Although the academic year is only halfway through, the Teaching and Learning Innovations team spent some time reflecting on things we are proud of in 2025! Together with campus and community partners, we accomplished a lot behind the scenes and in the digital spaces at CSU Channel Islands, so it was challenging to narrow them down to just ten. In true TLi fashion, we began with nominations and followed with a round of voting to arrive at our Top 10 List of 2025!
No. 10: Student AI Listening Session Brief
This summer, TLi hosted a student listening session on AI, bringing together 10 students (both graduate and undergraduate) from seven different disciplines, ranging from theatre to Psychology to IT. Students shared their voices on topics including their personal experiences and perceptions of AI, the role of AI in education, and what AI looks like at CSUCI, along with their hopes and insights for the future. The Student AI Listening Session Brief gives us a clearer picture of what our students want and need as we continue moving forward in the age of AI, another meaningful step in keeping our work learner-focused.
No. 9: Syllabus Resources for Faculty
In support of the Faculty Affairs Committee, which worked to pass and implement Syllabus Policy SP 24-07, TLi produced syllabus resources for faculty, including a knowledge base article, syllabus checklist, and accessible syllabus templates.
No. 8: Academic Media
Faculty and Academic Affairs Staff (plus a few guests) made solid use of the Faculty Innovation in Teaching (FIT) Studio. In Academic Media, we completed a staggering 192 recordings and 374 editing hours for course lectures, program development, learning glass, voiceovers, podcast-style videos, interviews, and more!
No. 7: Academic Tech Transition
A huge project for TLi was the migration of 5.5TB of streaming media content to Panopto, our new media streaming platform hooked into Canvas. This involved a campus communication strategy; file collection, cleaning, and storage; and relinking content for a seamless transition for those faculty who housed videos and other media in their Canvas courses. As multimedia use can increase engagement and improve the humanization of digital spaces, we hope that this work continues to pay off in the academic lives of our students and faculty!
Fun fact: 5TB of storage is like 1.2 million songs or photos, 1,000 full-length movies, or hundreds of libraries full of books!
No. 6: Quality Teaching Exemplars
The CSU Chancellor’s Office maintains Quality Assurance Resource Repository (QuARRy), a database of exemplary exhibits of digital instructional materials that demonstrate standards of Quality Teaching and Learning (QLT). In 2025, CSUCI boasted 13 QuARRy publications through our Learning Design Projects, and CI took over the leaderboard! Congratulations to the CSUCI faculty who submitted this exemplary work.
No. 5: Course Tuner (Custom Course Development Assistant)
Trained on curricular and learning design frameworks, CourseTuner was developed and piloted by TLi Learning Design and then deployed in ChatGPT EDU for campus use. It starts by aligning program, course, and module learning outcomes, and then supports outcomes-aligned learning experience design. The goal is to provide a sound pedagogical infrastructure to relieve administrative burden and allow for more focus on content and learner engagement.
Used by individual faculty in the work of course development, and also in collaboration with TLi Learning Designers as part of online teaching preparation, Course Tuner has logged 231 unique chats (and counting) since its launch in April 2025!
No. 4: Legends of Academia
Designed following multiple means of engagement and analysis of CSUCI faculty needs related to AI in teaching, as well as in consideration of our Associated Student Government’s Resolution in Support of Responsible AI Use & Campuswide AI Usage Guidelines for Course Related Work, TLi designed, piloted, and facilitated Legends of Academia, a gamified, 6-module learning experience and community for faculty to articulate and communicate the place of AI in their academic classes.
The program registered 32 faculty across three cohorts, impacting up to 2,024 students who were registered in these instructors’ courses at the time. Plus, TLi experimented with new modes of composing and video editing in the creative process. Designing and facilitating this program was a team effort all the way, and it was a highlight of the year.
No. 3: Good Things in Threes
This is a cheat category! We are proud of three accomplishments that each associate in some way with the number three:
Summer AI Residency
Running for its third year in a row, the Summer AI Residency is a growing community of staff and faculty who convene to demonstrate their own experimentation with AI and to engage in critical conversations about its diffusion and evolution.
Three, New Canvas Accessibility Tools
In 2025, we procured or piloted three, new tools to support accessibility in Canvas:
- UDOIT – Accessibility Checker that anyone in an instructor role can use to check the accessibility score of their Canvas courses. This tool also allows users to convert digital content to alternative file formats (e.g., text-to-audio).
- TidyUp – A Diagnostic tool that anyone in an instructor role can run to identify unused and duplicate files in their courses. When unused and duplicate files are removed, this improves the course accessibility score.
- ReadSpeaker (Pilot) – A robust suite of reading and studying tools located in Canvas that converts written text to spoken audio, allowing users to engage with content in a wide variety of voices, languages, and dialects.
Digital Learning Mentors
Three esteemed faculty colleagues are serving as Digital Learning Mentors in 2025-2026. Dr. Kristen Linton (Health Science), Breeann Austin (Library), and Danna Lomax (Education) have joined the TLi team to support their peers and make disciplinary connections across topics like AI, digital learning, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and so much more. This work is generously supported by Online Course Services grants from the CSU Chancellor’s Office.
No. 2: Online Program Development
In support of CSUCI Extended University’s growing portfolio of online programs, TLi facilitated learning design support for 40 online courses across 7 new and upcoming programs, each achieving an accessibility score between 98-100% in UDOIT. We also designed program templates and consultative learning design support for two stateside online programs.
And number one for TLi’s 2025 Top 10 list is:
No. 1: Star-Studded Team
Three members of the Teaching and Learning Innovations team were recognized by respective peer organizations for excellence in their contributions to campus and their professions (other accomplishments are housed in our Team CV).
- Georgia Van Tyne received a Student Success Award at the 2025 Equity Summit!
- Michael McGarry was recognized as the 2025 Rising Star by EDUCAUSE!
- TLi Faculty Collaborator, Dr. HyeSun Lee, was recognized with the CSUCI President’s Award for Innovation in Teaching & Learning!
Honorable Mention: 10+ Years of the TLi Blog!
This very blog celebrated 10+ years running with a heartfelt review of the origin story, themes, and contributions across TLi’s history. In 2025 alone, we published 20 blog posts by 15 CSUCI faculty and staff authors!
Honorable Mention: TLi Teaching Blocks
In Fall 2025, the TLi team compiled our top recommendations into a welcome kit, called TLi Teaching Blocks, that we shared with new and returning CSUCI faculty. From customizable resources to our searchable knowledge base, and much more, the TLi Teaching Blocks curate some of our favorite resources for our faculty partners.
Honorable Mention: Updated Course Starter Kit
Course design and development can be lots of fun for our team, but it carries a large administrative workload for faculty. This year, we updated our Course Starter Kit with new course components, customizable templates, aesthetically pleasing visuals, and syllabus policy resources. The template also meets a 100% accessibility score in UDOIT, so faculty can start with a strong foundation and work with our AID Specialist to maintain accessible practices as they add content. More exciting updates are coming in 2026!
That’s a Wrap!
And there’s so much more that did not make the Top 10 List this year. As we close out 2025 and reflect on our work together, Teaching and Learning Innovations continues to convey gratitude and respect for our partners, both on campus and in the wider community. Sometimes, we feel fatigued by change; other times, it’s exciting and new. Our work together and in community with you makes the work worthwhile. There’s no tool that we adopt uncritically; no program that we launch without care, intention, and thoughtful design. We look forward to 2026 and the new opportunities it will bring, and we thank you for your part and partnership!
