MEET THE FACULTY
Hailing from different professional backgrounds and contexts, the Summer Institute faculty is committed to developing every participant’s potential as a digital literacy practitioner.
To align with our 2025 theme of
"Finding Our Voices, Sharing Our Stories"
OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE
JUNE 21 (ONLINE)
KRISTIN ZIEMKE
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Made for Story: All ways, Always
Campfire conversations, cave paintings, letters mailed across the sea — the tools and times have changed, but the human condition has not. We are made for story. Today, we have so many ways to share stories; we move beyond “write it down” and diversify the how with digital options: blog, make a movie, podcast, write a multi-touch book, or share online. When we invite young people to tell their stories, we place our students at the center of curriculum and make it about them. We celebrate the benefits of technology and explicitly teach others to consider their identity as they use media to understand themselves and their place in the global learning community. Join in as we leverage the power of story in a digital age to benchmark time and change the future.
JULY 11 (IN PERSON)
TASHAL BROWN
Transformative Curriculum: Youth, Identity, and the Power of Critical Literacy
Dr. Tashal Brown discusses her work with students, educators, and community partners, using storytelling, multimodal art, and critical literacy to highlight marginalized histories. She creates spaces for youth to engage with issues that impact their daily lives. In one project rooted in African diasporic oral traditions, she examines how middle school students explored barbershops and salons as powerful venues for identity, community, and social change. Additionally, Dr. Brown presents new research on how Black youth are reimagining Black history education by challenging dominant narratives and shaping transformative, affirming curricula. Student collaborators will also join her to share their voices and visions.
Kristin Ziemke is a teacher, staff developer, and author of the forthcoming book Text and Tech: Reading All Ways and co-author of Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action, Amplify: Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom, and Connecting Comprehension and Technology.
Recognized as an international expert in literacy, inquiry. and technology, Kristin works with schools and organizations around the world to develop learning experiences that are student-centered, personalized, and authentic.
Currently serving as a resident teacher and innovation specialist for the Big Shoulders Fund, Kristin is an Apple Distinguished Educator, National Board Certified Teacher, and Chicago Council on Global Affairs Emerging Leader. Her work has been featured by Apple, EdWeek, Mindshift, and Scholastic.
Dr. Tashal Brown is an Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Secondary Social Studies at the University of Rhode Island. Her research broadly focuses on race, ethnicity, and gender as it concerns issues of equity and justice in educational contexts. She examines how cultivating and enacting critical literacies and liberatory pedagogies in K-12 schools, community-based spaces, and teacher education shape youth and educators’ perspectives, experiences, and actions.
Dr. Brown's collaborations with youth, educators, and community-based organizations demonstrate an unwavering commitment to fostering critical and transformative educational spaces with an increased capacity for innovative teaching and opportunities for youth to engage critically and creatively. Notably, she seeks opportunities to work alongside youth to pursue inquiries that address sociopolitical issues impacting their lives.
Learn more about her work here: https://web.uri.edu/education/meet/tashal-brown/
LEARN ALONGSIDE OUR TALENTED TEAM OF EDUCATORS
Kara Clayton
Kara was part of the first cohort to earn their Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy and later earned a Masters in Adult Education with a specialty in Digital Literacy from URI. She is a media literacy expert specializing in digital storytelling experiences with teachers in Detroit Public Television’s Iconic Michigan Educator Fellowship. With more than 28 years of secondary classroom experience in ELA, Media Literacy, and Video Production, she is passionate about empowering learners to see the connection between what they read and the impact of the stories they can create through video. As an adjunct faculty member, Kara co-teaches two courses in URI’s Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy, where she helps educators integrate media literacy and storytelling into their practice. She is also a PBS Certified Media Literacy Educator, dedicated to fostering critical thinking and creative expression through digital media.
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Charlie Coiro
Charlie Coiro has 32 years of experience as a leadership instructor, facilitator, coach and consultant in the public and private sector. For the past nine years, Charlie has been the lead faculty member of the Tier 2 Leadership Strand of the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. Charlie has developed more than 100 courses, workshops, and publications related to collaboration, leadership theory, facilitation, consulting, communications, conflict management, change management and self-awareness. In 1998 he helped establish the Coast Guard’s Leadership Development Center, where he currently works.
Shelley Wolfe is a nationally recognized media executive, educator, and digital literacy advocate with nearly 30 years of experience in community media, education, and entertainment. As Executive Director of PSTV, the education channel for the School District of Philadelphia, she has transformed the platform into a student-led, industry-standard multimedia hub where she has directly trained over 1,500 youth in media production, with alumni advancing to roles in major organizations and and founding initiatives that promote culturally relevant media arts education. Shelley also leads Toolbox Entertainment & Strategic Consulting, offering coaching and professional development. She is also the co-founder of SIMBY, which provides Black youth access to culturally relevant media arts education through online and in-person experiences led by Black instructors to foster representation, belonging, and media literacy. A recent recipient of the Digital Media Literacy Certificate, she continues to empower communities through storytelling, innovation, and inclusive education.
Julie Coiro
Julie Coiro is the Director of the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy and an internationally recognized expert on inquiry in digital literacy & online reading comprehension. Julie has taught for over 35 years, first with PreK-8 students with learning disabilities and for the past 16 years as a professor of reading, research, and digital literacy in the School of Education at the University of Rhode Island. Julie’s research focuses on collaborative online inquiry while also working with educators to support their understanding of digital inquiry and online reading as part of comprehension strategy instruction. Julie loves to talk with classroom teachers about their own experiences building a culture of inquiry, and in 2019, she published her co-authored book From Curiosity to Deep Learning: Personal Digital Inquiry in Grades K-5.
Frank Romanelli is an associate teaching professor of writing at the University of Rhode Island. He coordinates the concurrent enrollment program for writing, serving over 1000 students annually across 38 Rhode Island high schools. He is also an assistant director at the Media Education Lab and has previously worked as the director and Digital Pedagogy Specialist for the Writing and Rhetoric Production Lab, in addition to coordinating UnClassroom, a project-based learning initiative for the Harrington School of Communication and Media. Frank enjoys being a successful singer/songwriter as well.
Nicole King
Nicole King is an Assistant Professor of TESOL and Bilingual Education in the Feinstein College of Education at the University of Rhode Island. Her experiences as a former teacher of multilingual learners in the US (Louisiana and South Carolina) and Italy drive her research interests in the translingual and transmodal practices of multilingual students, families, communities, and teachers. She seeks to bring these perspectives to teacher education and to empower pre- and in-service teachers to enact equitable and sustaining practices in their teaching and advocacy. Her work critically examines the connections between research and practice situated within localized contexts and communities. As GenAI takes root in the field of language education, Nicole seeks to bring the perspectives of translanguaging, universal design for learning, pedagogical humility, and genre-based pedagogy into how language teachers seek to leverage the benefits, while balancing the ethical, privacy, and cultural considerations when harnessing GenAI in how we plan, teach, reflect, and learn. In the spring of 2024, she co-designed an advanced doctoral seminar with ten doctoral students at the University of Rochester, colloquially called the GenAI Collective.
Laura Hamman-Ortiz is an Assistant Professor of TESOL and Bilingual Education in the College of Education at the University of Rhode Island. Laura has over 15 years of experience supporting multilingual learners and their teachers, both across the U.S. (Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Rhode Island) and abroad (Chile, Ecuador, Spain). Her research interests include dual language bilingual education, translanguaging pedagogy, student identity negotiation, elementary writing instruction, and teacher learning and praxis. In addition to teaching courses related to TESOL and bilingual education at URI, Laura frequently facilitates professional development for educators around the country. She is committed to cultivating more affirming and inclusive learning spaces for multilingual learners.
Kelly Houle
Kelly Houle is a dedicated advocate for equitable science and STEM education. She earned her Ph.D. through the joint Education program at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College. Her research focuses on outdoor teaching and learning, media and digital literacy, and high-impact professional development that enhances science instruction and student outcomes. Kelly also partners with PBS KIDS on research and curriculum design within the children’s media space. As an Education Specialist with the URI College of Education’s GEMS-Net (Guiding Education in Math and Science Network) project, she collaborates with university scientists and engineers, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and local academic and industry partners to align federal, state, and local education initiatives with existing Pre-K–8 curricula.
Nurys Audette
Nurys Audette has 20 years of experience teaching in the Providence Public School District. Throughout her career, she has worked with bilingual students, and she currently teaches Spanish in the Dual Language Program at Frank D. Spaziano Elementary School. In addition to earning an elementary education degree from RIC, Nurys completed bilingual and ESL certifications at the same institution. She recently earned her master's degree in TESOL/Dual Language Immersion from the University of Rhode Island. Nurys involved herself in the Digital Literacy Program in the Summer Institute of 2023. Nurys believes in creating an inclusive and supportive classroom environment where students feel empowered to express themselves in both their native and second languages. Students are engaged through interactive and culturally relevant materials that foster both language skills and a love of learning. She emphasizes the importance of digital literacy, integrating technology into her lessons to enhance student participation and prepare them for the future.