Online and Remote Learning

Begin to explore mindfulness meditation by looking at its classic and contemporary practice. Drawing from the ancient traditions of Buddhism, we teach the foundations of secular and contemplative mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. You’ll discover the clinical and scientific work that has given rise to the current healing practices of mindfulness meditation. You will also see how these practices understand and respond to pain and suffering. In this course, you will participate in foundational mindfulness practices, group discussions and begin to cultivate the basics of your own mindfulness practice to apply in your day to day life and work.   Learn to distinguish between mindfulness and mindfulness meditation practices Cultivate the basics of your own mindfulness practice Explore the ancient and contemporary roots of the practice of mindfulness and mindfulness meditation Develop an understanding of why we meditate

You will be fascinated to know what neuroscience is teaching us about the brain’s effect on how we think, feel, act, learn and change. Explore how this emerging science informs our understanding of the practice of mindfulness. It can promote psychotherapeutic change, strengthen interpersonal relations and enhance our learning.  Drawing upon the new neurosciences and 25 years of evidence based research, you will explore what we have come to know about the brain and how brain creates mind. You will then look at this foundational knowledge and its implications in health care, education and the mind at work. You will participate in group dialogue and in-class meditations.   Explore the new neurosciences and how they are changing our view of health care, education, leadership and the mind at work. Develop a foundational understanding of how the brain developed progressively over time; Develop a foundational understanding of how mindfulness practice affects brain structure and function. Explore emerging insights on how the brain, the body and our relationships cultivate the mind.

Trace the historical and contemporary development of mindfulness meditation (MM) as it has developed into scientific protocols for the purposes of clinical application and research methodologies. Learn about how these early protocols have been adapted and transformed into applications for education and the corporate world as Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI’s).  MBI’s are employed by practitioners and researchers as research-based methodological approaches to cultivating an optimal mind. Depending on the MBI, the intent is to enhance one’s health, wellness, resiliency, learning, and potential. This course briefly surveys and explores the spectrum of contemporary MBI’s and their practices, while helping learners to further target and train in MBI protocols. The spectrum of MBI’s covered may include MBSR, MBCT, DBT, ACT, Insight Dialogue, the burgeoning compassion models, as well as mindfulness based curriculums in education and the workplace. Distinguish between a range of mindfulness based interventions and their specific applications. Familiarize yourself with the diverse approaches and applications of mindfulness based interventions. Develop a basic understanding of growing MBI research, body of knowledge and its appropriate application.

Contemporary mindfulness and mindfulness meditation practices attempt to integrate Eastern and Western values and their resulting views of personhood and the world. This two day course brings these often erroneously contrasted views together, exploring the secular practice through the combining of psychology with philosophies which help explain the practice of mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. A range of philosophies will be explored contributing to an explanation and understanding of the buddhist roots of practice. Phenomenology - the study of perspective, epistemology - the study of knowing, and ontology – the study of ways of being. In this course you will deepen your understanding of mindfulness practice by experiencing an array of philosophical perspectives that focus on how we interact with the world. Learners are invited to explore a new way of relating to their own difficulty and to the suffering of others.   Explore the basics of a world view determined by 500 years of scientific materialism. Identify key shifts taking place in our perspectives that arise out of and are informed by the new sciences (quantum and neurosciences). Consider how these shifts in perspective will change our view of self, personhood, humanity and the moral compass we choose to live by. Learn to integrate the world views of the eastern and western mind as one mind.

In this experiential course  you will reflect on your motivations, intentions, values and practices in order to contribute to a secular, inclusive, universal and embodied practice. Discussions will surround an ancient set of 16 guidelines inspired by leaders committed to a culture that proposes mindful thought, values, relations and compassion-in-action  This course highlights how individuals may embody mindful practices in the everyday. Drawing from an ancient wisdom tradition, translated and stewarded by the Dalai Lama’s foundation in Great Britain, the 16 Guidelines proposes a palette of secular options that cultivate states of the embodied mind.  These guidelines can be integrated into everyday life as a secular practice to optimize one’s human potential as well as to promote a civil society. These include states of mind such as: compassion, kindness, authentic speech etc.   Understand the concept of the embodied mind. Interpret the ancient document known as the 16 Guidelines both historically and in its contemporary application and usage. Develop your own personal guidelines that will provide the scaffolding of your own embodied practice.

If you want to create effective advertising, this course will give you the right skills. Whether you want to work in an agency, or take on a greater marketing role, you'll learn how to take advertising campaigns from the big idea to execution. You'll learn how to work with creative teams to get the best results. You'll gain a solid theoretical foundation, explore current and historical initiatives across multiple channels and have an opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills. Master the client/agency relationship to produce outstanding advertising. Write and deliver an effective and inspiring creative brief. Manage and critique creative submissions. Work with various media channels on integrated marketing communications. Apply earned-media strategies, including PR, sponsorship exploitation, branded content and others.

This course is part of the Certificate in Licensing International Engineers into the Profession (LIEP)  Civil Engineering program. It prepares the participants for the PEO examination on Elementary Structural Design that confirms their knowledge in the field for P.Eng. License.  Learners will be exposed to the theories and concepts of wood, concrete and steel design and analysis both at the element and system levels. Upon completion of the course, learners will have developed a better understanding of the basic principles of structural design. This course is intended to provide the learners with the skills and knowledge required for effective design of steel, reinforced concrete and wood members using the current editions of Canadian design codes. A review of elementary structural analysis, with the emphasis on calculation of bending moments will be provided. Limit state design will be introduced and loading due to use and occupancy, snow, wind and earthquake will be discussed. The course also covers the elementary design concepts and procedures for design of connections, tension members, beams and columns and illustrates their application through design examples. Financial assistance may be available to eligible Ontario residents through the Ontario Bridging Participant Assistance Program (OBPAP) provided by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU). Please email scs.learnerservices@utoronto.ca for details. Calculate the factored loads due to use and occupancy, snow, wind and earthquake.  Calculate properties of built-up steel sections. Analyze steel members to determine their axial or flexural capacity.  Design steel tension, compression or flexural members to satisfy the limit states.  Determine number and arrangement of bolts and design welded connections in steel structures. Design rectangular reinforced concrete beams or T-sections for factored shear forces or bending moments. Determine the shear or flexural resistance of rectangular reinforced concrete beams or T-section. Design reinforced concrete columns subjected to axial load and bending.  Design wood columns /beams to satisfy the limit states. Design two-way bending wood members (e.g. purlins) for different service conditions. 

In today’s complex media landscape, successful organizations need people with strong storytelling skills to effectively communicate key messages, leverage the power of AI and foster brand loyalty across multiple platforms. You'll learn how to tell coherent brand narratives that translate into compelling stories across mediums like photography, video, podcasts, and social media. You'll work with like-minded colleagues to plan and produce an integrated campaign that marries strategy and creative to achieve key objectives and reach a defined target audience through the web, social, and traditional media. And, you'll learn best practices across multiple media formats, gain practical skills for using AI to aid in the storytelling ideation process and explore the role that legal and ethical issues have in digital content initiatives. Analyze the structure and elements of a multimedia campaign and brand storytelling. Develop an omni-channel strategy in response to a project brief. Create and produce a script and media presentation that meets all objectives. Better understand the legal and ethical framework in which you are working. Apply what you learn to a project related to your current employment or to a personal initiative.

You learned the basics of multimedia storytelling in our foundations course. You applied them to modern content marketing in the second course. Now learn the most advanced form of multimedia: the omni-channel campaign that integrates virtual and physical environments, multiple assets and technologies. This course will empower learners to build storytelling skills using a digital toolkit they will work with throughout the semester. We will build and refine the technical, creative, analytical and practical skills needed to create multimedia storytelling. Learners will capture different multimedia elements for weekly assignments to practice what they learn, and produce a final digital media project using new media technologies and tools. Recognize the strategic importance of modern storytelling & omni-channel marketing. Produce stories that integrate content, media, technology and space across multiple channels. Meet established standards for production quality, and ethical and legal compliance. Examine conversational interfaces, chatbots, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, advanced marketing automation technologies and other emerging technologies for effectiveness and impact. Develop a measurable plan with key performance objectives to deliver content on time and on budget. Evaluate the key characteristics, quality and effectiveness of your strategy.

With educator Alistair Macrae, examine and discuss works of art that ask important questions about how art changes us and our world. Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia 1 (1514), Johannes Vermeer’s The Art of Painting (1666), Edouard Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) and Vincent van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters (1885): these and other masterpieces shed light on the relationship of visual art to our unconscious minds, to the good life we crave, to the archetypes through which we imagine our stories, and to the whole cultural impulse that makes us human. Understand Plato's idea of form as seen in the design of the Stonehenge. Analyze da Vinci’s St. Anne, Virgin and Child from a Freudian perspective. Explore the Jungian archetypes that inform literature, with Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott as an example. Discuss the ongoing controversy about the relationship between art and imaginative play, as revealed in Winnicott’s drawings.