Digital Literacy Fridays 2025 2026
Digital literacy is the ability to use, create, evaluate, and engage critically with digital technologies to complete tasks safely and ethically in professional and civic contexts.
Digital Literacy Fridays
Nearly every Friday throughout the academic year, we are hosting sessions related to digital literacy. Sponsored by the Digital Literacy Initiative, Pew FTLC, and eLearning Technologies, we are featuring faculty and staff experts who will share approaches, provide hands-on learning, and facilitate lively, cross-disciplinary conversations. The sessions rotate between the Allendale campus, Pew Grand Rapids campus, and Zoom.
All sessions will take place from 11am to 12pm on Fridays. The table below provides schedule details and registration links for each session. As the schedule continues to be built, additional details will be added.
Session materials are being shared via a Blackboard Organization–Digital Literacy-Faculty Professional Development–open to all faculty and staff. This organization is open for self-enrollment. Contact us for access support, if needed.
Fall Semester Schedule, all sessions held on Friday from 11am to 12pm
|
DATE & LOCATION |
TOPIC & DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
|
September 5 3000 Zumberge Hall, Valley Campus |
Digital Literacy @ GVSU and Beyond: Building a Culture of Technological Equity This introductory section will engage participants in the work underway to catalyze digital literacy across the curriculum at Grand Valley. Through dialogue and collaborative exploration, participants will interact with a framework that contextualizes digital literacy within the institution’s values and liberal arts mission. The framework will serve as a tool for identifying the digital literacy skills students need to succeed while also guiding critical and collaborative reflection on the conditions and resources required to foster equitable and inclusive learning environments. Facilitators: Laurence José, Digital Studies & Writing; Vinicius Lima, Visual & Media Arts |
|
September 12 *** MOVED TO ZOOM - CONTACT KELLEY SENKOWSKI FOR LINK *** |
Design Higher Order Thinking into Your Course using the Bb AI Design Assistant Discover how Blackboard’s new AI tools can help you create dynamic, engaging learning experiences using your own course content. In this hands-on session, you’ll explore how to leverage AI to refresh materials, promote higher-order thinking, and design effective assessments aligned with your learning objectives. We’ll demonstrate how the built-in tools can assist with generating test questions, assignments, module ideas, rubrics, discussion prompts, and even role-playing scenarios, tailored to your existing content. Participants will hear from two instructors who participated in our AI Pilot and learn how they leveraged these tools to support their fall course planning. Facilitators: Raymond Higbea, Community Leadership & Development, Kelley Senkowski, eLearning Technologies; Vince St. Germain, eLearning Technologies; Julia Vandermolen, Interdisciplinary Health |
|
September 19 Zoom |
Digital Approaches to Teaching General Education/University Student Learning Outcomes There are many ways to design courses to meet the university-level undergraduate and general education student learning outcomes (collaboration, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, information literacy, integration, oral communication, problem solving, quantitative literacy, written communication). Integration of technologies and digital approaches to meeting these learning outcomes will be discussed in this session. Come learn about creative approaches being implemented by your colleagues and explore new tools and assignments to adapt to your own contexts. Facilitators: Christine Rener, Pew FTLC; others TBD |
|
September 26 3000 Zumberge Hall, Valley Campus *** MOVED TO ZOOM - CONTACT KELLEY SENKOWSKI FOR LINK *** |
From Clutter to Clarity: A Visual Makeover for Your Blackboard Course Is your Blackboard course feeling a little too cluttered? Join us for this hands-on workshop to explore how the latest tools in Blackboard can help you streamline your course layout, improve navigation, and enhance the student learning experience. We'll demonstrate how to easily convert existing folders into structured learning modules, take advantage of the new table of contents feature, and incorporate knowledge checks that support student understanding and retention. Whether you're teaching a new course or refreshing an existing one, you'll leave with practical strategies and time-saving tools to bring clarity and structure to your course design. Facilitators: Kelley Senkowski and Stephanie Webber, eLearning Technologies |
|
October 3 322 John G. Russell Leadership Center/Consumers Energy Center (CEC), Pew Grand Rapids Campus |
AI and Writing A discussion of what faculty are seeing, what students are hearing, and how both can work together to shape expectations for AI and learning. Relevant topics include: assignment redesigns, rethinking learning objectives, stories from the trenches of what is working or not, false positives accusing students of using AI, collaborating with campus resources, and discussing what is next for AI and its role in writing Facilitator: Lindsay Ellis, English & Supplemental Writing Skills (SWS) |
|
October 10 Zoom |
Getting Started with Adobe Express: A Powerful Alternative to Canva Join us for a beginner-friendly session on Adobe Express, Adobe’s cloud-based design tool for creating stunning graphics, videos, PDFs, web pages, and more. No previous design experience needed. Formerly known as Adobe Spark and Creative Cloud Express, it offers intuitive templates and drag-and-drop tools to bring your ideas to life. In this session, you’ll learn how to navigate the platform, customize content for different uses, and easily share or download your creations—all with free access for the GVSU community. Facilitators: Noah Campbell and Kyle Macciomei, eLearning Technologies |
|
October 17 *** SESSION CANCELED *** |
Beyond the Classroom: How the Digital Creator Lab Supports Your Students Join us for a short session to learn how the Digital Creator Lab supports faculty and students with digital projects and skill-building. Whether you're assigning a podcast, incorporating digital tools, or just want students to get more comfortable with technology, we can help. You’ll learn about in-class support, student Digital Literacy Consultants, and the resources available to help make digital assignments less overwhelming for you and your students! Facilitators: Avery Olearczyk, Jen Torreano, and Enrique Ramirez, University Libraries |
|
October 31 *** MOVED TO ZOOM - CONTACT PEW FTLC FOR LINK *** |
Digital Approaches to Accessibility Join experts from Student Accessibility Resources and eLearning Technologies to explore strategies for making your digital content more accessible. Learn how to connect with campus partners leading the way in digital inclusion, discover assistive technologies built into Microsoft and Blackboard, and explore how to run accessibility reports, set accommodations, and provide alternative formats for your students, all within your Blackboard course. Facilitators: Tim Mohnkern, Student Accessibility Resources; Barbara Stevens, eLearning Technologies |
|
November 7 Zoom |
Engaging students with Social Annotation using Hypothesis Join us for an interactive webinar on using Hypothesis, a social annotation tool that promotes active reading, peer-to-peer interaction, and deeper student engagement. We’ll demonstrate how to integrate Hypothesis into your Blackboard course, including supported content types like PDFs, webpages, images, and JSTOR articles. Participants will also hear from GVSU English Department faculty Corinna McLeod about how she uses Hypothesis to enhance student learning and engagement. Facilitators: Corinna McLeod, English; Vince St. Germain, eLearning Technologies |
|
November 14 3000 Zumberge Hall, Valley Campus
|
Assignments to Support Responsible Student Use of AI AI can be a useful tool to make learning more accessible and more fun; it becomes problematic when used to avoid doing the work of learning. What’s the best way to begin an open conversation about AI use? How can we guide students toward recognition that the process of education is the purpose? In this hands-on, curiosity-driven workshop, we’ll have this conversation together and then share ideas for low-stakes, in-class exercises that let students safely explore AI as a thinking partner—sparking curiosity, boosting engagement, and building essential digital literacy skills. By tapping into students’ sense of adventure and their natural curiosity, we’ll discover exciting new ways to reach and teach diverse learners. Bring your laptop and your questions—this is a playful, hands-on session designed for communication, experimentation, inspiration, and shared discovery. Facilitators: Elizabeth Flandreau, Psychology; Tammy Stachowicz, School of Interdisciplinary Studies |
|
November 21 322 John G. Russell Leadership Center/Consumers Energy Center (CEC), Pew Grand Rapids Campus
|
Ethical Considerations of AI Facilitators: Jeffrey Byrnes, Philosophy |
|
December 5 Zoom |
Passive to Participatory: Boost Engagement with Zoom Features Discover how to leverage Zoom tools to enhance and support your courses or team collaborations. Participants who attend this webinar will gain proficiency in using the appointment scheduler, chat channels for teams or courses, whiteboards, breakout rooms, polls and Zoom notes. Facilitators: Barbara Stevens and Vince St. Germain, eLearning Technologies |
|
December 12 3000 Zumberge Hall, Valley Campus |
What Does AI Mean for Liberal Education? Artificial intelligence presents both challenges and opportunities for an institution dedicated to providing a liberal education. Come reflect and learn with a small group of faculty who have been thinking deeply about this topic. Facilitators: TBD |