Digital Literacy Summer Institute

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. 


2025 Digital Literacy Summer Institute

June 24 – 26 
9 am – 4 pm 

L. V. Eberhard Center, Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus

 

*** REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED ***


What is involved?

The Summer Institute has been designed to support continued faculty learning with the goal of enhancing digital literacy across Grand Valley State University's curriculum. Building upon the strong foundation of expertise and best practices already in place, we seek to bring together faculty from across the disciplines and experience levels to learn and explore. The week begins with a required common session (Tuesday 9am-12pm) that introduces a digital literacy framework and sets the stage for the week's sessions. Concurrent sessions on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday allow participants to select which topics to explore more deeply. Participants will engage in hands-on practice and gain insights into how digital literacy platforms and approaches can be effectively integrated into their courses and professional practices. 

 

Participants are eligible for a $250 stipend upon completion of at least three sessions during the week and submission of a final reflection. Participants will also have the claim a digital badge. 

Who can participate?

The Institute is intended primarily for faculty, tenure-track and non-tenure-track alike. Faculty on 12-month appointments are not eligible for the participation stipend. While invited to attend if space permits, staff are also not eligible for the participation stipend. 

 

 

 

How do I apply?

Register through the above Qualtrics links. 

The Institute is limited to 80 participants. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Pew FTLC at [email protected].

 


Schedule

 

Tuesday, June 24

Wednesday, June 25

Thursday, June 26

9 - 12

Session A  (9am–11am)
EC 215
Digital Literacy @ GVSU and Beyond: Building a Culture of Technological Equity  

Session B  (11am–12pm)
EC 215
AI Introduction & Overview

 

Session D (9am–12pm)
EC 614
Design Higher Order Thinking into Your Course using the Bb AI Design Assistant

or

Session E (9am–12pm)
EC 512
AI and Critical Thinking

Session H (9am–12pm)
EC 614
Digital Approaches to Accessibility

or

Session I (9am–12pm)
EC 512
Digital Etiquette: Effective, Respectful Communication in Online Spaces

12 - 1

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

1 - 4 

Session C (1pm–4pm)
EC 215
AI and Student Writing

Session F (1pm–4pm)
EC 614
Online Presentation Assignments and Enterprise Tools

or

Session G (1pm–4pm)
EC 512
Digital Citizenship and Ethics through the Lens of Liberal Education 

Session J (1pm–4pm)
EC 614
DEI Meets DIY: Unfolding the Digital Literacy Landscape With Zines

or

Session K (1pm–4pm)
EC 512
Strategies to Support Responsible Student Use of AI


Session Descriptions

Tuesday, June 24: Session A (9–11am) 
Digital Literacy @ GVSU and Beyond: Building a Culture of Technological Equity 
EC 215
Laurence José, Digital Studies & Writing; Vinicius Lima, Visual & Media Arts

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.

 

Tuesday, June 24: Session B (11am–noon) 
AI Introduction and Overview 
EC 215
Kamrul Hasan, College of Computing

This session, "AI Introduction & Overview," offers a primarily non-technical and approachable introduction to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence—clarifying what AI is, and what it isn’t, through relatable examples. Participants will explore commonly used AI tools in a hands-on segment, discovering how they may already be interacting with AI in their daily lives. The session will also outline key types of AI currently in use and provide insight into anticipated advancements in the near future. To wrap up, an open Q&A will invite questions, reflections, and discussion among attendees.

 

Tuesday, June 24: Session C (1pm–4pm) 
AI and Student Writing  
EC 215         
Alisha Karabinus, Writing & School of Interdisciplinary Studies; Patrick Johnson, Writing Center; Lindsay Ellis, English & Supplemental Writing Skills (SWS)  

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

 

Wednesday, June 25: Session D (9am–12pm) 
Design Higher Order Thinking into Your Course using the Bb AI Design Assistant
EC 614

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 gain access to our testing/stage Bb environment for hands-on exploration of each AI feature.

 

Wednesday, June 25: Session E (9am–12pm)
AI and Critical Thinking

EC 512
Larry Burns, Psychology; Patrick Johnson, Writing Center

What happens to critical thinking when students rely on ChatGPT? We’ll explore that question together through interactive prompts, collaborative reflection, and case-based discussion—not to answer what AI can do, but to ask why it matters. Anchored in research (Burns, Essel, Kumar, Suriano), this session models a shift from “content coverage” to helping students build confidence in their own questions. You’ll leave not just with ideas for teaching, but with deeper questions—about imagination, trust, and the thinking we most need to protect.

 

Wednesday, June 25: Session F (1pm–4pm)
Online Presentation Assignments and Enterprise Tools

EC 614
Justin Melick, eLearning Technologies; Kyle Macciomei, eLearning Technologies; Kelley Senkowski, eLearning Technologies; Vince St. Germain, eLearning Technologies; Dawn Brackmann, Management; Martin Axelrod, Finance

Discover how to move beyond traditional written assignments by incorporating GVSU-supported technologies that foster creative, multimodal student work. This session will explore tools like Padlet for collaborative virtual boards, Panopto for video presentations, Hypothesis for Social Annotation, and Adobe Express for digital storytelling. You’ll see examples of how GVSU faculty use these tools to enrich learning experiences. Most importantly, discover how the eLearning Technologies team can partner with you to integrate these tools into your teaching.

 

Wednesday, June 25: Session G (1pm–4pm)
Digital Citizenship and Ethics through the Lens of Liberal Education

EC 512 
Andrew Spear, Philosophy 

This session aims to provide a framework for thinking about digital citizenship and ethics centered on the idea of the liberally educated person. A liberally educated person is a free person who has the knowledge and capacities required to manage their freedom well individually, as a member of a community, and as a citizen. This is an aspirational ideal it is easy to fall short of as literature, history, and more recently psychology and the social sciences help us to appreciate. Theorists of technology recognize the ways that technology can both enhance and inhibit human projects and character, and digital technologies of many sorts (Internet, social media, algorithms, AI…) are distinctive as technologies that affect central aspects of human engagement such as communication, socialization, knowledge-sharing, creativity and creation, representation, and thought itself. These capacities are arguably central to an ethical and efficacious human life as well as to effective citizenship in a functional democratic society. The session will introduce key concepts and principles and aim to be interactive. If the liberally educated person is an ideal relevant for both ethics and citizenship then what factors is it crucial to consider in negotiating the impacts of digital technologies for education, for living well, and for politics?  

 

Thursday, June 26: Session H (9am–12pm)
Digital Approaches to Accessibility

EC 614
Tim Mohnkern, Student Accessibility Resources; Barbara Stevens, eLearning Technologies; Maya Hobscheid, University Libraries

Join experts from University Libraries, 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.

 

Thursday, June 26: Session I (9am–12pm)
Digital Etiquette: Effective, Respectful Communication in Online Spaces

EC 512
Matt Roberts, eLearning Technologies; Julia Vandermolen, School of Interdisciplinary Health; Raymond Higbea, School of Community Leadership & Development

Explore strategies for fostering respectful, inclusive communication in your courses. This session will cover setting clear expectations, creating netiquette guidelines, and facilitating thoughtful dialogue around challenging topics. We'll also highlight how these practices align with Quality Matters standards for communication and engagement.

 

Thursday, June 26: Session J (1pm–4pm)
DEI Meets DIY: Unfolding the Digital Literacy Landscape With Zines

EC 614
Mary Ruge, University Libraries

This presentation seeks to engage attendees with the aesthetics and methodologies of zines, to become familiar with the ways zines foster inclusive, low-barrier approaches to digital skill-building, information literacy, and scholarship. Through peer-reviewed papers and zine-based pedagogical examples, this presentation asserts that zines are more than punk relics of more revolutionary times: they are flexible, culturally responsive tools that promote agency, multimodal learning, and access. During this presentation, participants will have the opportunity to explore different software to create zines, and share ideas with colleagues on ways to incorporate zines in their classes.

 

Thursday, June 26: Session K (1pm–4pm)
Strategies to Support Responsible Student Use of AI

EC 512
Elizabeth Flandreau, Psychology; Tammy Stachowicz, School of Interdisciplinary Studies

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.


Are there additional opportunities to learn?

Yes. During the 2025-26 academic year, the Pew FTLC will be offering semester-long faculty learning communities on topics related to digital literacy. In addition, a Digital Literacy Friday schedule is being drafted that provides space for continued peer learning and exploration of a range of digital topics.

We are also planning to offer the Digital Literacy Institute in a virtual format in January 2026. 





Page last modified June 23, 2025