Ontario Correctional Institution in Brampton to examine the theme of choice. Assignments include both reflection and research papers, a group project and a student-led closing ceremony. All participants are selected through application and instructor interview. For more information about W2B, visit www.wallstobridges.ca.