CITL Newsletter - Issue 18 for 2025

Welcome to the CITL Newsletter, your go-to resource for professional learning, teaching strategies, and innovative practices in education. Stay informed, get inspired, and explore new ways to enhance student learning and engagement.

Creative Thinking with Gen AI

Presenter: Jena Marble 

In this recent presentation, Jena Marble explores how generative AI tools like Adobe Firefly can spark creative thinking and help visualize ideas. This hands-on session introduces text-to-image generation as a way to prototype quickly and communicate concepts that traditional tools can’t easily capture.

To view the full discussion: Access the recording here.

Join Us Online For A Hands-on Introduction to Generative AI

This workshop gives participants a grounded, practical understanding of generative AI. Through a series of hands-on exercises, participants will explore how these tools generate responses, where their limits show up, and how to use them creatively without overestimating their abilities. The goal is creative, informed experimentation grounded in realistic expectations of what the technology can do.

The first 60 minutes will be a presentation combined with structured hands-on activities. The remaining 30 minutes are for additional hands-on practice for those interested. Join us for any of these sessions, no registration required; see the calendar entry for the Zoom link.

Upcoming Sessions:
📅 Tuesday, Nov 11 | ⏰ Noon - 1:30 p.m.
📅 Monday, Nov 17 | ⏰ 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
📅 Thursday, Nov 20 | ⏰ 3 - 4:30 p.m.

Upcoming Workshops & Events

🔹 Fall Into AI Events
📅 Thursday, November 13 | ⏰ 1 - 1:50 p.m. | 📍CITL Innovation Studio (Armory 172) &💻 Online (Public Speaking with AI and VR: Practicing Speech and Conversational Soft Skills with Ovation VR by Andrew Phanor and Alex Dill)

Hands-on Introduction to Generative AI by Jim Wentworth | 💻 Online
📅 Tuesday, Nov 11 | ⏰ Noon - 1:30 p.m.
📅 Monday, Nov 17 | ⏰ 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
📅 Thursday, Nov 20 | ⏰ 3 - 4:30 p.m.

🔹 Quick Start Accessibility Workshops
📅 Monday, November 10 | ⏰ 1 - 2 p.m. | 💻 Online (Make Your Canvas Courses Accessible by Lindsey Sharp)
📅 Tuesday, November 11 | ⏰ 3 - 4 p.m. | 💻 Online (Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 1 by Marc Thompson)
📅 Wednesday, November 12 | ⏰ 10 - 11 a.m. | 💻 Online (Using the Pope Tech Accessibility Tool by Lindsey Sharp)
📅 Thursday, November 13 | ⏰ 2 - 3 p.m. | 💻 Online (Make Your MS Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 2 by Lori Lane)
📅 Tuesday, November 18 | ⏰ 3 - 4:30 p.m. | 💻 Online (Make Your PDF Documents Accessible, Part 2 by Ky Merkley)
📅 Thursday, November 20 | ⏰ 2 - 3 p.m. | 💻 Online (Make Your MS Excel Spreadsheets Accessible, Part 3 by Lori Lane)

🔹 General Workshops and Events
📅 Thursday, November 13 | ⏰ Noon - 1 p.m. | 💻 Online (The Art of Teaching Lunchtime Seminar Series: Preparing Future Professionals: A Competency-Based Approach to Experiential Learning by Jean Drasgow)
📅 Tuesday, November 18 | ⏰ 3 - 4:15 p.m. | 💻 Online (Cultivating Learning Communities by David Favre)

Recurring Events

🔹 Canvas Open Office Hours
📅 Thursdays | ⏰ 11 a.m. - Noon | 💻 Online

🔹 Innovation Studio Open Hours
📅 Mondays and Tuesdays | ⏰ Noon - 4 p.m. | 📍Armory 172

🔹 Master Course in Online Teaching (MCOT)
📅 Thursdays | ⏰ 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. | 💻 Online

Bookmark the CITL Event Calendar for all upcoming workshops and check with Technology Services for additional training opportunities.

Student Character Sheets

By Lucas Anderson (CITL)

Since suggesting a 5-room dungeon approach to lesson planning last Fall, I’ve continued to think about how practices from tabletop role-playing games can improve teaching. This semester, I’m suggesting you can gain insight into your students - and they can gain insight into themselves - if they fill out a character sheet like a player in a tabletop role-playing game. Read this piece to learn more.