SITETL Symposium on AI for Teaching and Learning — 2026

9:00–9:25 AM — Introduction and the State of AI at Syracuse University

An introduction to the symposium followed by an overview of the state of AI at Syracuse University by the Senior Vice President for Digital Transformation and Chief Digital Officer Jeff Rubin.

9:30–9:55 AM — Choosing a Generative AI Tool

In this session we’ll look at the tools available to Syracuse University faculty. We’ll discuss the benefits of using tools vetted by the university with emphasis on how to select between and get them.

10:00–10:55 AM — Getting Started with Claude for Teaching and Learning

Claude is built for the kind of analytical, reasoning-heavy work that faculty do every day. This session covers the practical basics: how to use Claude effectively for your own teaching workflow — from analyzing syllabi and generating course materials to creating interactive tools for students. You’ll leave with hands-on experience and strategies you can use immediately.

11:00–11:55 AM — How AI Can Help Simplify Your Start-of-Semester Setup

Learn how AI tools can save you hours on course prep tasks like building student groups, updating your syllabus, and analyzing class performance. These are practical, reusable tools you can come back to every semester.

12:00–12:55 PM — AI Show and Tell – Open Discussion

Instructors share a prompt they’ve used in their course that has made their work easier or more effective. Each presenter has a 10–15 minute time slot.

1:00–1:55 PM — Formatting and Transforming Content with Claude

Using AI to create content you can import into Blackboard, or transforming content to move it between teaching and learning platforms.

2:00–2:55 PM — Comprehensive Syllabus Design: Improving Accessibility and Design with AI

This hands-on session demonstrates how to use AI to audit and optimize the structure, accessibility, and student-centered experience of your syllabus. Moving beyond basic edits, participants will learn how to leverage AI to improve document layout, ensure maximum user attention, and present course materials more effectively.

9:00–9:55 AM — TA in a Box: Building Your Bb Course with AI Tools

Let Blackboard’s AI assistants make your course creation tasks easier.

10:00–10:55 AM — Designing AI-Aware Assignments

Whether you want students to use AI, avoid it, or use it selectively, your assignment design needs to reflect that choice intentionally. In this session you’ll learn practical strategies for designing assignments at different levels of AI integration — from AI-prohibited to AI-required — so the assignment structure matches your learning goals.

11:00–11:55 AM — Introduction to NotebookLM for Teaching and Learning

NotebookLM is Google’s AI-powered research and synthesis tool that transforms your existing course documents, readings, and materials into interactive study guides, summaries, and podcast-style audio discussions. In this session, you’ll learn how to upload your syllabus, textbook chapters, or lecture notes to create customized AI assistants that help students explore course content, generate study materials, or produce engaging audio overviews of complex topics.

12:00–12:55 PM — Discussion of Student Assignments and the Use of AI

A discussion of the challenges and opportunities of using AI as part of student assignments.

1:00–1:55 PM — Blackboard AI for Assessments

Using Blackboard’s AI tools to create assessments and rubrics.

2:00–2:55 PM — The Design App for the Creative in Everyone: Visualizing Success in Course Delivery & Student Assessment

Move beyond text-heavy materials and reimagine assignments to unlock creativity in both instructors and students. Transform traditional course content into an engaging student experience from start to finish, bringing every project right back into Blackboard.

9:00–9:55 AM — AI Literacy in Practice: Classroom Activities That Build Student Judgment

This hands-on session demonstrates how to use AI to audit and optimize the structure, accessibility, and student-centered experience of your syllabus. Moving beyond basic edits, participants will learn how to leverage AI to improve document layout, ensure maximum user attention, and present course materials more effectively.

10:00–10:55 AM — Claude Projects and Skills

Understanding Claude Projects and Skills — what they are, how they work, and how to make them.

11:00–11:55 AM — Writing, Citation, and Co-authorship in an AI World

A look at the current research on how students use LLMs for writing, the impacts of that use on learning, and implications for assessment design, academic integrity, and citation practices.

12:00–12:55 PM — Discussion

1:00–1:55 PM — Making Thinking Visible: Build Metacognitive Awareness in AI-Assisted Learning

When students use AI tools, they don’t always recognize where AI’s contribution ends and their own thinking begins. This session introduces practical strategies — including annotation exercises, process reflections, and structured comparison tasks — that help students develop awareness of their own cognitive process when working alongside AI.

2:00–2:55 PM — Keeping Generative AI on the Rails

Can generative AI tools be configured to present the information we choose to our students? This session covers configuring our university tools to reference documents we provide.