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):

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Canvas Basics: Navigate, Customize & Build Your Course
Wednesday, August 26, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

Canvas Advanced: Deepening Your Course Management & Design
Friday, August 28, 2:30–1:30 p.m.

Faculty

AI Faculty Seminar Series

Brain Rendering

Featured events from the Research Institute for Digital Innovation in Learning (RIDIL)

The Move from GenAI to Agentic AI
Thursday, September 3, 12:20–1:20 p.m.
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
Tuesday, October 6, 12:20–1:20 p.m.
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

Thursday, September 10, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

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

Thursday, September 17, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

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

Thursday, September 24, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

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?

Thursday, October 15, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

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?

Thursday, November 12, 10:00–11:00 a.m.

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

Thursday, September 24, 2:00–2:45 p.m.

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

Thursday, October 29, 2:00–2:45 p.m.

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

Thursday, November 19, 2:00–2:45 p.m.

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

Thursday, December 3, 2:00–2:45 p.m.

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?

Tuesday, September 15, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

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?

Tuesday, October 20, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

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?

Tuesday, November 17, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

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?

Thursday, December 3, 12:30–1:30 p.m.

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.

Three students watching educational video on laptop in library, skilled team of young people using netbook and wifi in library

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.

Learn more about Monarchs ADAPT and how to register. Explore additional Digital Accessibility workshops.

Canvas

Teaching with Academic Technology: Leveraging Canvas Series

The Leveraging Canvas Series integrates ODU’s LMS Standards through practical, hands-on application in Canvas. Across four sessions, faculty will connect the standards to Canvas tools that support clear course organization, accessibility, assessment, feedback, and student success.

Sessions are conducted live, either on campus or virtually. For in-person events, participants are encouraged to bring their laptops, as these sessions include hands-on practice opportunities. Expand the sections below for descriptions, event dates and times, and registration links.

This session focuses on best practices and technical workflows for establishing instructor presence and improving student success in the digital workspace, including configuring user profiles and notification preferences to ensure sustained connection. We will edit key course materials—such as the home page, “Start Here” module, and announcements—to create a digital presence, build community, and sustain connection. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have a functional and welcoming course foundation.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will learn how to:

  • Configure a professional Canvas User Profile and Notification preferences to facilitate sustained instructor-to-student connections. 
  • Customize the course home page template using accessibility best practices to create an inviting visual foundation. 
  • Edit "Start Here" resources to humanize the digital space and model engagement in the initial discussion post. 
  • Create a welcome announcement to establish a consistent communication rhythm.

Sessions:

This session uses the principles of backward design to build assessments first, ensuring a clear path to student success. We will cover the technical workflow and best practices for managing student work through Canvas Assignments, Discussions, and the Gradebook. You will learn how to create varied assessment types, organize them into Assignment Groups, and configure specific Gradebook settings to streamline your administrative tasks. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have a functional, organized, and transparent assessment framework.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will learn how to:

  • Configure Assignment Groups and grading weights to establish a transparent course grading architecture. 
  • Design an accessible Canvas Assignment that outlines key evidence of student understanding. 
  • Customize a graded Discussion using high-engagement settings to promote authentic student reflection and original peer interactions. 
  • Establish automated policies for late and missing submissions in the Gradebook to set clear performance boundaries.

Sessions:

This session provides a technical deep dive into the Rubric tool and SpeedGrader to optimize your evaluation process and deliver impactful feedback without increasing your overall workload. We will cover how to build interactive rubrics, attach them to assignments and discussions, and utilize SpeedGrader to streamline your grading workflow. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have the tools to provide timely, consistent, and accessible student feedback.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will learn how to:

  • Build an interactive Canvas Rubric to establish clear, objective evaluation standards. 
  • Add rubric descriptors that act as scaffolds to reduce cognitive load and improve student learning. 
  • Link Rubrics to Canvas Assignments and Discussions for efficient grading workflows and consistent feedback. 
  • Use SpeedGrader functionality to deliver timely, multimodal, and accessible student feedback.

Sessions:

This session explores how to use Canvas Modules to organize your course into a logical weekly or thematic sequence and to control when and how students access content. We will cover adding diverse content types to modules, establishing requirements and prerequisites, and utilizing "Student View" to test access. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have a structured course layout that minimizes student questions and maximizes focus on learning.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will learn how to:

  • Utilize and customize a reusable template module to establish a predictable, efficient, and consistent layout that serves as the course’s primary infrastructure. 
  • Integrate and organize diverse content types under structured text headers and indentations to eliminate navigational friction. 
  • Implement module requirements, prerequisites, and lock dates to guide course flow and proactively scaffold student progress.
  • Use the Student View tool to audit visibility and access, ensuring that all resources are organized and published.

Sessions:

Canvas Power Builds (Mini-Labs)

Format: Live sessions conducted face-to-face or online, 30 min

For in-person events, participants are encouraged to bring their laptops, as these sessions include hands-on practice opportunities. Expand the sections below for descriptions, event dates and times, and registration links.

This hands-on mini lab focuses on using the Canvas Calendar to automate student meeting reservations and streamline multi-course time management. Following a short workflow demo, you will engage in a 20-minute hands-on sprint to configure Appointment Groups for office hours, filter multi-course views, and sync Canvas feeds to external calendars (Outlook/Google). By the end of this hands-on session, you will have an automated scheduling system that reduces administrative back-and-forth and keeps students connected.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will:

  • Configure Appointment Groups for office hours and student conferences to automate meeting sign-ups and set participant limits. 
  • Manage multi-course calendar views to maintain an accurate, transparent schedule of course milestones. 
  • Sync the Canvas Calendar feed directly into external calendars (Outlook/Google) to centralize schedule management.
  • Establish predictable scheduling routines that foster sustained instructor presence and reduce friction in student access.

Sessions:

This hands-on mini lab explores the technical mechanics of Canvas Item Banks for constructing dynamic, randomized quiz experiences that reinforce academic integrity. Following a quick exemplar preview, you will complete a 20-minute building sprint to create an Item Bank, add diverse question types, and build a quiz that dynamically draws randomized questions. You are encouraged to bring your own course materials to build a ready-to-use product, or you can work with the provided sample content to practice using the tools. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have a reusable question repository and an automated, self-grading assessment structure.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will:

  • Construct a reusable Canvas Item Bank to store, manage, and reuse assessment questions across terms. 
  • Design varied question types with clear point values to measure student understanding. 
  • Configure dynamic quiz structures that draw randomized question sets from Item Banks to strengthen academic integrity. 
  • Apply essential quiz settings, time limits, and attempt rules to streamline the administrative workflow.

Sessions:

This hands-on mini lab provides a focused, deep dive into advanced SpeedGrader features designed to deliver impactful feedback and optimize your grading workflow. After observing a rapid feature demonstration, you will submit work as a “Test Student” and complete a 20-minute practice sprint using DocViewer markup tools, custom comment libraries, and speech-to-text dictation. You are encouraged to bring your own course materials to build a ready-to-use product, or you can work with the provided sample content to practice using the tools. By the end of this hands-on session, you will master multimodal feedback tools that make evaluation efficient, personal, and accessible.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will:

  • Execute inline annotations and document markups using DocViewer tools to deliver precise, context-specific feedback. 
  • Build a personalized comment library of reusable feedback phrases to accelerate grading efficiency. 
  • Utilize speech-to-text dictation and audio/video feedback tools to humanize the evaluation process.

Sessions:

This hands-on mini lab focuses on leveraging Rich Content Editor (RCE) tools to transform standard text content into interactive, accessible digital learning spaces. Following a quick preview of a polished exemplar, you will complete a 20-minute building sprint to integrate interactive media and tools. By the end of this hands-on session, you will have a polished, media-rich Canvas discussion ready to engage students.

Learning Objectives. By the end of the session, faculty will:

  • Utilize tools that transform static text into active, collaborative learning spaces.
  • Integrate interactive media directly into content to elevate student engagement.
  • Structure content using accessible headings and formatting rules to eliminate visual noise and reduce cognitive load.

Sessions:

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:

Woman sitting at desk, using computer and waving to webcam

Instructional Technology Virtual Office Hours

ODU'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: