10 REASONS WHY
You should join us for the 10th
Annual Summer Institute in Digital Literacy
July 10 - 15, 2022

1. Re-Discover Your "Why"
In the face of ongoing instability and uncertainty, what makes work joyful for you? The Summer Institute in Digital Literacy is a place to re-discover your passion and your place of opportunity to make a difference in the context of your work and life. Gain new skills in learning how to exercise generous authority in managing difficult situations. Get inspired through our purposeful gatherings that build a climate of trust and respect where everyone learns from everyone.
2. Accelerate Creativity with the Power of Two
Meet people who share your interests or are faced with similar challenges. Through informal dialogue, explore win-win possibilities as you discover ways you can help each other. Then make a choice to work collaboratively with someone. Explain yourself. Ask questions. Listen. Gather ideas. Reflect. Create something on your own or together. Get meaningful feedback from others. Feel the pride that comes from composing creative and practical work you can immediately use in your work context. Imagine and plan how you can employ "the power of two" in your work content.

3. Advance Your Expertise in Digital Media Literacy
In 2021, public schools in Illinois are required to offer a unit of media literacy instruction to high school students. In many other communities across the country and around the world, there is increased momentum for media literacy education across the curriculum. Learn from experts about instructional practices, resources, and materials that help you advance digital media literacy in your community. Meet with others to collaborate and share ideas as you develop interdisciplinary unit plans in English language arts, social studies, and health/wellness education.
4. Experience Create-to-Learn & Digital Inquiry Pedagogies
Develop a question that's meaningful to you. Select from among 40+ workshops to gather new information and ideas. Spend time learning to create something new and explore digital media apps that enable you to create infographics, podcasts, websites, videos, digital stories, sketchnotes, and more. Get elbow-to-elbow support from experts as you experience “just-in-time” learning.

5. Join Meaningful Conversations
We come together to talk about what matters most in 2022 and beyond. Listen to the voices of those who embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion and meet with people who use digital and media literacy as anti-racist change agents in their schools, libraries, and communities. Share your own experiences with giving people opportunities to tell their own stories & share their thoughts about facing and overcoming adversity. Develop practical and concrete action steps that you can implement in your work context.
6. Explore the City as a Classroom
Space and place can change your thinking. Consider how learning happens when taking a walking tour to "read the world," interpreting the many different types of texts and symbols in the built environment. Learn how to plan, implement, and assess a field trip to explore a local community organization. Take time to tell the story of your neighborhood, community, library, or school.

7. Be Entrepreneurial
If you're ready to build a career or business with your creative efforts at the intersection of media and education, use your time at the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy to develop your plans. You may develop a business plan, explore marketing strategies, or develop partnerships that increase opportunities for success.
8. Your Leadership Matters
Discover or enlarge your identity as a leader in digital literacy. There are many ways that you can advance digital and media literacy to address so-called "learning loss" and prevent the spread of disinformation. Learn about research that supports your planning process and meet with others facing similar challenges to brainstorm creative approaches to use CARES funding for digital literacy initiatives.

9. Blend Together Anytime and Real Time Learning
Choose to attend the fully online program or meet with us F2F in downtown Chicago. Digital learning is not just a stopgap emergency measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's here to stay -- and it is being creatively incorporated into traditional classrooms to advance student learning. Meet with faculty and librarians in K-12 and higher education to learn about online, F2F, and hybrid approaches and discover "what works" when blending the formats together.
10. Stay Strong
It is important to appreciate the social and emotional dimensions of the learning environments we inhabit. If you're in a dysfunctional institution, you may feel a sense of hopelessness that alienates you from doing your best work. Discover the natural optimism that results when we simply honor and acknowledge the impossible challenges of work, life, and citizenship today.
Learn more about the history of the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy and see how we have pioneered the development of professional learning communities
