LDDI Summer Institute 2025
July 15 - July 17
Join us on July 15-17, 2025, for the LDDI: Summer Institute, a free three-day event that showcases and celebrates emerging approaches to teaching and learning. This year’s theme – Mobilizing Knowledge around Sustainability, Accessibility, and Learning Analytics – highlights the creative and impactful ways that educators, staff and students are critically integrating these areas into their practice.
Hosted by Learning Design and Digital Innovation (LDDI) with support from the Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre (ELVLC), the Summer Institute will feature interactive workshop sessions, thought-provoking panel discussions, and guided presentations from experts in the field. Each day will be an opportunity to connect with colleagues, engage with new ideas, and celebrate progress in designing more inclusive, data-informed, and sustainable learning experiences.
This event is open to UBC faculty, staff, students, and educators in K-12 and higher education and will be held at the University of British Columbia Vancouver Campus. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. To carry new insights and inspirations into the upcoming academic year, we invite you to register for the event.
Dates
(click/tap on name to view schedule):
Tentative Schedule
Tentative Schedule
Tentative Schedule
Location
UBC Vancouver Campus - Room TBD
Distinguished Speakers
(click/tap on name to see bio):
Before joining UBC I was a classroom teacher and also worked as a marine educator and park naturalist. These experiences prompted me to pursue a MA and PhD in Science and Environmental Education. I teach elementary science methods as well as courses in communications, environmental learning, and research methods. I enjoy working with Teacher Candidates and undergraduate science students in my role as Faculty Advisor with the Teacher Education Office. My research focuses on elementary science, environmental education, and teacher education. I view myself as a naturalist, scientist, and educator of, for, and in the environment; I am a passionate advocate for learning experiences that nurture our sense of wonder for the human and more than human world.
I am dedicated to science and environmental education, and elementary science is my home. My goal is for students to become confident, knowledgeable, and excited about teaching science. The Having of Wonderful Ideas in both theory and practice is linked through inquiry, doing, collaborating, wondering, reflecting, remembering, and taking action. My dialogical approach emphasizes hands on direct experiences, long-term engagement, and in-depth observation, conversation, and reflection. My course curricula and pedagogies are informed by scholarly and professional literature exploring inquiry, slow pedagogy, ethical caring, constructivism, Storywork, Indigenous ways and decolonizing perspectives, and place as EcoPedagogy.
Dr. Surita Jhangiani is the David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education. As holder of this chair, she aims to leverage open pedagogical principles to advance critical multicultural education. Surita is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Faculty of Education, an advocate of OER, and the recipient of two Open Educational Resource Champion awards from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Jhangiani’s is currently involved in projects related to open pedagogy, alternative grading, and belonging as it relates to learning and teaching.
Dr. Sonya Woloshen (Elle / She / Her) has 15+ years of experience in education, including K-12, French Immersion, and roles with the Ministry of Education. She holds a BA in French and Art History, a BEd in French Education, and an MA and PhD in Educational Technology and Learning Design from Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence and she is dedicated to creating anti-oppressive learning environments. Sonya is the new Learning Design Program Manager in the Teacher Education Program at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus, helping learners and faculty integrate digital literacies and competencies into their pedagogical practices.