Digital Media, Graphic Communications, & Digital Technology Summer Conference

Explore how to structure a successful Game Development Fundamentals course by reviewing a complete scope and sequence while also diving into Flowlab Game Creator. Flowlab is a browser-based game engine that is easier to learn than Unity or Unreal, yet more powerful than Scratch. It uses a visual logic builder instead of traditional code, making it accessible for students of all experience levels.

During this session, you’ll see how Flowlab fits into a full course pathway and get hands-on experience building your own game elements.

Please bring your own device so you can actively explore the game engine during the session.

In a world where AI can generate realistic but false text, images, and video, how do we equip students with the skills to be critical digital citizens? This essential workshop moves beyond content creation to focus on critical evaluation. We will provide a framework for teaching students how to identify the hallmarks of AI-generated content, verify sources with greater scrutiny, and understand the societal implications of deepfakes and misinformation. We'll explore how to design assignments that challenge students to evaluate digital content and build their discernment skills critically. You will leave with practical lesson plans and strategies for embedding the crucial 21st-century skill of combating misinformation directly into your existing curriculum.

AI is reshaping not just curriculum, but the entire product development cycle—and educators are uniquely positioned to lead that shift. In this session, you’ll explore how AI tools are already transforming the way educational technology is built, where classroom tech is heading, and how one Utah educator is actively developing real AI-powered tools for teachers today.

At the same time, we’ll break down the technical foundations that make AI work. Most educators use AI like a search engine—and wonder why it underperforms. This session unpacks key concepts every CS and business teacher should understand, including tokens, context windows, knowledge cutoffs, temperature settings, and hallucinations. You don’t need to be a developer—you just need to understand how the engine works.
Walk away with practical insights into both how AI systems function and how they are built, so you can use AI more effectively, teach it with confidence, and start thinking like an AI Maker in your own classroom.

Tired of writing the same long, detailed prompts every time you need Gemini to help with a specific task? This workshop introduces Gemini Gems, a powerful feature that lets you build custom, reusable Google AI assistants. We'll show you how to create and save personalized instructions, turning the general-purpose Gemini into a specialist for your unique needs. Learn how to build a "Syllabus Helper" Gem that knows your course format, a "Grading Feedback Assistant" pre-loaded with your rubric's criteria, or even a custom research partner trained on your specific field's terminology. We will also explore how you can share Gems with students to scaffold complex assignments, providing them with a tailored tool for tasks like refining a thesis statement or analyzing data. You will leave with the ability to create a personalized toolkit of Gemini Gems, ready to streamline your workflow and enhance your teaching.

Are you looking for practical ways to make your courses accessible to all learners without adding hours to your workload? This workshop explores how Gemini can help you implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) efficiently. We'll demonstrate how to use Google AI for practical accessibility tasks, such as generating accurate transcripts for video content, creating descriptive alt-text for images, and summarizing dense readings for varied comprehension levels. Discover how to quickly differentiate instruction by creating tiered assignments and providing multiple means of representation for complex topics. You will leave with a toolkit of AI-powered techniques for creating accessible materials, saving you valuable time while fostering a more inclusive and equitable learning environment for every student.

👀 Come get a FIRST LOOK at what’s next for Digital Technology in Utah!

This isn’t just an update—it’s a glimpse into a potential reimagining of a NEW PATHWAY,  come help us build this with your feedback, your needs, and your classroom realities in mind. 💡

We’re talking about the possibilities you’ve been asking for—new directions, updated experiences, and exciting opportunities that better align with today’s students, emerging technology, and real-world careers.

In this high-energy session, you’ll: ✨ Preview the possible new pathway vision
✨ Explore and discuss ideas that reflect teacher input and industry trends
✨ See how future courses could better connect to AI, game development, and emerging tech
✨ Share your voice and help shape where we go next

Whether you’re curious, excited, or thinking “finally!!”—you don’t want to miss this conversation. 🙌

🚀 Come see what could be coming—and help us build it together.

​​​​Discover how to both build and teach with today’s most accessible and powerful tools. This session explores how AI can be used to create practical, customized tools for your classroom—helping support student learning, streamline instruction, and reduce repetitive tasks. You’ll see real examples of AI-assisted resources designed specifically for classroom use and walk away with ideas you can immediately apply.

In addition, this session introduces visual scripting in Godot using the Logic Bricks add-on as an approachable way to teach core programming and game development concepts. Learn how students can build real, interactive projects while developing transferable problem-solving skills—even without traditional coding experience.
Together, these approaches empower you to create smarter classroom tools while equipping students with engaging, hands-on ways to learn computational thinking and game design.

Get ready for a deep dive into the future of AI education in Utah! 🤖✨ In this interactive session, we’ll unpack the pilot strands & standards for the second AI course—what they are, why they matter, and how they’re intentionally designed to move students from AI users to AI creators.
But we’re not stopping at theory… 👀

As AI continues to become an integral part of the world, our role is to equip students to use it responsibly and critically. This session is designed to prepare educators to guide their students toward achieving the Gemini Certified Student credential.  During this session, we will unpack the certification process and explore how to seamlessly integrate these foundational AI skills into your existing curriculum. You will learn practical strategies to help students move beyond basic, conversational prompting, teaching them instead to partner with tools like Gemini and NotebookLM for high-level research, structured writing, and personalized study planning. Leave this session with a clear roadmap for facilitating the certification process with your students and prepare them for an AI-powered future.