Meangingful use of technology can transform online learning. Digital tools integrated in learning management systems have the potential to create immersive learning experiences where students build skills through practical application of critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. Technology provides many options to create digital interaction in our courses. But how many of those interactions are meaningful? Meaningful digital interaction focuses on learning experiences that are engaging, purposeful, and move beyond the click and scroll to build kills and achieve learning outcomes.  

The session will showcase examples of asset development that leverage visual storytelling, immersive learning, and gamification strategies that speak directly to purpose and engagement through motivation and relevance in authentic assessment design. We will discuss ways to use AI to craft diverse narratives that relate to learners from different backgrounds. This can make it easier to integrate universal design [UDL] principles in asset development by supporting enhanced engagement strategies for a variety of learner groups. Finally, the session will share strategies to leverage AI to improve accessibility in custom course assets. Participants will see examples from Articulate Rise, Storyline, Captivate, and H5P, but the session will offer alternative options for users without access to these tools. 

Participants will leave the session with an adaptable technology checklist they can use to evaluate apps for specific learning strategies and delivery models to help enhance student engagement and learning outcomes throughout the development process.

We are ramping up our professional development for faculty and staff by creating a Canvas course that will require activity outside the initial workshop.  Each workshop will have a module with a discussion board and quiz as well as content.  Credly badges will be given for each module completed and a certificate will be given for completing the entire course.  Participants will have to achieve a 90% on quizzes to get a badge.

In a time of rapid AI advancement, educators need support and structure to confidently explore new tools and technologies. This session shares insights from the design and teaching of AI in Education, a new interdisciplinary course created to introduce educators and students to artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The course enrolled undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines—including education majors, K–12 teachers, and higher education faculty—providing a rich, collaborative learning environment. Topics included large language models (LLMs) and prompt engineering, generative image and music tools, student and educator use of AI, and ethics and emerging policies.

Participants in this session will gain access to real classroom activities, course outline, and student feedback. You’ll hear about lessons learned from teaching AI to educators and students at varying levels of technical experience, and discover how students responded to the content through reflective feedback and hand on learning assignments.

Whether you're developing professional learning for colleagues, designing online courses, or exploring ways to build digital literacy into your curriculum, this session will offer practical ideas and a flexible framework for introducing AI in ways that are thoughtful, inclusive, and engaging.

Making tutorial videos as someone not trained in the art of video editing can be challenging. Fortunately, the video editing software, Camtasia, has an interface easy enough for a beginner to use. The presenter is a librarian who has been making voice-over tutorial videos for over a year. These videos typically show how to use library databases, how to identify credible sources, and other research-related concepts. This session will detail a video creation process the presenter developed, from pre-production to post-production, along with general video making tips using Camtasia, but these tips will likely be transferable to other video editing software. We will explore basic video script writing and how to balance voice-over work with screen demonstrations. Next, the presenter will explain the two editing phases she developed: a “trimming” phase and an “adding” phase. The former will show ways to edit out unwanted parts while the latter will show ways to add features such as animations, transitions, shape and text elements, and more visual elements that enhance the video. Features of Microsoft Stream, a video publisher, will be shown. Last, the presenter will show LibGuide pages that organize these video tutorials based on topic or steps of the research process. The session is not intended to be a fully comprehensive tutorial of Camtasia, but rather it is meant to show how a beginner with little video making experience has developed a process for creating voice-over tutorial videos.

How can we use digital tools to nurture student engagement and cultivate meaningful connections from day one in online and hybrid courses? This session will showcase how Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) principles, combined with tools like Rise 360 and Synthesia, can be leveraged to design an intentional “roadmap to success.” Participants will explore strategies such as building a welcoming digital presence, fostering early peer interaction, and offering interactive classroom experiences that support student understanding and confidence. Attendees will leave with a sample of replicable ideas and digital resources to help them plant the seeds of connection and engagement in their own courses.

Session Description:

First impressions in digital learning environments can either cultivate or constrain student growth. In this session, presenters will share how they’ve used Universal Design for Instruction to develop a digital “roadmap” that sets a strong foundation for student success in online and hybrid courses. Designed to engage learners from the start, this roadmap includes:

A digitally delivered welcome experience that builds instructor presence and sets the tone

Interactive classroom engagement strategies that go beyond static documents

Course success tips and early check-ins to assess student understanding

Use of tools like Rise 360 and Synthesia to deliver accessible, visually engaging, and student-centered content

The session will conclude with a collaborative exchange of ideas, where participants brainstorm additional tools and techniques for creating meaningful first impressions using AI, apps, or LTIs. These ideas will be compiled into a shared resource guide distributed post-session.

As the use of artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, higher education is uniquely positioned to leverage its potential for deeper engagement, personalization, and collaboration in online learning environments. This session is designed to equip educators with the skills to cultivate diverse perspectives by designing AI-powered learning scenarios that reflect a range of cultural and social viewpoints. Participants will explore how to create two or more adaptable learning experiences that embrace varied approaches and cultural perspectives. 

The session will also focus on the use of AI in nurturing student growth. Participants will see examples of how AI can generate custom rubrics, aligned to assignments, identify individual learning gaps, and offer targeted, actionable feedback.  

Participants will harvest the benefits of collaborative AI tools by evaluating their role in enhancing online group interactions, peer reviews, collaborative discussions, and metacognitive prompts.  

The session offers hands-on exploration of AI-enhanced environments and concludes with a critical framework for selecting, evaluating, and integrating AI tools that align with inclusive teaching practices and learner engagement goals. 

What does it mean to engage in information literacy in the age of generative AI? Bring your laptop or device and participate in a hands-on session to explore some common AI tools and consider what students know - and don't know - about using artificial intelligence in their classroom and in their future. The session will include examples of learning activities, strategies for information literacy, and practical guidelines and resources.

Looking for an ed tech tool you can integrate easily with Canvas or have students use anonymously? Discover three ways you can use Lucidspark to improve student engagement with each other and course content. 

In this interactive session, you will have the opportunity to engage with Lucidspark as an anonymous participant in a poll to demonstrate how you could collect informal metadata about student learning to get real-time feedback. You will also be able to anonymously participate in some collaborative activities to demonstrate how Lucidspark can be used to build a visual, collective representation of a class concept or demonstrate the relationship between student ideas or observations and class concepts. Finally, the session will end with a demonstration of how a student can complete and submit a Lucidspark activity individually in Canvas for independent reflection and discovery. 

New ADA regulations are coming—and for instructional designers and faculty working in digital education, April 2026 will be here sooner than we think. The Department of Justice’s updated accessibility rules for Title II entities (including public colleges and universities) mark the first major regulatory shift in years, with specific requirements that will directly impact online course content, platforms, and instructional practices.

This session will focus on what these new regulations mean for online learning environments and what you can do now to prepare. We'll highlight the most significant changes and zoom in on a few high-impact areas that are especially relevant to online courses. Whether you're updating existing courses or supporting faculty in creating new ones, you’ll leave with strategies that are realistic, actionable, and rooted in best practices.

Whether you're just beginning to think about compliance or already working on accessibility initiatives, this session will give you actionable steps and resources to move forward with confidence. Join us to cultivate your knowledge and prepare your digital learning environments for a more inclusive and compliant future.

This session focuses on the idea that learning is an adventure - showcasing an eLearning module labeled “Passport to [insert course #].”  The goals of the "Passport to [course #]" include: (1) synthesizing the course syllabus into a more user-friendly experience; (2)  establishing the climate for the course as adventuresome and led by an approachable and caring guide; (3) building student confidence so that they understand what the course is about; and (4)  reducing the number of “oops” made because a direction was not followed.

The "Passport to [course #]" is a 15-minute eLearning Module in Rise 360. When students enter the Blackboard Course, they see the Passport image and are directed to click on this Passport to enter. The sections in the Passport include: a video welcome, course info, syllabus highlights reel + assignment review, policies and resources, next steps, and a quiz. 

The Passport to [course #] will help students gain their footing and is a personal way to build a connection in an online environment. 

As generative AI tools become increasingly accessible, students are experimenting with them in ways that challenge traditional academic norms and open new learning possibilities. This session explores the current research on how students are using AI, their perspectives on its role in learning, and how educators can engage students in meaningful, age-appropriate conversations about the ethical use of AI.

We’ll examine how to foster responsible AI use through meaningful conversations about academic integrity, as well as how to set clear expectations around transparency and citation. Sample student-facing prompts, creative use cases, and free or low-cost AI tools will be shared to support productive and responsible student engagement. We’ll also cover best practices for helping students cite AI use properly.

This session is designed to support educators, instructional designers, and academic leaders who want to better understand the student-AI dynamic and feel more confident in guiding ethical, creative, and academically sound student engagement with AI.

The Foundations of Impactful Teaching (FIT) program at the University of Louisville is a comprehensive faculty development initiative designed to equip educators with the skills and strategies needed to foster student success across course modalities. This session will explore how FIT empowers faculty seeking to enhance their teaching across all modalities, including face to face, online and blended.

Participants in FIT engage in a collaborative process with instructional designers, developing key course components and receiving ongoing support throughout the course design and development process. This session will highlight the flexible structure of FIT, which allows educators to choose the pathway that best aligns with their teaching goals and schedules, while maintaining a focus on quality, engagement, and learner success.

Attendees will learn how the FIT program models a practical, adaptable framework for faculty development. This session is ideal for faculty developers and instructional designers interested in exploring flexible, scalable models for educator training across teaching modalities.

As generative AI transforms higher education, faculty and staff need both expansive resources and personalized guidance to navigate this evolving landscape. Our institution’s Gen-AI site serves as a comprehensive starting point—offering tools, sample prompts, syllabus language, ethical considerations, discipline-specific use cases, and real-time updates to support exploration and experimentation. 

But for many educators, the real challenge isn’t access—it’s direction. That’s where the AI Teaching Navigator comes in. This custom-built tool offers a curated experience, helping users identify where they are on their AI journey and guiding them toward relevant tools, strategies, and support based on their teaching role, comfort level, and goals. The Navigator includes features like a syllabus statement generator, sample prompts tailored to learning objectives, classroom policies, and suggestions for using AI in assessment, engagement, and reflection activities. We’ll also share how we’ve paired the open-ended exploration of the Gen-AI site with the focused, adaptive experience of the Navigator to create a responsive professional learning ecosystem. 

Lastly, we’ll walk participants through a mock course scenario using the Navigator, demonstrating how the tool helps educators make intentional decisions about incorporating AI into their teaching.