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
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.
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.
Introducing Monarchs ADAPT
New regulations in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require all digital assets to meet the 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 the time spent on repetitive, time-consuming fixes.
Canvas Learning Series
Canvas Basics: Navigate, Customize & Build Your Course
Fall 2026 training sessions coming soon.
Canvas Advanced: Deepening Your Course Management & Design
Fall 2026 training sessions coming soon.
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 with any questions you may have about 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:
- Thursday, August 13, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, August 27, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, September 10, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, September 24, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, October 8, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, October 22, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, November 12, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Thursday, December 10, 12:30–1:30 p.m.