Topics

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

Presenters: Julia Le,  Carolyn Glaser, Robert Wong and David Langille, Cyber Security Center of Excellence (CSCE)

Presenter biographies

Julia Le is the senior manager of the Education and Centre of Excellence unit at the Government of Ontario within the Cyber Security Division. Her responsibilities include leading Ontario’s Cyber Security Centre of Excellence, providing advice and information-sharing to improve Ontario’s cyber security posture to meet the digital service expectations of Ontarians. Julia holds a bachelor of law and criminology from Wilfrid Laurier University and a master of public policy from the University of Waterloo. With a professional career spanning all levels of government, she has held progressive roles in areas such as cyber security, innovation and economic development, and immigration.

Ms. Glaser is the general manager of information technology services for the Thames Valley District School Board. She presently serves as a board member and secretary for the Educational Computing Network of Ontario, a member of the Provincial Broadband Modernization Program Steering Committee, and a project manager professional with the Project Management Institute. Ms. Glaser has an undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo, a graduate degree from the University of Guelph and over 20 years of strategic leadership experience in the information technology sector.

Mr. Wong is on the board of directors for the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), serving on its corporate board and its audit committee, as well as the principal of Hesketh Sloane Advisory, providing management consulting services. He retired as executive vice-president and chief information officer at Toronto Hydro, where his responsibilities included information technology, operational technology, cyber security and telecommunications. Mr. Wong served on the board, finance and audit committees, and research committee at the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX), and as an executive sponsor of the Protégé Project for Women in Communications and Technology. He holds a bachelor of applied science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, a master of business administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University, and a chartered director designation from the Directors College, which is a collaboration between McMaster University and the Conference Board of Canada.

David Langille is currently the head of the cyber security, strategy, risk management and architecture branch, managing four cyber security units within the Cyber Security division of Ontario's Government and Consumer Services. Cyber security provides a comprehensive cyber risk management program to predict, identify and address threats to information security and enable the Ontario government to operate securely and meet its digital service delivery commitments. He is a passionate and experienced professional with more than 15 years of IT security-related experience. He has held a variety of progressive roles in areas such as cyber security, digital forensics, law enforcement and online authentication services.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: General Audience
Format: Product demonstration

Conversational bots are an efficient way to offer extra assistance and remain engaged with students well beyond the typical school hours. They are easily accessible to the entire student population and are also able to customize their responses to provide each user with the best experience based on their requirements and unique circumstances. This is especially true if you are using high-performance AI virtual assistants that use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to perfect their understanding of students’ inputs. Today, all universities use automated chatbots that "scrape" existing web pages to deliver responses. In other words, these bots are enhanced search engines.

In 2018, York University embarked on a journey to create a bilingual (English and French) virtual assistant that could help undergraduate students with questions connected to academics, finances, campus events, health and safety, athletics, mental health and more. The assistant was designed to provide a personalized experience to each student based on the faculty they are enrolled in, their preferred language of communication and status (international vs. domestic). Every faculty and business unit at the university was required to collectively work on this project and help provide accurate responses and content for the 500+ topics and 1500+ conversational flows that were designed and built into the virtual assistant. The process was arduous, time consuming and needed a large-scale coordinated effort.

In 2020, SAVY, the student virtual assistant was launched. In 2021, those efforts were recognized nationally and internationally when SAVY won the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers (CUCCIO) Innovation Award and the Gartner Eye on Innovation for Higher Education Award. SAVY is continually being updated and improved every week. To improve SAVY’s accuracy and make topic management easier, other bots at the university are being "linked" to SAVY so it can tap into their knowledge bases when it does not know the answer to a question. At the end, SAVY is more than a chatbot, it is a full-blown student assistant. However, the content acquisition and management process remains tedious and time-consuming. To have accurate data, we rely on content owners across the university to write student questions about different topics and responses the assistant should provide. A content specialist reviews the responses and gives them SAVY’s tone and voice to make sure the assistant sounds friendly and consistent. Finally, the sample questions and responses are sent to the AI architect to design, build the conversational flow and train the AI. This is mostly done using shared excel files and email or MS Teams chats.

Join us as we will talk about our experience building and supporting SAVY and how you can avoid some challenges. We will also demonstrate SAVY, and a new tool, called the Virtual Assistant Platform, developed by York University to easily manage content for all chatbots.

Presenters: Patrick Thibaudeau and Vidur Kalive, York University

Presenter biographies

Patrick Thibaudeau has over 25 years of experience in university IT services. He has won multiple IT awards throughout his career, including three innovation awards, with the latest in 2021 for the Student Virtual Assistant SAVY at York University. Patrick is currently the director, IT innovation and academic technologies at York University. He is passionate about using advanced technology to create solutions that provide better support to students and faculty.

Vidur Kalive has over five years of experience designing and implementing AI solutions for the higher education sector. He is currently an AI architect, innovation and academic technologies at York University where he helped build SAVY, York’s award-winning student virtual assistant. Vidur is working on building next-gen solutions to improve student experience and make education more accessible. He has a strong background in engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science, including platforms like IBM Watson.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cultivating Resilience
Audience: Technical, Teaching & Learning, General Audience - everyone transitioning to a hybrid model
Format: Topic-specific group discussion

We are busy transitioning to hybrid working, teaching, learning and researching. User needs are plenty, challenging and vastly different.

This informal group discussion will focus on possibilities discovered, challenges faced, lessons learned, proven practices for scaling support, as well as inspiring stories about the adoption and use of collaboration and productivity technologies. Come help us discover and share new ways of supporting our campus communities.

Presenters: Christa Morrison and Deridor Collier, McMaster University

Presenter biographies

Christa Morrison, business systems specialist, is part of the Collaboration and Productivity Services team at McMaster University. Her work focuses on supporting all faculty, students, researchers and staff in their adoption and use of Microsoft 365 and Zoom to enable and foster collaboration, productivity and innovation. Christa has a background in higher education teaching, instructional design, educational technology adoption (Echo360, WebEx, etc.) and educator development. She is passionate about identifying and implementing social-collaborative approaches to help technology users learn fast.

Deridor Collier, business system analyst, is part of the Collaboration and Productivity Services team at McMaster University. She focuses on supporting the adoption and use of DocuSign, Zoom and Microsoft 365. Deridor has a background in expanding and enhancing the use of enterprise applications and services.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Organizational change Management (the people side of change) is an important consideration when implementing projects and initiatives. This presentation will take you through the journey that the University of Guelph has embarked on regarding organizational change management and how potentially it can help your higher education institution as well.

Presenter: Alex Letona, University of Guelph

Presenter biography

Alex Letona is a senior agile project manager and organizational change manager. Alex is highly experienced in organizational change management, has facilitated courses in change management and introduced change management at an organizational level. Alex has also helped to establish organizational PMOs. Alex has over 20 years of IT Project Management experience, working in the retail, real estate, automotive, insurance and education industries.​ Alex holds the following PMI certifications: PMP, PMI-ACP and DASM. Alex holds the following Prosci certifications: Change Practitioner and Train the Trainer Levels 1 and 2.​ Alex serves as director of technology for the board of directors at a local PMI chapter.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General Audience
Format: Panel discussion

Third-party risks are increasing as IT service providers and software companies are increasingly targeted by threat actors to indirectly attack government and critical infrastructure. Is this a challenge academic institutions are actively preparing for? How are these types of incidents being managed?

This panel with cybersecurity leaders in the post-secondary sector will explore these questions and more.

Presenters: Elena Carroll, Paul Muir, Deyves Fonseca and Kevin Parent, CanSSOC

Presenter biography

Elena Carroll is currently the associate director security operations at CanSSOC. Elena worked in the information security field for over nine years, accumulating experience in various disciplines, with the last few years spent in the banking sector in operational and leadership roles. In her last position with a major Canadian financial institution as the director of fusion threat intelligence, Elena grew a team of analysts focused on protecting the bank from cyber, fraud and physical security threats.

Paul Muir has enjoyed a 20-year career in information security, spending the past 10 years serving higher education. Most recently, Paul has joined Queen’s University as information security officer. Paul is an active member within the higher education information security community; he spent two years as co-chair of the CUCCIO Information Security Special Interest Group and three years as a member of the CanSSOC Technical Advisory Committee. Away from work, Paul enjoys listening to music, cooking a good meal and playing Uno with his wife and two daughters.

Deyves Fonseca has more than 15 years of global leadership experience in information security, privacy and technology services delivery in the financial and higher education industries. He has had multiple, progressive IT roles over the course of his career and has worked in Canada, Brazil, France and Mexico. Deyves has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and CISSP/CRISC designations.

Kevin Parent has 25 years of experience in the information technology field, with the last 10 years focused on cybersecurity. Kevin has worked in the higher education sector both at the national and regional levels and is passionate about helping secure the sector. Kevin has spent time working in heathcare, the private sector and all levels of government.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

False narratives about COVID-19 have gone global and are spreading almost as fast as the virus itself. Since January 2020, there have been over 10,000 false and unproven COVID-19-related claims shared via social media and other channels. The presentation will discuss how researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Social Media Lab, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), are spearheading an international effort to help stem the rise and counter COVID-19 misinformation via the COVID-19 Misinformation Portal.

Presenters: Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biographies

Anatoliy Gruzd is a professor at the Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management, Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Privacy-Preserving Digital Technologies, and the director of research at the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, and a founding co-chair of the International Conference on Social Media and Society. The broad aim of Dr. Gruzd’s various research initiatives is to understand how social media data can be used ethically to tackle a wide variety of societal problems from combating COVID-19 misinformation to helping educators navigate social media for teaching and learning.

Philip Mai, MA, JD, is the director of business and communications and a senior researcher at the Social Media Lab at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, and co-founder of the International Conference on Social Media and Society.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

The presentation will outline how TRSM students interact with Salesforce to support their university experience, from recruitment to post graduation, and how it enables staff to effectively assist students, keep track of records and organize tasks.

Recruitment: During the recruitment process, staff are able to update leads to new applicants and then create student records with contacts. When a student accepts their offer to the Ted Rogers School of Management, they’re invited to the new student orientation through Marketing Cloud, and can register for various events and orientation sessions through the use of Blackthorn, the event management system.

Student Support: Salesforce supports students through the ability to instantly book appointments with various departments (i.e. Student Advising) online by leveraging SUMO Scheduler, the appointment automation system. If students have any questions, they can get fast access to information any time from our Business Career Hub and Fit For Business chatbots, or connect with live agents during business hours for personalized assistance. Additionally, through case management used by Student Advising and the Business Career Hub, staff are able to efficiently help student support requests by viewing their full student profile and case history all in one place.

Events: Students are able to view event information and register through the event management system, Blackthorn. Attendance is recorded to assist staff in tracking student engagement, planning and substantiating funding. Events include the Business Career Hub’s bootcamps, which teaches students industry-relevant technical skills. Alternatively, students can also access Hub Digital (Salesforce trailhead) to help them learn at their own pace and according to their schedule.

Communication: Marketing Cloud enables staff to send personalized information to students through targeted email blasts. In addition, weekly newsletters are sent to students to keep them updated with program information and upcoming events. Click rate and open rate metrics help staff understand engagement and use the data to further enhance communications.

Co-op: Salesforce allows Business Career Hub staff to track co-op requirements, send career-related updates to students and manage cases from students on work term.

Data: By leveraging the data from Salesforce, TRSM was able to build Hub360 which provides students and co-op employers a live, interactive, at-a-glance view of the support the Business Career Hub provides to students and the success rates of the co-op program. Similarly, FFB 360 highlights the program's recognized initiatives, and student engagement.

Graduation and Post Graduation: Students also use Blackthorn to register for graduation celebrations. After graduating, TRSM uses Marketing Cloud to maintain alumni engagement and communication.

Presenter: Lauren Di Mambro, Toronto Metropolitan University: Ted Rogers School of Management

Presenter biography

Lauren Di Mambro has over 15 years of IT experience in both the public and private sectors. They joined the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2017 and has been at the helm since 2019. When the pandemic began, and reliance on technology became even more important, Lauren was able to quickly highlight deficiencies and adapt to the new, ever-changing normal. With a focus on client service, data governance and employee wellness, Lauren believes in a holistic, proactive approach to technology services. During the pandemic, Lauren hired a team of students to provide bookable in-class technical assistance for remote classes. Available only to TRSM faculty, over 500 classes were provided assistance, allowing for faculty and students to focus on the message rather than the medium. Lauren has consulted on instructional technology strategies for TRSM and central Toronto Metropolitan University, including the piloting of the university's first HyFlex classrooms. They expanded the already robust technology support help desk at the Ted Rogers School of Management to include student technical services. This service ensures all students can access necessary course software and provides hardware to students in need. Additionally, Lauren has been instrumental in the implementation and overseeing of Salesforce at the Ted Rogers School of Management. Salesforce has connected departments, students and staff alike as well as captured and transformed the student journey, from recruitment to alumni management. In their spare time, Lauren enjoys playing guitar, solving crossword puzzles and being bullied by their toddler.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical staff, decision-makers, CISOs, technical team leads

When it comes to cybersecurity, building organizational resilience is all about continued practice and education. But how do you provide your technical team with practical hands-on opportunities to learn, practice and test their skills, processes and plans in a safe way? How do you ensure that organization-wide, your leadership team works cohesively in the event of an attack?

Two experiential and immersive training options that address these needs include tabletop exercises and cyber range workshops. Learn more about these dynamic and true-to-life training opportunities, and how they can help you bolster your incident response capabilities and identify organizational gaps in decision-making, communications and related processes.

Presented by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University’s national centre for innovation and collaboration in cybersecurity. Practice. Plan. Protect.

Presenters: Ian McWilliams and Randy Purse, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biographies

Ian McWilliams has been in the cybersecurity space for over 18 years with 10 of those years spent as an educator. He holds a bachelor of computer science and a master's of engineering in computer networks. He has a variety of certifications, including the Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) designations. He continues to be passionate about information technology and has recently been focusing on cloud security and the cyber range.

Dr. Randy Purse is a senior cybersecurity advisor for the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and a workforce development consultant for Quantum-Safe Canada. A veteran, Randy served in the Royal Canadian Navy for over 26 years, including a variety of security roles. He transferred to the Communication Security Establishment/Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, where he led development of IT security training and ultimately assumed the role of strategic advisor for cyber security training and education. Following roles as the director of Cyber Security Standards and vice-president of future workforce development at TECHNATION, he assumed the role of senior cybersecurity advisor at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst. Engaged as a consultant for Quantum-Safe Canada, he was the primary researcher and author for the project document Organizational Migration to Quantum-Safe Cryptography: A Role-Based Framework, Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Model. Holding a PhD in education, Randy continues to research, write and consult on cybersecurity, workforce development and education and training issues.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations

Moving to Microsoft Teams Voice is a ride full of excitement and challenges. For OCAD University, the multi-stage implementation took about 12 months to complete and the result is satisfying. The team moved through the following stages: Proof of concept, Legacy/Teams hybrid environment, individual extension migration and finally, shared phone/call queue migration.

This presentation by OCADU and Trent University is intended to share lessons learned and to open a discussion about the future of telecommunication in higher education.

Presenters: Yong Zhang and Paul Jackson, OCAD University; Andrew Bell, Trent University

Presenter biographies

Yong Zhang has been with IT Services at OCAD University for 20-plus years (aka “being old school”), taking care of network and other IT infrastructure primarily. She finds it exciting to explore new stuff and work with a great team to get things done.

Paul Jackson has been a part of the network infrastructure team at OCAD University for 13 years. Focusing on voice, wireless and security, Paul has helped the university's network grow and mature during his tenure. He is happiest when crouched in a network closet with a console cable.

Andrew Bell has been wrangling servers and networks for over 30 years. He joined the network and server infrastructure team at Trent University 14 years ago, just missing out on the migration to Cisco’s VOIP solution. Although theoretically the manager of the department, he can often be heard exclaiming “There go my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Incorrect, out of date, confusing to find and conflicting information. We’ve all used knowledge bases like this—and they are frustrating to no end! Join us as we take you through our new knowledge management strategy, how it helped us quickly respond to the pandemic, and provide more timely, accurate information to our clients. We will share the five most important things we learned, all of the mistakes we made, and a couple of great stories from our journey.

This session will take you through the three stages of our knowledge management strategy for our public-facing knowledge base, going from where we were, the first things we tried, and where we are today. We’ll talk about the technology we used, the strategies for managing the content itself, style considerations, SEO, integrations and making the content readily available so people can find it, no matter how they try to get help. We’ll share data on knowledge base utilization, resourcing and feedback. We will use audience polling tools to make the session interactive, and to provide instant feedback to the audience on the thoughts and ideas we are discussing. This work has been truly transformational for our team and with over 300,000 views in the past 12 months, we know this has been an invaluable resource for our community.

Presenter: Matthew Harford and Sarah McKone, University of Waterloo

Presenter biographies

Matthew Harford is a manager in Information Systems and Technology at the University of Waterloo. He has recently been focussing on implementing new ITSM tools for campus, developing a knowledge management strategy, and finding ways to improve experiences for clients and team members using technology.

Sarah McKone began at the University of Waterloo in 2017 and has since worked in various departments. Sarah joined the University of Waterloo’s Information Systems and Technology (IST) department in January 2022. Sarah offers frontline support for clients, creates and distributes communication on behalf of IST and contributes to large-scale projects led by the Client Services division of IST. Sarah is currently improving the customer experience by redesigning the Jira Service Management customer portal.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

With insights as to the evolving approaches taken by threat actors, McMaster University continues to strengthen its information security (IS) posture following a three-year IS strategy and road map. Information security or cyber security is truly a team sport and involves people, processes and tools at all levels of the institution.

Tracy will share insights to inform "what you need to know" questions for all end-users, leaders and IT professionals at an institution to build and strengthen cyber resilience. This session will provide an overview as to current approaches and tool sets threat actors leverage and human behaviors that threat actors try to exploit in their efforts. Tracy will share they key elements of McMaster's information security strategy and road map developed to thwart these approaches, leverage industry best practices and leverage collaborations and partnerships across higher education. Coming from this session, you will be provided the top "you need to know" insights for your role at your institution.

Presenter: Tracy Dallaire, McMaster University

Presenter biography

Tracy Dallaire, the inaugural director of information security services at McMaster University is a leader in cyber and information security and a digital strategist. In this newly-created position, Dallaire is developing and leading an information technology security roadmap for the institution as part of the McMaster IT Strategic Plan. Dallaire is also leading the institution’s IT security team as a member of the AVP and CTO leadership team. She brings her well-established collaborative approach and deep experience leading teams through advanced implementation of emerging digital technologies such as cyber security, AR/VR, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

Dallaire has 25 years of public sector experience, most recently from Mohawk College where she has held the positions of senior director, technology integration academic and senior director, IT strategy, cyber and architecture, respectively. Prior to Mohawk, Dallaire worked at eHealth Ontario as their chief audit, risk and compliance officer and previously held roles in the provincial government Treasury Board, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, among other Ontario ministries and public sector organizations. Tracy has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario, a master’s degree in public policy and public administration from Concordia University, and is a certified management consultant. She is actively involved in promoting STEM and information security as an academic and career path as a member of a number of program advisory committees, STEM advisory committees and women in technology initiatives.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Learning & Teaching
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

This one-hour lecture will focus on how Extended Reality (XR) technologies offered by the Toronto Metropolitan University Library have been used to support faculty-led research projects, in addition to showcasing real projects that utilize XR technology for education. More specifically, we will go into detail on the Planting Imagination and Chinatown projects led by professor Linda Zhang, and how XR technologies have been incorporated into her projects and curriculum for interior design courses.

The format of the presentation will begin with an overview of each of these projects, their relationship to research in multiculturalism and the technologies that are used to support each project. The presentation will be delivered in the form of a hybrid lecture, with one presenter (Linda) presenting online via zoom and the other (Michael) presenting in-person. Not only does this format accommodate the needs of both presenters, but we hope this format will also showcase how presentations have evolved from what we learned during COVID-19.

In addition to discussing how technology can be used for greater engagement with educational content, Michael Carter-Arlt will shed some light on how technology in the library, specifically their 360 virtual reality environment (Immersion Studio), 3D printers, LiDAR scanners, and holographic displays are used to support research initiatives within the university. This will also include how augmented reality (AR) and photogrammetry have been used to create educational applications that are more accessible to more students as well as more inclusive of community. Additionally, we will briefly discuss how projects for the German Consulate of Toronto, USC SHOAH Foundation, and the Aga Khan Museum use location-based AR, volumetric video capture and 3D modeling, respectively, for a greater impact on educational resources. The presentation will conclude with discussion of the challenges in technology and education, including accessibility, interoperability and the digital divide, and how these areas have been affected in the past, present and future. There will also be 10 to 15 minutes at the end of the presentation for discussion.

Presenters: Michael Carter-Arlt and Linda Zhang, Toronto Metropolitan University Library

Presenter biographies

Michael Carter-Arlt is the immersive technology specialist at the Toronto Metropolitan University Library. In this role, he utilizes his skills in graphic design, 2D animation, digital media, and 3D development to create XR projects related to pedagogy and Open Educational Resources (OER). Since the completion of his master's degree in digital media, Michael has been presenting his work using technology in education at various festivals, conferences and groups, including the Ontario Science Centre, MuseWeb (2020), TMU IT Conference, MIC Youth Conference and the Toronto Youth Cabinet. Michael was recently the lead developer for the Remastered Exhibit at the Aga Khan Museum, the lead developer on two XR projects for the Consulate General of Germany, and was the supervisor for volumetric video capture of a Holocaust survivor for the Dimensions in Testimony project led by the USC Shoah Foundation.

Linda Zhang is a registered architect and co-founding principal at Studio Pararaum. She is an assistant professor at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University, researcher-in-residence for the Toronto Metropolitan University Library and visiting scholar at NYU’s A/P/A Institute. She is the 2022 Artist-in-Residence at the European Ceramic Workcentre (EKWC), the 2017-18 Boghosian Fellow at Syracuse SoA and a 2017 Fellow at the Berlin Center for Art and Urbanistics. She received the 2022 Social Innovation and Action SRC Award, 2020 Toronto Excellence Award (Rising Star), 2021 Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence (Innovation) and the 2021 Dean's Scholarly Research and Creative Activity Award. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Canada, China, Germany, Korea, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US. She was a Dean’s Merit Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she received a MArch I AP with distinction, the James Templeton Kelley Thesis Prize and AIA Henry Adams Certificate. She completed her BScArch with honours at the McGill School of Architecture.

Time: 3:00 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General and technical audience, IT and non-IT
Format: Lecture style

The rapidly evolving information threat landscape and world events are driving adoption of controls and technologies to secure teaching, learning, administration and research activities. That said, information security controls are often seen as impositions and costs (operational, technical or financial) and are regularly met with significant pushback.

This session will focus on how business process analysis, security controls and identity and access management (group and role management) can be used to provide significant value-add to academic and business departments in a typical university environment while improving information security and reducing information risk.

Presenter: Peter St. Onge, University of Toronto

Presenter biography

Working in IT roles supporting research, learning, teaching and administration over the last 20-plus years has given Peter St. Onge a front-row seat watching how technology can augment and extend or impede and stymie the drive to push back the limits of knowledge.

Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:05 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical staff only
Format: Hands-on training experience; Product demonstration

Featuring the Catalyst Cyber Range platform at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, this hands-on and immersive experience offers participants an opportunity to learn and prepare for a real-world cyber-attack. This scenario replicates an enterprise environment. Participants will receive practical experience using vulnerability assessment tools and learn cybersecurity basics including network traffic analysis and Wireshark basics. Then taking the hacker point of view, participants will use Metasploit and other tools to exploit the Windows server and take control of it. They will then take Windows hashes and attempt to crack some. Each participant will have the opportunity to work through the experience in their own virtual environment, at their own pace. They will be provided with instructional documentation as well as support from the instructor.

In order to register, participants should be experienced IT professionals with a technical skill set, including:

• Basic understanding of computer networks 
• Basic knowledge of how to use Linux commands 
• Basic knowledge of how to use Windows and the command prompt 
• Ability to follow a PDF with instructions on how to navigate the scenario

 (google form) Register for the Cybersecurity Essentials and Vulnerability Assessment (external link) 

Presenter: Ian McWilliams, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst

Presenter biography

Ian McWilliams has been in the cybersecurity space for over 18 years with 10 of those years spent as an educator. He holds a bachelor of computer science and a master's of engineering in computer networks. He has a variety of certifications, including the certified information system security professional (CISSP) and offensive security certified professional (OSCP) designations. He continues to be passionate about information technology and has recently been focusing on cloud security and the cyber range.

Time: 3:00 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Our work with the United Nations World Food Program, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministries of Long Term Care, Education and Health in Ontario is all focused on building serious games. In this session, I will share some of our work in the field of health care using gameworlds and advanced simulation environments. The topics covered include the use of game design protocols for learning, using mixed reality for mass casualty management using LIDAR and augmented reality, a huge project underway at the WHO in Lyon, France.

We will also showcase our work with the United Nations using third-person adventure epics and action adventure games based on Carthage, ancient Alexandria and other locations. The talk will conclude with an overview of new design models for learning at the WHO on domains, autopoietic hyper reality and simulation phase spaces.

Presenter: David Chandross, Toronto Metropolitan University and the World Health Organization

Presenter biography

David Chandross, PhD, is a faculty member in the master's of digital media program at Toronto Metropolitan University, in The Creative School. He is currently on assignment with the World Health Organization developing advanced serious games for medical education to reach 10 million learners. Past partners include the United Nations, University of Toronto School of Medicine, the Insurance Institute of Canada, the Canadian Armed Forces, Elections Canada, Baycrest Health Sciences and the Ministry of Long Term Care, Ontario.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

Microsoft Identity systems have advanced from the release of Active Directory to Azure AD and along this journey, the security of the systems have become more complicated. One of the challenges of securing both Active Directory and Azure AD is also analyzing the integration components like Azure AD Connect since they connect the two.

This talk covers several methods attackers leverage to escalate privileges in both Active Directory and Azure AD and how best to identify and mitigate these issues.

Presenter: Sean Metcalf, Trimarc Security

Presenter biography

Sean Metcalf is founder and CTO at Trimarc (TrimarcSecurity.com), a professional services company which focuses on improving enterprise security. He is one of about 100 people in the world who holds the Microsoft Certified Master Directory Services (MCM) Active Directory certification, is a Microsoft MVP and has presented on Active Directory, Azure AD and Microsoft Cloud attack and defense at security conferences such as Black Hat, BSides, DEF CON and DerbyCon.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Learning & Teaching
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

In February 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic forced students and faculty into their homes mid-semester, with many facing similar technology circumstances—inadequate access to technology, inadequate home facilities and inadequate time and training to implement suitable changes. The presenters of this session were tasked with taking a highly interactive hands-on lab course teaching 3D Computer Assisted Design (CAD) design and finding solutions to overcome the challenges of home learning that many experienced. On campus, students were accustomed to university computer labs filled with some of the most modern technology and could access support from a team of technicians. Suddenly, students were on their own and required to use whatever technology was available to them at home, which in some cases included older computers and slower internet connections; meanwhile, many international students also managed situations with controlled internet access and differing time zones.

Faculty, who were also previously supported by the university's in-lab technologists, often became the IT support team to their students at home. The teaching team followed a methodology that mixed both asynchronous and synchronous modes—a method that proved very successful at transforming how students learned and were taught. Withing a short timeline, the team set about to re-engineer how the course was taught; a situational analysis was conducted, needs were assessed, funding accessed, plans devised and a rapid deployment successfully realized.

This presentation evaluates how undergraduate students perceived the changes made to the 3D Printing elective class at Toronto Metropolitan University. Previously, the in-person teaching method involved a heavy emphasis on in-lab instruction and the use of 3D design software. However, due to the steep learning curve for beginner users of CAD software, purpose-made videos were created to better assist students amidst the pandemic. These video tutorials allowed students to better manage their learning by using the videos to their advantage. Additionally, the presentation will explore how these short thematic videos allowed students to pace their learning by selecting the most convenient time to watch the tutorials and having the ability to rewatch them as often as needed. Through a course survey that was circulated at the end of the academic semester, students reported positive results to this distant teaching method.

Presenters: Art Seto and Anastasia Partserniak, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biographies

An associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Art Seto has leveraged his 20-plus years in industry in his course design and delivery at the university where he currently teaches a 3D printing course and some business and technology courses. Prior to academia, Art completed an MBA in information technology management and was involved in the implementation of several MIS systems. He was previously a dot.com entrepreneur, raising millions through taking his company public, and financed the transformation of a bricks-and-mortar business into an early e-commerce business.

Anastasia Partserniak is a 2022 Toronto Metropolitan University graduate of the graphic communications management program. With a focus on packaging applications and communication design, Anastasia shows great interest in the marriage between artistry and technical practices, along with the important values of post-secondary education.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical staff only
Format: Hands-on training experience; Product demonstration

Featuring the Catalyst Cyber Range platform at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, this hands-on and immersive experience offers participants an opportunity to learn and prepare for a real-world cyber-attack. This scenario replicates an enterprise environment. Participants will receive practical experience using vulnerability assessment tools and learn cybersecurity basics including network traffic analysis and Wireshark basics. Then taking the hacker point of view, participants will use Metasploit and other tools to exploit the Windows server and take control of it. They will then take Windows hashes and attempt to crack some. Each participant will have the opportunity to work through the experience in their own virtual environment, at their own pace. They will be provided with instructional documentation as well as support from the instructor.

In order to register, participants should be experienced IT professionals with a technical skill set, including:

• Basic understanding of computer networks 
• Basic knowledge of how to use Linux commands 
• Basic knowledge of how to use Windows and the command prompt 
• Ability to follow a PDF with instructions on how to navigate the scenario

 (google form) Register for the Cybersecurity Essentials and Vulnerability Assessment (external link) 

Presenter: Ian McWilliams, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst

Presenter biography

Ian McWilliams has been in the cybersecurity space for over 18 years with 10 of those years spent as an educator. He holds a bachelor of computer science and a master's of engineering in computer networks. He has a variety of certifications, including the certified information system security professional (CISSP) and offensive security certified professional (OSCP) designations. He continues to be passionate about information technology and has recently been focusing on cloud security and the cyber range.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

As the ransomware landscape continues to evolve, and threat actors leverage new creative techniques to cripple business operations, what can your organization do to prepare and stay ahead of threats? With a deeply-rooted reputation for delivering industry-leading threat intelligence, Unit 42 has expanded its scope to provide state-of-the-art incident response and cyber risk management services. Our consultants will serve as trusted partners to rapidly respond to and contain threats so you can focus on your business. Join Palo Alto Networks to learn more about the threat landscape and key learnings from recent cyber attacks.

Presenter: Kevin Flanagan, Palo Alto Networks

Presenter biography

Kevin Flanagan, CISSP, CISA, is the senior director for security architecture within Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. Kevin has more than 25 years of security experience in leading the development of teams, building security programs and designing security architectures. At Palo Alto Networks, Kevin and his team are assisting organizations with building resilient security programs, keeping up to date on the latest threats and responding to incidents through the Unit 42 Security Consulting Practice. Prior to Palo Alto Networks, Kevin served in other consulting leadership roles at large security solutions providers, including RSA Security where he was responsible for customer outreach and subsequent education campaign in the wake of the 2011 RSA breach.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Track: Tech Demo

Zoom is more than a video client—it’s a communications platform providing the seminal connection or the “highway” between smartphones, tablets, laptops, desk phones and multi-media rich classrooms. Learn how the Zoom experience can help alleviate the challenges of a hyflex employee and look beyond Zoom meetings for use cases for today's employees, students and administration of today's connected campus.

Presenters: Lance Ford and Ted Mead, Zoom

Presenter biographies

Dr. Ford is a Zoom Rooms educator/teacher. Lance has been a classroom teacher for over 28 years. As a Zoom educator, Lance has had the opportunity to train over 30,000 teachers from Afghanistan to Australia and Canada to Brazil to implement video technologies in the classroom effectively. He teaches as an adjunct instructor for Carl Albert State College in Poteau, Oklahoma, where he leverages various tools to engage learners both live and on-demand. He completed his PhD in educational administration, curriculum and supervision in 2009 from the University of Oklahoma. Although he has been teaching via synchronous remote video for over 20 years, Lance’s focus is not the technology. Instead, he focuses on how tools become the transparent conduit for authentic engagement regardless of geo-location.

Ted Mead specializes in the UCaaS and contact center of Zoom’s platform. Ted is a team lead for Zoom Phone and focuses exclusively on U.S. and Canadian-based higher education customers. Most of Ted’s UCaaS and contact center experience came from 18 years of doing the same at Cisco for their state, local and education customer base.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Track: Tech Demo

This presentation will cover evolving strategies and best practices to provide network security and segmentation across your campus. Throughout the discussion, the following key areas will be covered:

1. Zero trust security: Latest strategies to implement a zero-trust environment across your wired, wireless and remote use cases, while leveraging your existing security strategies.
2. Segmentation: Leveraging micro, macro and fabric segmentation techniques to mitigate threat vectors in your higher education environment.
3. AI security automation: How adding AI to your security strategy will assist you with mitigating threats, optimizing your security posture and keeping up with the bad actors.
   

Presenter: Jason Fernyc

Presenter biography

Jason Fernyc is a consulting engineer with Aruba Canada, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. He was the sixth employee to join Aruba Canada in 2007 and has a master's of engineering (MEng) in internetworking from the University of Alberta. Jason also holds a professional engineer (PEng) designation with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and maintains a networking expert certification with CWNP (CWNE).

Jason has 25-plus years of experience in networking and telecommunications technologies, including 15 years architecting, designing and implementing Aruba solutions for higher education environments of all sizes. Jason’s experience encompasses network designs across multi-vendor LAN, WLAN, WAN and security technologies.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Track: Tech Demo

How does PowerProtect Cyber Recovery protect your most critical data across your infrastructure, multi-clouds and applications? Dell Technologies' cyber resiliency experts will be on hand to discuss the latest air gap offering from Dell that seamlessly integrates analytics into your environment for continuous monitoring and alerting. Rest easier with Dell’s next generation of Cyber Recovery Vault offerings.

Presenters: Alex Page and Steve Weaver

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Track: Tech Demo

Presenters: Daniela Mejia

Presenter biography

Daniela Mejia has over 10 years’ experience as a solutions consultant in the IT space. She been with ServiceNow for over three years as an advisory solution consultant in the higher education space and works closely with organizations to help them achieve their digital transformation goals.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical and general, the talk is about communicating risk and response to action.
Format: Lecture style

Since the onset of the pandemic, the landscape of cyber risks faced by higher education has changed dramatically. But the reality is, we've always worked in a landscape with frequent and drastic changes. Information security is never "done" but risk can be managed. At the University of Toronto, the Data Asset Inventory and Unit Information Risk Self-Assessment (DAI-IRSA) is a university-wide initiative enabling units to actively manage their information risk and to broaden the understanding of shared challenges across the university. In a decentralized organizational environment, the DAI-IRSA has provided a view that allows both departmental and central managers of IT risk to identify weaknesses, understand gaps in their management activities and prioritize their plans to address those gaps.

As individual units respond to structured questions in a framework of common risk areas, collectively the university gains an understanding of shared challenges in each of those areas, providing evidence-based data to help improve the information security posture at U of T overall. But that's not where it ends. As circumstances change, data collected through assessment can also be used to understand exposure to specific threats as they emerge. By mapping risk areas in the framework to current threats, we gain insight into what is being done, what needs to be done and where we can shift efforts to manage the risks brought on by changing circumstances.

Using ransomware as an example, this presentation will examine the DAI-IRSA framework and how specific components can be mapped to ransomware threat to achieve a more targeted understanding of our risk, identify gaps and prioritize actions to respond to the increased threat.

Presenter: Robin Wilcoxen, University of Toronto

Presenter biography

Robin Wilcoxen has been the University of Toronto's information risk manager for the last year. Starting at the university in 2007, Robin has held progressively more responsible IT-related and risk management positions over the years.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations

Speaker: Shannon Cobourn, ServiceNow

Speaker biography

Shannon Cobourn has built her career on 20+ years in education strategy and management of every stage of the student journey. She has overseen marketing and admissions; been responsible for holistic student experiences, driving retention and graduation for global populations; overseen curriculum development and teaching modalities; and has developed global support communities for academic and emotional support. With her deep experience in global educational sales and operations, Shannon is well-versed in the challenges and opportunities that educational leadership faces. Because she’s overseen physical campuses, online programs and enterprise training engagements, she has a clear view of the intersection of education, creativity and technology and how they work together in today’s landscape. Prior to joining ServiceNow, she most recently led U.S. Operations for the educational division of WeWork and directed Global Student Experience for Udacity. She’s worked closely with internal product teams to develop solutions for business needs and now champions and helps develop experiences and integrated workflow solutions that benefit students and those who serve them.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Inclusivity & Collaboration
Audience: Technical
Format: Lecture style

People with disabilities and those who use assistive technology are especially vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Unfortunately, security measures designed to protect them may cause barriers instead. This presentation will provide a high-level overview of various accessibility considerations for security professionals and front-end developers, including:

• An overview of various types of disabilities
  
• Accessibility and UX design considerations for login forms
• Accessibility barriers of various authentication methods and biometrics
• Overview of authentication-related success criteria proposed in the draft Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
• Technical considerations for session timeouts

Presenter: Adam Chaboryk, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biography

Adam Chaboryk is a digital accessibility consultant and front-end web developer with a passion for building inclusive experiences. He is currently employed as an IT accessibility specialist at Toronto Metropolitan University. Adam enables the university community with the resources and guidance to create a more inclusive digital environment for all learners, faculty, staff and the general public. Adam also leads the development of Sa11y, an open source accessibility checker designed for content authors. Sa11y is featured on the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List, and is currently used by several hundred content authors across various organizations.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

For the last four years, the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers' (CUCCIO) cybersecurity benchmarking project has been tracking the progress of the higher education sector in Canada. In some areas, such as adopting multi-factor authentication (MFA), progress has accelerated. In others, progress has been slower. This presentation looks back over four years of data before looking forward at what the future might hold.

Presenter: Brian Lesser, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biography

Brian Lesser is Toronto Metropolitan University's chief information officer (CIO). Brian helped develop the university’s first identity management system, establish an e-learning support team and was a founding member of the university's Digital Media Zone (DMZ) steering committee. The DMZ is Toronto Metropolitan's startup incubator and accelerator. Brian is a board member of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, manages the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers' (CUCCIO) cybersecurity benchmarking project and was a founding member of the CanSSOC steering committee. Prior to Toronto Metropolitan University, Brian worked at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and the National Archives of Canada.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Learning & Teaching
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Quantum computers harness quantum properties to run computations that go far beyond what is achievable by standard computers. Once available, full-fledged quantum computers will be able to solve computational problems previously thought to be intractable, hence breaking several elements of the current cybersecurity infrastructure. The quantum threat to cybersecurity can be mitigated by deploying new cryptographic tools, both conventional and quantum, that are believed or known to be resistant to quantum attacks. Nonetheless, the transition to quantum-safe cryptography is a challenge itself: it requires the development and deployment of hardware and software solutions, the establishment of standards, the migration of legacy systems, and more. Work progresses on developing quantum-safe technology and process solutions in industries, institutions and labs across Canada. As well, we are seeing increasing interest in advanced degree programs and nascent integration of quantum computing and related security within a few undergraduate programs. However, as noted in the Quantum-Safe Talent and Job Market Analysis, 2021, “Perhaps the single greatest area of consensus amongst respondents was the importance of re-training and education of the existing workforce.”

In this 40-minute presentation, Dr. Mosca will start by situating the challenge. Mr. Munson will then discuss the Quantum-Safe Talent and Job Market Analysis findings regarding the existing workforce, and the need to develop quantum-safe curriculum that can be integrated into programs aimed at today’s cybersecurity professionals as well as today’s students. Dr. Purse will introduce the specifics of a more recent project to include the scope, process and products including the role-based framework, learning outcomes and a proposed curriculum model. The session will be followed by a short Q&A period.

Presenters: Randy Purse, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University; Bill Munson, Quantum Safe Canada; Michele Mosca, University of Waterloo

Presenter biographies

Dr. Randy Purse is a senior cybersecurity advisor for the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and a workforce development consultant for Quantum-Safe Canada. A veteran, Randy served in the Royal Canadian Navy for over 26 years, including a variety of security roles. He transferred to the Communication Security Establishment/Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, where he led development of IT security training and ultimately assumed the role of strategic advisor for cyber security training and education. Following roles as the director of Cyber Security Standards and vice-president of future workforce development at TECHNATION, he assumed the role of senior cybersecurity advisor at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst. Engaged as a consultant for Quantum-Safe Canada, he was the primary researcher and author for the project document Organizational Migration to Quantum-Safe Cryptography: A Role-Based Framework, Learning Outcomes and Curriculum Model. Holding a PhD in education, Randy continues to research, write and consult on cybersecurity, workforce development and education and training issues.

Dr. Michele Mosca is co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing, a professor in the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo, and a founding member of Waterloo's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is co-founder and CEO of evolutionQ, co-founder of the quantum software and applications company, softwareQ, and co-founder of the not-for-profit Quantum-Safe Canada and the ETSI-IQC workshop series in quantum-safe cryptography. He serves as chair of the board of Quantum Industry Canada. Dr. Mosca’s awards and honours include Canada's Top 40 Under 40 (2010), Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), SJU Fr. Norm Choate Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and a Knighthood (Cavaliere) in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2018). His research interests include algorithms and software for quantum computers and cryptographic tools designed to be safe against quantum technologies.

Bill Munson is a veteran policy analyst with solid experience across a number of fields, including telecom, information technology, privacy and cybersecurity. He joined Quantum-Safe Canada in 2017 after more than 20 years with the Information Technology Association of Canada, where he founded and administered the long-running and respected ITAC Cyber Security Forum.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Inclusivity & Collaboration
Audience: Technical & General Audience
Format: Lecture style

In early 2019, the University of Ottawa decided to standardize its enterprise architecture practices and embarked on defining its Higher Education Capability Model, amongst other deliverables. In June 2019, the Administrative Services Modernization Program was started, aiming to improve the University’s Finance and Human Resources services. The program has been the driving force to help develop, validate and mature multiple architecture deliverables.

This presentation will describe the uOttawa journey in doing Business Capability Modelling, using Application Rationalization to identify IT Standards and SaaS ERP Solution Architecture.

Presenters: Stephanie Pereira, Ingrid Hernandez Remedios and Valerie Normand, University of Ottawa

Presenter biographies

Stephanie Pereira is a business architect in the Office of the Chief Information Officer and is using the Higher Education Capability Model to help guide capability-based planning at the University of Ottawa.

Ingrid Hernandez Remedios is a solution architect focusing on a SaaS ERP replacement within the Administrative Services Modernization Program at the University of Ottawa.

Valerie Normand is an EA architect analyst providing support throughout various initiatives implemented to reach the goal to IT’s enterprise architecture future state, all aligned with the Transformation 2030 organizational strategy leading to a modernized university.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are one of the hottest digital assets today, and have taken the arts and investment worlds by storm. Compared to a year ago, purchases of NFTs are up 11,000%. Take for example, "Everydays: The First 5000 Days", the widely reported March 2021 auction of an NFT that consisted of 5,000 individual pieces of digital art created by the artist known as Beeple. It sold for more than US $69 million.

This talk will focus on NFTs created with the purpose of supporting the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These NFTs are created to make a difference. But what are they exactly? How can one contribute to and tap into the growth opportunities in this industry sector?  This session will introduce the concept of NFTs and their value proposition for the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Presenter: Violeta Gotcheva, York University

Presenter biography

Violeta Gotcheva is the IT director in the Faculty of Science at York University. With professional experience in higher education IT and three universities, Violeta is passionate about providing user-centred services for teaching and research that can make a positive change in the life of people. When not on the job, Violeta is broadening her interests in emerging and innovative technologies, most recently in the fields of AI, blockchain and sustainability.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

This presentation will focus on the cyber threat landscape in Canada and the cyber security trends that the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has noticed. We will discuss incident statistics from 2021 and take a look at the three most common vulnerabilities. We will also provide an overview of the Cyber Centre, its mandate and its services.

Presenter: Angela McAllister, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS)

Presenter biography

Angela McAllister is the academic sector lead at the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. As sector lead, she engages with organizations and associations to build strategic partnerships and define tailored projects to advance the Canadian academic sector’s cyber security posture. In her role, Angela seeks to raise awareness on the cyber threats affecting Canadian academic institutions and to promote the services and guidance available from the Cyber Centre. Prior to her current role, Angela held the positions of communications security technologist, information technology security analyst and information technology technical writer. Angela is also a professor of communications, electronics and computer applications at two Ontario colleges. Angela holds a bachelor of technology, a diploma in electronics engineering technology, and a C.E.T designation. She is currently studying to obtain a master of technology management.

Time: 10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Track: Inclusivity & Collaboration
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

The University of Guelph's program management office (PMO) has minimal access to data to understand the impact of campus IT projects on team resources and stakeholders. This lack of data risks project successes such as unknown team and stakeholder availability, time delays and rework, frustration and stress, budget inaccuracies and ineffective roadmaps. This lessens the PMO's ability to provide informed recommendations to its governing teams as they evaluate new initiatives.

This presentation will take a deep dive into the rebranding and thinking of resource management, including the research found and how the finding of "gold" may be achieved and keeping track of how and where to look. In doing so, you may learn how your institution can assist in evaluating new initiatives based on a view into its resource capacity and demand.

Learning objectives: Participants will hear a case study on the how-to approach to the developing of a resource management protocol from the gathering of current research associated with a resource management system, learn of best industry and practices, learn from other higher education institutions on what are they are doing and if they have have a resource management system in place.

Presenter: Deborah Tovell, MBA candidate, PMP, CBAP, University of Guelph

Presenter biography

Deborah Tovell is a program manager within the program management office at the University of Guelph, currently dedicated to advancing student information systems within the enterprise applications team of the central IT department. With over 20-plus years of IT industry experience, Deborah provides project management and business analysis support and expertise to various campus clients. Deborah has advanced business analysis skills which have led her to be involved in various roles, including initiative analysis, business process reviews and re-engineering, business case development, solutions design, program road mapping, procurement, leading feature releases and release-planning specific to the enhancement to or migration of ERPs to new technologies. At the University of Guelph, Deborah provides mentorship to other BA and PMs on business analysis techniques and new agile product methodologies that enhance collaboration between the stakeholder and delivery teams to assist with work visualization, prioritization and value-focus. Over the past two years, Deborah embarked on her MBA with a sustainable commerce specialization where she expanded her knowledge with a great number of theories, concepts and deep reflections on the sustainability drivers and strategic approaches to value creation, various levels of governance and evolving trends, and integration of the environment and society into business strategies and practices to improve competitive advantage and value creations for all stakeholders.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity

As more higher education institutions are looking for accessible and effective means to monitor and respond to security events, ORION is hosting a conversation to explore what is needed at a provincial level.

The session will:

• Provide an overview of current national and provincial initiatives for colleges and universities in Ontario
• Provide an overview of the cybersecurity landscape for higher education in Ontario (ORION State of Cybersecurity Report, KPMG Report, etc.)
• Facilitate discussion with members of the Ontario higher education community focussing on key areas of need that may benefit from a regional SOC

Presenter: Alfonso Licata, ORION; Paul Inkila, Confederation College; Michelle Moore, Humber College; Tracy Dellaire, McMaster University; Jean-Ray Arseneau, University of Ottawa.

Presenter biographies

Alfonso Licata has a strong track record in the design and launch of new and disruptive enterprises in the technology space and across multiple market segments. At ORION, Alfonso helps drive the organization’s strategy forward in a highly collaborative and strategic manner. He brings to bear his unique blend of experience in user-first service, teamwork and strategic alliance-building on solving the complex problems faced by Ontario’s research, education and innovation community. Alfonso sits on the board of ORION’s Toronto partner GTAnet, as well as on OCAD University’s Digital Futures Advisory Board, serving as an adjunct professor in its graduate program. He serves as a volunteer mentor and entrepreneur in residence, supporting teams and companies at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ), Communitech and MaRS. He previously held a similar role at Deloitte after co-founding several technology-based companies over the last 20 years.

Paul Inkila has a long history of working in higher education IT for over 30 years. He has worked the full spectrum of IT jobs in universities, the provincial government and at Confederation College, with cyber security often being a focus by necessity. 

Michelle Moore is the director of information technology security (ITS) and project management at Humber College. Michelle has 25 years of experience in information technology across multiple sectors. Her team manages the intake and project portfolio reporting and financial planning process for ITS, as well as leading technology projects for enterprise applications, digital initiatives and infrastructure projects. Michelle is also leading the information technology security team in the creation of standards and tools to support the institution in an increasingly complex threat landscape. She represents Humber on the Ontario Cybersecurity Higher Education Consortium (ON-CHEC) Steering Committee, as well as on the CANARIE Cybersecurity Initiatives Deployment Committee (formerly Canada’s National Research and Education Network along with their provincial partners). Michelle has her bachelor of arts in communication and media studies, holds her PMP and has enjoyed the opportunity to complete advanced certificates in disciplined agile, change management, leadership and process analysis.

Tracy Dallaire, the inaugural director of information security services at McMaster University is a leader in cyber and information security and a digital strategist. In this newly-created position, Dallaire is developing and leading an information technology security roadmap for the institution as part of the McMaster IT Strategic Plan. Dallaire is also leading the institution’s IT security team as a member of the AVP and CTO leadership team. She brings her well-established collaborative approach and deep experience leading teams through advanced implementation of emerging digital technologies such as cyber security, AR/VR, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. Dallaire has 25 years of public sector experience, most recently from Mohawk College where she has held the positions of senior director, technology integration academic and senior director, IT strategy, cyber and architecture, respectively. Prior to Mohawk, Dallaire worked at eHealth Ontario as their chief audit, risk and compliance officer and previously held roles in the provincial government Treasury Board, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, among other Ontario ministries and public sector organizations. Tracy has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario, a master’s degree in public policy and public administration from Concordia University, and is a certified management consultant. She is actively involved in promoting STEM and information security as an academic and career path as a member of a number of program advisory committees, STEM advisory committees and women in technology initiatives.

Jean-Ray Arseneau has been with the University of Ottawa for more than 20 years, occupying 10 different roles throughout the organization. As IT manager, security, some of his major accomplishments include: growing the university’s security and access team from two FTE in 2016 to 13 in 2022; building the Security Operations Centre; and successfully completing an RFP for a new cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) solution that will see the University of Ottawa implement Saviynt as its IAM and identity governance platform. In his current role as interim senior director for IT infrastructure and operations, Jean-Ray oversees the strategic direction of numerous IT-related portfolios such as network and telephony, collaboration and M365, security and access, cloud and hosting infrastructure, service management and more. He maintains a keen interest in security and ensuring the university’s strategic direction is well-supported.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Learning & Teaching
Audience: General Audience
Format: Panel discussion

During the “transition” to in-person teaching in the fall 2021 semester, the School of Professional Communication upgraded three of its learning spaces to better meet the needs of online and remote learners enrolled in its HyFlex (hybrid flexible) communication courses. As part of this active learning space refresh project, modular furniture was reconfigured, webcasting tools were deeply integrated into a new Crestron automation system, and sound and lighting levels were optimized for our hybrid learners. In this talk, faculty and technical staff will speak to some of the opportunities and challenges they faced when delivering HyFlex courses in these learning spaces during the fall 2021 transition. Instructors will cover the strategies they used to engage learners, drawing on the space and its features to foster a vibrant Community of Inquiry (COI). Technical staff will also provide a virtual tour of these rooms, outlining how they drew on user experience principles as they integrated advanced technologies. The presentation team will speak to the iterative approach they took releasing new features and how this strategy better prepared them for a return to fully in-person teaching in winter 2022.

Presenters: James Loney, Robert Clapperton, John Shiga and Nikole McGregor, Toronto Metropolitan University: School of Professional Communication

Presenter biographies

As the creative technologies team lead, James Loney designs, builds and maintains technology service offerings and facilities for the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University. James is responsible for designing creative technology infrastructure and training resources at the School of Professional Communication. He leads a “user-centred” instructional technology support group that provides instructors and students with intuitive technology tools and workflows. James has held such industry positions as TV master control operator, digital training designer and assistant video editor. James completed his BA in radio and television arts (RTA School of Media, Toronto Metropolitan University). He also holds an MA in communication and culture (York and Toronto Metropolitan Universities). He also holds certificates in adult learning and development and facilities management.

Robert Clapperton is an assistant professor in the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University. Robert earned his PhD in English language and literature with a graduate diploma in cognitive science at the University of Waterloo. He specializes in computational linguistics, rhetoric, critical discourse analysis with an emphasis on the critical study of artificial intelligence and natural language understanding in several fields including education, politics, commercial and social enterprise. Robert’s teaching focuses on the digital enterprise and communication research methods. Robert has developed a natural language understanding experiential learning platform for teaching and practicing communication, critical thinking and emotional intelligence. The platform is currently used by universities, corporations and professional associations across North America.

John Shiga completed his PhD in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University. In the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University, he has designed and taught courses on science communication, media and urban environments, power and resistance in online media, cross-cultural communication, knowledge translation, and communication and social change. His current research interests include the politics of sound, communication and the nonhuman, media and the environment, and arts-based knowledge translation.

As the creative technologies assistant for the School of Professional Communication (ProCom) at Toronto Metropolitan University, Nikole McGregor draws on her industry experience to provide creative technology support to faculty and students. In addition to developing and delivering workshops and tutorials, Nikole offers technical assistance to students with equipment and software tools that allow them to express their creative vision. Outside of ProCom labs, Nikole produces media content for the ProCom website, implements social media communications and ensures that ProCom facilities and equipment are in a good state of repair. Nikole McGregor is a researcher and new media artist interested in expanded cinema, surrealism and experimentation. Her current research explores the use of volumetric video in an expanded documentary. She is interested in exploring perceptual narrative systems that include perspective-taking opportunities, increasing the perceived proximity between the viewer and the story. Her work diversity includes interactive installations, short films and videogames and UX design. Her new media pieces have been exhibited in galleries and film festivals around the world, including La Truca’s Empowered Perspectives selection of female directors and the HUMANO International Human Rights Film Festival.

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

The manager of a newly-formed team created out of two existing groups, each with their own distinctive cultures, preferred tools and established roles, had to deliver a high volume of work with no standards for work item prioritization and little understanding of current-state processes. The team survived through herculean efforts to meet high demands without knowing their own capacity. They just knew it felt terrible. All this happened in the Faculty of Health Sciences during the pandemic with the team delivering to frontline health customers. The manager (Danielle Stayzer) and a process improvement expert (Diana MacPherson), partnered to work with the team to use new processes, methods and frameworks that allowed them to understand, and for the first time, begin to manage capacity, prioritize work items and deliver at a sustainable pace.

Join us as we tell the story of how we used Lean methods and tools to help a resilient team to become more focused, less stressed and even more high performing.

Presenters: Diana MacPherson and Danielle Stayzer, McMaster University

Presenter biographies

Diana MacPherson has held various IT roles in the private, public and higher education sectors, with a focus on process improvement. Diana is certified in Lean Six Sigma and Agile. Currently, she is the manager of strategic projects in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. The Lean pillars of respect for people and continuous improvement make up a large part of the values Diana brings to all process improvement initiatives.

Danielle Stayzer, HBA, MEd, is a manager in the office of continuing professional development at McMaster University. Her work in post-secondary has focused on student development and leadership training, academic program management, administrative leadership and organizational development.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:25 p.m.
Track: Tech Demo

The demands on IT services are growing ever more complex—many organizations are challenged with staff workload and retention. Join Todd Wilson, Red Hat's chief strategist, for a look into how leveraging automation and open source collaboration methods are superpowers to evolve your day-two operations.

Presenter: Todd Wilson, Red Hat

Speaker biography

Todd Wilson has worked with leading-edge technology and has leveraged his skills as a change agent to deliver success through partnership and innovation for over 20 years. Prior to joining Red Hat Canada as a chief strategist, Todd was instrumental in helping government agencies in British Columbia increase public value through the rapid creation of digital services using modern technologies and DevOps principles. His experience with enterprise technology transformation, coupled with a passion for open source collaboration, drives him to seek out opportunities where he can share his knowledge at scale and spread the capabilities of digital delivery across sectors.

Time: 1:00 pm. to 1:25 p.m.
Track: Tech demo

Join Google as we present a high-level overview of our infrastructure services and key differentiators compared to other providers. In this session, you will also learn about our Canadian data compliance, built-in security and student success services.

Speakers: Mohamed Nofal and Phil Dasilva, Google

Speaker biographies

Mohamed Nofal is a lead Google Cloud customer engineer for healthcare within the Canadian public sector. He has the opportunity to work with healthcare providers, research institutes and government at Google Cloud, focusing on health informatics and health services. Prior to Google, he has had the opportunity to work across both sides of the Atlantic Ocean for VMware and later transitioned to architecting solutions for Canadian financial services at Amazon Web Services. At Google Cloud, Mohamed navigates customers through a data-powered innovation transformation journey.

Phil Dasilva heads the Google higher education sector in Ontario working with IT departments, researchers and faculty. Phil works closely with customers around how to help them navigate their path to cloud computing and achieve higher student success through the use of technology. Before Google, Phil spent 21 years working in software, infrastructure and services business development at IBM Canada.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:25 p.m.
Track: Tech Demo

Presenter: Mike Gotham, Palto Alto Networks

Speaker biography

Mike Gotham, a senior security architect at Unit 42, has more than 11 years of experience helping organizations assess and improve their security posture. Mike specializes in digital forensics and incident response, security architecture, SecOps and threat intelligence. Mike has worked on multiple APT attacks and was a principal threat hunter at RSA Security prior to Palo Alto Networks. He holds a BS from Georgia Institute of Technology (go Jackets!) as well as the following certifications: GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware (GREM), GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA), GIAC Network Forensic Analyst (GNFA), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:25 p.m.
Track: Tech Demo

Presenter: Rob Burzese, Microsoft

See and stop sophisticated threats, cross-domain attacks across your entire organization with SIEM reinvented for a modern world. Microsoft Sentinel is your birds-eye view across the enterprise. Put the cloud and large-scale intelligence from decades of Microsoft security experience to work. Make your threat detection and response smarter and faster with artificial intelligence (AI). Eliminate security infrastructure setup and maintenance, and elastically scale to meet your security needs. Please join the Microsoft Security of Education event at OHEIT to learn more about our offering and services.

Speaker: Rob Burzese, Microsoft

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations

The world is changing. The people coming back are not the same people we sent home two years ago. Students, staff and faculty are emerging from home offices, dining room tables and bedrooms more empowered than ever before. They have decided how they want to work, when they want to work and where they want to work. Today, we will discuss our vision for the future—where physical and digital environments merge to create an inclusive, immersive, collaborative experience that will adapt to the many new workstyles.

Speaker: Gary Sorrentino, Zoom

Speaker biography

Gary Sorrentino currently serves as global deputy CIO for Zoom Video Communications. A former managing director for J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management, Gary was the global head of client cyber awareness and education.

For over 12 years, Gary was the chief technology officer for J.P. Morgan AWM’s global technology infrastructure initiatives, where he managed its data privacy program and was responsible for infrastructure, application and end user technology production support. In 2014, he assumed a new role as the lead for their cybersecurity efforts and developed a firm-wide “Protect the Client” cyber program designed to raise cybersecurity awareness among employees and clients.

With almost 40 years of experience in information technology, Gary has served in various other IT leadership positions in firms across the financial services industry. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2005, Gary was head of global infrastructure and head of technology efficiencies at Citi Private Bank, where he was responsible for global infrastructure support and strategic technology initiatives. Other roles he has held include global technology CFO at Credit Suisse and North America IT controller at UBS.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Over the past few years, Laurier has been on a journey to introduce and adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA) amongst end users. As the digital landscape continues to evolve and cybersecurity threats become increasingly sophisticated, Laurier is joining institutions around the world in adopting MFA to help keep the digital assets, information and the user identities of our community safe. Sometimes known as two-step verification, MFA adds an extra layer of protection to help prevent hackers from accessing email accounts or other data—even if they have the account password. This is because, as its name suggests, MFA requires a second authentication method to access the account, unlike the traditional login process which requires only a single username and password.

MFA was successfully rolled out to Laurier faculty and staff in June 2021(called two-factor authentication at the time). As a result, ICT has seen a marked decrease in compromised staff and faculty accounts, assisting in risk mitigation efforts to counteract cybersecurity threats. However, as part of ongoing efforts to improve IT security across the university and increase these safeguards, it was recommended that the university require all active undergraduate, graduate and Wilfrid Laurier International College (WLIC) students to enroll in MFA for their Laurier accounts. This initiative was a project on an enterprise level, involving both internal staff, faculty stakeholders and students throughout the consultation process prior to launching MFA on an opt-in basis.

Through a detailed communication plan carried out by ICT and university partners, we are aiming to encourage as many students as possible to enroll in MFA ahead of it being made mandatory in May 2022. This presentation will focus on not only the technical aspects of how MFA was elected to be implemented in our environment but also the consultative and project-related processes that were undertaken to set up the university for success as this change is implemented.

Presenters: Jennifer Ferfolja and Yi Ruan, Wilfrid Laurier University

Presenter biographies

Jennifer Ferfolja is the acting director, ICT enterprise solutions and projects with the Wilfrid Laurier Information and Communication Technologies department. Her role is responsible for strategic planning and oversight of all aspects of the organization’s IT enterprise solutions operations in order to ensure stability and efficiency, project and process management and consultation services.

Yi Ruan is the manager, IdM and security with the Wilfrid Laurier Information and Communication Technologies department. His role is responsible for providing oversight and support for assessing risks, developing solutions and implementing procedures for identity provision and access management, enterprise security solutions and access control, as well as establishing a security stance through policy, architecture and training processes.

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations

Toronto Metropolitan University has embraced the hybrid work model—some employees continue to work from home with the full support of Human Resources, attending in-person at the office as needed, while others have welcomed the return to work on campus, with the opportunity to engage with co-workers and students in person.

The partial return to office following the COVID-19 pandemic has created a new set of challenges for information technology. Collaboration applications which were universally adopted while everyone was remote have to be tweaked for effective hybrid meetings where some participants are in the office and others are at home. In some cases, desk spaces will no longer be dedicated for all staff as the university seeks to reduce the leased footprint for office space. Hoteling or flex-desk introduces new requirements for desktop technology, identity management and security.

This presentation explores how Toronto Metropolitan University is pursuing its objective of ensuring IT applications and user experience are even considerations, whether staff are on-site or remote.

Presenters: Mourad Michael, Andrew Leslie and Brian Lesser; Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biographies

Mourad Michael joined TMU in 2005 as a manager of Network Engineering and has helped in the implementation of a reliable and redundant network infrastructure for TMU Community. He also focused on improving the WiFi coverage and capacity all over the campus. Since 2005 he has held several positions in CCS including Manager, Desktop Support, Manager, IT Security, Manager End-Users Computing and Director, Communications Infrastructure. Mourad introduced Eduroam and deployed the highest dense WiFi coverage at TRSM. He also introduced Next Generation Firewalls for better securing TMU's data centres and its IT resources. More recently, Mourad has worked on a number of new initiatives including Outdoor Wireless and SIP Unified Communications. Before TMU, Mourad worked in Nortel Networks, Hewlett Packard and Texas Instruments.

Toronto Metropolitan University has engaged Andrew Leslie of MTNS Solutions for the role of solution architect lead. Andrew draws on 26 years of experience in network applications, contributing technical knowledge, analytical skills and leadership to help project teams deliver results.  His recent focus is on Secure Access Edge, Next-Generation VPN and Multi-Cloud application visibility. Andrew has a track record of success, leading digital transformation initiatives for clients in the financial sector, governments and universities.

Brian Lesser is Toronto Metropolitan University's chief information officer (CIO). Brian helped develop the university’s first identity management system, establish an e-learning support team and was a founding member of the university's Digital Media Zone (DMZ) steering committee. The DMZ is Toronto Metropolitan's startup incubator and accelerator. Brian is a board member of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, manages the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers' (CUCCIO) cybersecurity benchmarking project and was a founding member of the CanSSOC steering committee. Prior to Toronto Metropolitan University, Brian worked at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and the National Archives of Canada.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: Technical
Format: Tutorial or workshop

This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a simple decentralized application on Ethereum Testnet. A demo and workshop will be presented on how to create a webpage front-end with buttons that can interact with smart contract functions. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop to the presentation with Visual Studio Code and the Metamask extension in Chrome installed.

Presenter: Violeta Gotcheva, York University

Presenter biography

Violeta Gotcheva is the IT director in the Faculty of Science at York University. With professional experience in higher education IT and three universities, Violeta is passionate about providing user-centred services for teaching and research that can make a positive change in the life of people. When not on the job, Violeta is broadening her interests in emerging and innovative technologies, most recently in the fields of AI, blockchain and sustainability.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Security is often perceived as a bottleneck. It does not have to be that way. In this talk, we will present the CMMC cybersecurity framework and explain high level benefits of using such a framework for research infrastructure, and practical considerations in applying it. Let's enable researchers!

Presenter: Raphaelle Gauriau and Sue McGlashan, University of Toronto

Presenter biography

Raphaelle Gauriau currently works as the information systems security manager at SciNet, the supercomputer centre at the University of Toronto. She brings 10 years of industry experience and is now dedicated to cybersecurity operations and compliance projects. She holds a master’s degree in computer science and CISSP certification.

Sue McGlashan has worked in universities since 1996, for many years in mathematics and computational sciences, managing systems and labs and projects to enhance learning and secure research. She has been with Information Security mostly in the risk space since 2014, and is now taking on information security for research. She holds a master’s degree in the administration of universities and colleges, and CISSP certification.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Track: Learning & Teaching
Audience: General Audience
Format: Product demonstration

The Digital Education Strategies team in the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is in the final stages of developing an icebreaker game for online courses, due for piloting in spring 2022. The game was developed with the goal of bringing together students with varying expectations and comfort levels toward online learning through a low-stakes, low-risk and inclusive interactive experience. The student-led gameplay involves participation in cooperative missions in common areas of interest (i.e., food, technology, arts and sports). By asking and answering questions related to specific interest areas, students get to know each other, make connections and further the gameplay.

This session will discuss the design and development of the game from the perspective of three different roles: Learning experience designer, UI/UX designer and application developer. Insights on user-centred design methodology and agile ways of developing will be shared as well as some of the challenges of designing for asynchronous gameplay. The session will end with a demonstration of the game.

Presenters: Matthew Ralston, Ethel Zlotnik and John Murray, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biographies

Matthew Ralston is an application developer with the Digital Education Strategies team in the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Toronto Metropolitan University. Matthew has been at the university for 16 years, working in application support and development, and has extensive experience with Google applications and scripting tools. In his current role, he develops applications and serious games to support online course development at the Chang School.

Ethel Zlotnik works as a UX/UI designer at Toronto Metropolitan University's Learning Experience Design Lab in the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education. Her job is to provide user experience recommendations based on best practices and learners' needs and goals. Ethel focuses on creating delightful digital experiences to improve learners' experiences through the design of digital products that are beautiful, usable and intuitive.

John Murray is a learning experience designer at the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Toronto Metropolitan University. Working within the Learning Experience Design Lab, his work centres on re-envisioning professional development support for online teaching, contributing to the planning and design of microcredential offerings, and doing research and thinking in the areas of learning analytics, learning engineering and AI-enhanced assessment. He is passionate about bringing authenticity and care to the design of online learning and online learning environments. He came into the learning design field with over five years of experience in global health education, which helped instill a holistic and empathetic approach to teaching and learning. John holds an MA in educational technology from Concordia University in Montreal.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

Universities are established pillars of society with their traditional values. They are part of an academic sector which is very slow to change, which is the opposite of the business sector. With the advancement of digital transformation knocking on the window of these established universities and their entrenched business processes and IT systems, departments need assistance to look at their business processes and current systems that they are using in order to jump forward into this digital age.

Through a case study, this presentation will explore methodologies, business drivers, improvement enablers and how IT and the university is changing and should change to serve their customers—university students. In 2021, a process and system review was undertaken to assess the Service Laurier department—an area providing front-line service on behalf of Enrolment Services, which focuses on supporting current students through the entire student lifecycle from initial inquiry through to convocation. The goal of this consultative engagement was to provide a holistic process review for the assistant vice-president of enrolment services and registrar. A business case was created, containing a list of recommendations (quick wins and longer-term recommendations) that the area could pursue in order to improve on customer service and user experience. Along with this, management was looking to allow the area to also improve staff workload in reducing manual or duplicated tasks.

Presenter: Stefanie MacKinnon, Wilfrid Laurier University

Presenter biography

Stefanie MacKinnon has been involved in the Wilfrid Laurier community for over 30 years, with most of it spent working in IT in various areas such as network infrastructure, support and project management. She is ITIL certified and SCRUM certified. Stefanie has sat on the university senate as a staff representative where she gained valuable experience in university governance. Stefanie just completed her business analyst certificate from Conestoga College. She completed undergraduate studies in north american archaeology and global studies. This provided her with good theoretical knowledge in global business, statistical quantitative and qualitative data analyses, research methodology and scientific methods, including biases. In 2015, Stefanie co-authored a paper, The Chew Site: A Case Study in the Value of Archived Artifact Collections, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Stefanie has a museum certificate from the Ontario Museum Association and in her spare time, volunteers at a local museum.

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 11:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

In recent months, there have been several high impact vulnerabilities that Canadian universities and colleges have had to respond to, the latest being Log4Shell. In this presentation, we explore how the community responded together, collaborated to share threat intelligence and synthesized the latest information related to Log4Shell to minimize noise and distractions. High-level information on some of the observed threat actors and payloads will be provided, but the focus will be on how intelligence-sharing supported the community during the various stages of Log4Shell attacks.

Presenters: Axel Schulz, CanSSOC; Andrew Brigham, University of Toronto

Presenter biographies

Axel Schulz works as a senior security analyst at CanSSOC, providing security expertise and advice to higher education institutions across Canada, and helping to deliver the Threat Feed service. Axel's past experience in the security sector includes working with multiple branches of the federal government, provincial governments and large Canadian banks. As a client incident lead, he was a member of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) Steering Committee responsible for securing and maintaining the ISO 27000 series of certifications, running vulnerability management, and leading a SOC team through 24/7/365 incident management. He holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and The Certified Security Awareness Practitioner (CSAP) certifications.

Andrew Brigham is director of the Technology Services Centre at Lakehead University, reporting to the offices of the provost and vice-president (academic) and the vice-president, administration and finance. Mr. Brigham provides leadership and vision for the continued development of an innovative and responsive information technology environment throughout the university. The primary responsibilities for his office cover an extensive portfolio of strategic technology, including resource allocation, information technology protocols, policies and procedures, consultation and communication, change management and project management. The Technology Services Centre provides central IT support for academic, research and administrative areas of the university. Delivery of IT infrastructure, teaching technologies, distance and remote communication services, information security systems, administrative systems and client support services are provided across two campuses through this team.

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 11:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

This session will present a high level overview of the architecture behind Brock University's successful switch of all physical labs to Azure Virtual Desktop. The virtual labs offer the same number of sessions as all our physical labs combined. They are fully automated using PowerShell scripts, scale automatically and run with minimal human intervention. Automation helps us control costs and reduce maintenance. Virtual labs are accessible from anywhere, 24/7/365, from any device with an HTML5 browser. User profiles are centrally managed with FSLogix. We went through several iterations, and refined our rollout.

Presenter: Andreas Paulisch, Brock University

Presenter biography

Andreas Paulisch is the IT infrastructure architect at Brock University. He spent the last 32 years in the information technology space in the metrology, aerospace and higher education sectors. His skills span IT architecture, manufacturing, operations and software development. As a seasoned IT professional, since the time before social media, Andreas has accumulated a plethora of knowledge. This experience has proven invaluable when architecting systems alongside legacy applications. Over the past decade, his focus has been on service virtualization and cloud strategies in higher education, with emphasis on Microsoft technology and Azure in particular. Andreas lives in Niagara Falls with his wife and their horse Lee. He is an avid boat builder and boater. Most of his weekends are spent on the water, cruising the Great Lakes in their steel tug boat Albatross VII.

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 11:50 p.m.
Track: Inclusivity & Collaboration
Audience: General Audience
Format: Product demonstration

Sa11y is an open source accessibility quality assurance tool that visually highlights common accessibility and usability issues. Geared towards content authors, Sa11y indicates errors or warnings at the source with a simple tooltip on how to fix an error. This tool was originally developed as an in-page accessibility checker customized for Toronto Metropolitan University's content management system. With several hundred website editors and over 40,000 web pages, ensuring usability and website accessibility poses its challenges. We made Sa11y in an effort to avoid expensive cloud-based accessibility tools and to enforce accessibility best practices in an easy, effortless way.

The presentation will explore:

• How Sa11y is custom designed for TMU’s CMS/templated environment to offer an easy-to-use, false-positive free tool
• How Sa11y is designed to take away the complexities of web accessibility and give confidence to non-technical website editors
• How Sa11y reduces the need to pay for expensive web accessibility cloud-based services

Presenter: Adam Chaboryk, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biography

Adam Chaboryk is a digital accessibility consultant and front-end web developer with a passion for building inclusive experiences. He is currently employed as an IT accessibility specialist at Toronto Metropolitan University. Adam enables the university community with the resources and guidance to create a more inclusive digital environment for all learners, faculty, staff and the general public. Adam also leads the development of Sa11y, an open source accessibility checker designed for content authors. Sa11y is featured on the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List, and is currently used by several hundred content authors across various organizations.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Innovations & Trends
Audience: General Audience
Format: Lecture style

In 2019, before the whole world started experimenting with virtual working, the University of Ottawa's IT department set up a shared workspace. This gave employees the opportunity to divide their time between reserving a desk in the office and working elsewhere. Before this environment was created, the IT department was housed in various locations across campus and for many years, there had been a desire to centralize the department to help foster collaboration across IT teams.

The only location available for a team of our size was quite far removed from central campus. The alternative was to occupy a smaller space with a reservation system in place, allowing employees to divide their time between working in the office or elsewhere. The best way to get buy-in for this new work format was to encourage employees to participate in deciding how this new space would work. We treated the move as a project, set up committees and strongly encouraged employees to participate in decision-making to create an environment suited to the team.

In this presentation, we will share our experience setting up the space along with some lessons learned along the way.

Presenter: Jennifer Lambert, University of Ottawa

Presenter biography

Jennifer Lambert was the lead contact for one of the committees that worked together to set up the University of Ottawa’s IT workspace in 2019. She joined the University of Ottawa in 2012 as a business analyst and in 2013 took on the role of application manager. In this role, she supported the admissions department through the transition from the mainframe SIS to PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. She is currently leading the academic services and planning team as interim IT solution manager.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical
Format: Lecture style

It was Thanksgiving weekend 2015 when our system monitoring detected performance issues on our internet-facing firewall. What started out as a routine investigation turned out to be a weekend-long battle to stop a DDoS attack. That attack caused unreliable internet access for our community and affected TMU's online presence. Little did we know that a good part of the next seven years was going to be spent hardening our network to better withstand a DoS.

We will talk about what happened and what we have been doing to improve the network resiliency at Toronto Metropolitan University. One way we do this is by trying to eliminate bottlenecks so attacks are not funnelled into a single point, and is spread out into smaller, more manageable chunks. Like anything in IT security though, the job is never done and there is always more to do.

Presenter: Paul Webber, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biography

Paul Webber went to school for all things IT. He started his career working for a network security managed service provider right out of school. He currently manages the Toronto Metropolitan University IT security operations team, which consists of five members. Paul had been in the IT security field for 15 years. He really enjoys Python, automation and digital forensics. He considers himself a hacker by old definitions, and loves to break things down and figure out how they work.

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Track: Cybersecurity
Audience: Technical staff only (Experienced cybersecurity professionals)
Format: Hands-on training experience; Product demonstration

Featuring the Catalyst Cyber Range platform at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, this hands-on and immersive experience offers participants an opportunity to test their technical cyber skills while racing against the clock and other participants.

Participants will race through an immersive Cyber Range experience that tests their technical detection and response to a social engineering attack. They will be taken through an attack that escalates with ransomware in an enterprise network and act as the security operations team to identify and respond to the current threat.

Participants will be provided with some guidelines, however, there will be obstacles they need to overcome to move through the scenarios.

In order to register, participants should be experienced cybersecurity professionals with a technical skill set, including:

• Solid knowledge of Linux
• Solid knowledge of networking
• Solid knowledge of firewalls

 (google form) Register for the Ransomware Escalation Challenge (external link) 

Presenter: Ian McWilliams, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst

Presenter biography

Ian has been in the cybersecurity space for over 18 years with 10 of those years spent as an educator. He holds a bachelor of computer science and a master's of engineering in computer networks. He has a variety of certifications, including the certified information system security professional (CISSP) and offensive security certified professional (OSCP) designations. He continues to be passionate about information technology and has recently been focusing on cloud security and the cyber range.

Time: 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Track: Transformations & Implementations
Audience: Technical
Format: Lecture

The transition to online learning has quickly made video streaming the main channel for course delivery. However, capturing and sharing these video recordings hasn’t always been as easy as a few clicks of a button. For Toronto Metropolitan University, Ryecast—the video hosting and streaming service—has evolved from a capture station on wheels to a fully integrated one-click tool on D2L Brightspace. In this session, we will:

• Talk about how we use the video platform and tools that support the service
• Share the challenges we faced over the last decade of capturing and streaming video and how that shaped our requirements during our search for a new solution
• Introduce the new Stream video platform powered by YuJa
• Provide an overview of our migration process for existing media on our old platform
• Define the impacts of the university's name change

Presenter: Arianne Velasquez, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presenter biography

Arianne Velasquez is a software and web developer at Toronto Metropolitan University. She works in the Digital Media Projects office to help users share videos within the video streaming platform. She has over 12 years of experience in developing solutions that help users share videos online quickly and securely.