Fall Refresh Series
Daily sessions designed to get you refreshed prior to the start of the classes.
Series 1 (prior to Fall semester/first 8-week term):
Monarchs Accessibility Design and Practice Training (ADAPT): Why We Reign Accessibly establishes that your commitment to inclusive course design directly impacts your students' success, ensuring every learner has equitable access from day one. While the University bears the ultimate legal liability for systemic barriers, compliance starts with you making accessible design an essential professional obligation to your classroom. Participants will learn to differentiate between reactive accommodation and proactive compliance, identifying this series as a core training component for digital accessibility.
This foundational workshop will equip you with the essential skills to effectively use Canvas. You will learn to navigate the Canvas interface, personalize your Dashboard and account settings, and adjust course-level configurations. We'll cover how to create organized modules and add various types of content using the Rich Content Editor (RCE), and introduce you to the course Gradebook for managing student progress.
In this workshop, you will move beyond the print-to-PDF trap and explore the 3Rs Framework: Retire, Replace, and Remediate. Join us to learn how prioritizing fluid formats (e.g., Microsoft Word documents and Canvas Pages) reduces your workload while providing superior mobile access for students. We will also showcase how to use Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) to rescue unfixable or dense PDFs, transforming them into high-quality, accessible audio podcasts that drive deeper student engagement.
This session introduces the core features of Panopto, focusing on how to create and edit videos using Panopto Capture. You will learn how to access and use Panopto Capture, record and edit videos, and upload them to the platform. This workshop includes a hands-on opportunity for participants to practice using Panopto Capture during the session.
This workshop builds upon your foundational Canvas knowledge, empowering you to leverage more advanced features for efficient course management and enhanced student engagement. You will learn to streamline communication, strategically organize modules for optimal course flow, and create diverse content and assignment types. We’ll cover how to implement rubrics and weight grades using Assignment Groups, refine your course with TidyUP, and ensure your materials are fully accessible using YuJa Panorama. This session is designed for instructors ready to take their Canvas course design to the next level.
AI Faculty Seminar Series
Featured events from the Research Institute for Digital Innovation in Learning (RIDIL)
The Move from GenAI to Agentic AI
Much of the current discussion in education still centers on generative AI, yet the technology has already moved toward systems that operate semi-autonomously. This presentation demonstrates and demystifies how these agentic systems work and their implications for higher education.
AI in Higher Education: Hype, Techlash, and the Evidence
This presentation examines the competing narratives of enthusiasm and resistance surrounding artificial intelligence in higher education. Drawing on current research, it considers what the evidence shows.
AI Workshops
Prompt Engineering for Educators: Getting Better Results from Generative AI
Effective prompting is the foundation of successful AI-assisted teaching and learning. This session introduces practical prompt engineering techniques that help faculty generate accurate, relevant, and useful AI responses for course design, lesson planning, assessment development, and student support. Participants will learn prompt frameworks, strategies for refining AI-generated content, and methods for creating reusable prompts that enhance teaching productivity.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Write effective prompts for instructional tasks.
- Improve AI responses through iterative prompting.
- Develop reusable prompt templates.
- Apply prompt engineering to course design, assessment, and instructional planning.
Can AI Actually Save Me Time? Faculty Share What Really Works
Discover how faculty are using generative AI to streamline teaching responsibilities while maintaining instructional quality. Through demonstrations and real-world examples, presenters will share practical workflows for lesson planning, content development, grading support, feedback generation, and communication with students.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Identify instructional tasks that benefit from AI.
- Improve teaching efficiency using AI-supported workflows.
- Create instructional materials more efficiently.
- Evaluate AI-generated content before implementation.
AI and the Academic Library: Research, Information Literacy, and Responsible Use
Generative AI is transforming how students discover, evaluate, and use information. This session explores AI from the academic library perspective, focusing on scholarly research, information literacy, copyright, citation practices, and responsible AI use. Participants will examine strategies for helping students critically evaluate AI-generated content while effectively leveraging library resources.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Explain AI’s role in academic research and information discovery.
- Identify the strengths and limitations of AI-generated information.
- Integrate AI literacy and information literacy into course activities.
- Guide students in ethical AI-assisted research.
- Connect students with library resources that complement AI-supported research.
Students Are Already Using AI—Now What?
Students are increasingly incorporating AI into their learning, making it essential for faculty to establish clear expectations and instructional strategies. This session explores practical approaches for teaching AI literacy, promoting ethical AI use, developing course policies, and designing authentic learning experiences that encourage critical thinking and responsible technology use.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Develop classroom guidelines for AI use.
- Incorporate AI literacy into instruction.
- Design authentic, AI-informed learning activities.
- Promote responsible and ethical AI practices.
Faculty AI Showcase: What Worked, What Didn’t, and What’s Next?
Faculty from across the university will share experiences integrating AI into teaching and learning. Presenters will discuss successful strategies, lessons learned, student feedback, and future opportunities while demonstrating innovative approaches that participants can adapt to their own courses.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:
- Learn from faculty implementation experiences.
- Identify effective AI integration strategies.
- Reflect on successes and challenges.
- Explore future applications of AI in higher education.
AI Mini Labs
Building Better AI Prompts for Student Success
Strengthen your AI prompting skills through guided, hands-on practice. In this session, you'll learn practical prompting strategies that help you create engaging learning activities, generate course content, develop assessments, and support student learning more effectively. Participants will explore prompt frameworks, role prompting, prompt chaining, and reusable prompt templates applicable across teaching, course development, and faculty workflows.
Gemini Notebook for Faculty
Discover how Gemini Notebook can organize course resources, summarize readings, generate study guides, and support course preparation. Participants will create a Gemini Notebook workspace using their own instructional materials and explore ways to support student learning.
AI for Feedback & Course Design
Learn practical strategies for using AI to draft personalized formative feedback, create rubrics, design engaging learning activities, and develop instructional materials aligned with course outcomes while maintaining faculty oversight.
Designing AI-Ready Assignments
Explore strategies for designing assignments that acknowledge AI as part of today’s educational environment while promoting authentic assessment, higher-order thinking, and meaningful student engagement. Participants will redesign an existing assignment using evidence-based instructional design principles.
Accelerated Course Design: Voices from the Classroom
Can Students Learn the Same in 8 Weeks?
One of the most common concerns surrounding accelerated learning is whether an 8-week course can maintain the same depth, quality, and learning outcomes as a traditional 16-week course. In this faculty-led conversation, instructors who have successfully taught accelerated courses will share how they adapted assignments, structured learning experiences, and maintained high expectations while supporting student success. Faculty presenters will provide models, discuss what surprised them, what they learned throughout the process, and how they gathered evidence that students achieved meaningful learning outcomes. Participants will gain practical ideas for preserving rigor while adapting courses to an accelerated format.
How Much Is Too Much?
Accelerated courses require students to engage with content at a faster pace, making thoughtful course design and workload management more important than ever. Faculty presenters will discuss how they balanced content, organized learning activities, established realistic expectations, and revised courses based on student experiences. Through examples and reflection, participants will explore strategies for supporting student learning while avoiding unnecessary cognitive overload. Faculty will share small adjustments that produced meaningful improvements in engagement, persistence, and overall course effectiveness.
Are Your Assessments Supporting Learning?
Assessment is often one of the most challenging aspects of teaching in an accelerated format. This session explores how faculty have designed assessments that maintain academic standards while promoting meaningful learning and providing students with opportunities for success. Faculty presenters will share examples of authentic assessments, scaffolded assignments, formative feedback strategies, and transparent assignment design. Participants will leave with ideas for creating assessments that provide valuable evidence of learning without overwhelming students or increasing unnecessary workload.
What Worked, What Didn’t, and What Would You Change?
Some of the most valuable lessons emerge through experimentation, revision, and reflection. In this candid faculty panel discussion, instructors will share successes, challenges, unexpected outcomes, and lessons learned from teaching in accelerated formats. Faculty presenters will provide models, discuss strategies that exceeded expectations, approaches that did not work as intended, and the changes they would make in future course offerings. Participants will gain practical insights into continuous course improvement while learning from the real experiences of colleagues across disciplines.
Introducing Monarchs ADAPT
New regulations in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require all digital assets to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.
To help meet the federal deadline and to broaden compliance after it, we are launching Monarchs Accessibility Design and Practice Training (ADAPT)—a structured series of self-paced workshops focused on creating accessible digital content. These workshops are designed to be integrated into your existing course prep workflows. As you progress, you will earn Certificates of Completion that recognize your growth in inclusive design.
While Monarchs ADAPT provides technical steps to remediate existing accessibility errors, its primary focus is on proactive design. By building materials accessibly from the start, we significantly reduce repetitive, time-consuming fixes.
Canvas Learning Series
Teaching with Academic Technology: Leveraging Canvas Series
Fall 2026 sessions coming soon.
Canvas Power Builds (Mini Labs)
Fall 2026 sessions coming soon.
Monarch Board: Enhanced Classroom
- 30 minutes
- Face-to-face in Gornto 221
Step into the future of interactive instruction. This 30-minute workshop aims to show you how the Monarch Board can transform your classroom. From using the digital whiteboard to seamlessly integrating your PC content with live annotations, you'll gain the skills to create a more engaging learning environment. Come prepared to dive in; in this session, you'll not only learn about the key functions of the board, you'll have the opportunity to practice, ask questions, and provide feedback. For classrooms equipped with Colaj, we will also discuss how that technology can be used for accessible speech transcription and live student interaction.
Click a session date to register to attend:
Instructional Technology Virtual Office Hours
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's Instructional Technology team is holding Office Hours on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of each month, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., to support you in Canvas, TidyUP & YuJa, Panopto, and accessibility. Please bring specific questions you may have to help guide the discussion. We look forward to assisting you!
Click a session date to register: