IVLA 2026 Charleston: Full Schedule

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9:00am EDT

Campfire Stories: Seeing, Knowing, and Designing in the Age of AI

Wednesday October 7, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT

This campfire session brings together Learning Designers (LDs), Learning Experience Designers (LXDs), Educational Technology Specialists, and educators to examine how Generative AI (GenAI), in combination with design thinking, can support the development of visually rich, learner-centered educational experiences. Grounded in key theoretical frameworks, including Visual Literacy Theory (Avgerinou & Pettersson, 2011; 2020), Design Thinking (Dam & Siang, 2020), ADDIE (Branch, 2009), and SAMR (Puentedura, 213), the session positions visual literacy as a core epistemic practice through which learners interpret, construct, and communicate meaning in increasingly AI-mediated environments. Participants will explore how GenAI can inform the design of learning scenarios that are not only engaging and effective, but also critically attuned to the role of visual and multimodal representations in knowledge construction. Emphasis is placed on both the interpretation and production of visuals, as well as on the affordances and limitations of AI-supported design processes. Through collaborative ideation, virtual prototyping, and critical reflection, participants will be encouraged to develop practical, visually grounded learning designs that foster engagement, creativity, and deeper conceptual understanding.

Campfire Session Goals

1. Conceptual Understanding

Recognize visual literacy as an epistemic practice in AI-mediated learning environments
Understand how GenAI intersects with visual literacy, learning design, and design thinking

2. Critical Awareness

Examine the role of AI-generated visuals in shaping meaning, interpretation, and knowledge construction
Critically reflect on issues of accuracy, bias, and pedagogical value in AI-supported visual representations

3. Design-Oriented Thinking

Explore how design thinking processes can inform the integration of visual literacy into learning design
Identify opportunities for using GenAI to support multimodal and visually grounded learning experiences

4. Collaborative Knowledge Building (Campfire Core)

Contribute experiences, examples, and challenges related to using visuals and/or AI in teaching and design
Engage in dialogue and idea exchange to co-develop approaches for integrating visual literacy in practice

5. Practical Takeaways

Articulate at least one actionable idea or design direction for incorporating visual literacy and GenAI into their own context

Speakers

Maria D. Avgerinou

Faculty and Director- MA in Learning Design and Technology, The American University of Greece- Global Campus

Dr. Avgerinou is the Program Director for the MA in Learning Design and Technology at the American University of Greece- Global Campus. She holds an MA and PhD in Education from the University of Bath (UK) and has over 25 years of experience as a certified online educator and academic... Read More →

Vassilia Stefanou

Associate Professor, The American University of Greece- Global Campus

With over 25 years of teaching experience, Dr. Stefanou is a seasoned educator and researcher whose work spans multiple interdisciplinary domains. Her primary research interests include Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience (UX), Interaction Design, Learning Experience... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Circular Church

Campfire

10:30am EDT

“We learn from each other”: A Sibling Case Study of Multimodal Identity-Making in a Refugee Youth Literacy Program

Wednesday October 7, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT

Circular Church

In this paper presentation, we examine how two Afghan refugee siblings navigated identity, culture, and belonging through multimodal composing within the Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI), a research-practice partnership focused on the literacy education and well-being of immigrant and refugee youth. LCI integrates critical multimodal literacy, trauma-informed practices, and arts-based approaches to create safe spaces for adolescent expression and meaning-making. Using qualitative case study methodology grounded in critical multimodal social semiotics, we trace Roya's and Ahmad's participation across six sessions over two years, analyzing their writing and visual art as interconnected semiotic systems.
Our research question is: How do siblings' multimodal compositions reflect relational and cultural identity-making within an arts-based and trauma-informed literacy program for immigrant and refugee youth? Our findings reveal that a) familial relationships served as a primary resource for identity construction across both written and visual modes; b) cultural anchors, including language, clothing, religion, and homeland, functioned as recurring semiotic tools through which both youth asserted belonging and resisted displacement; and c) the sibling relationship itself constituted a shared compositional and interpretive framework, with each student's work deepening and contextualizing the other's.
These findings carry implications for how arts-integrated literacy programs can honor the relational dimensions of refugee youth experience. When adolescents compose alongside and in response to one another, multimodal literacy spaces become sites not only of individual voice but of collective meaning-making, cultural affirmation, and well-being.

Speakers

Angela Wiseman

Associate Professor, Literacy Education, NC State University

Angela M. Wiseman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at North Carolina State University and Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Visual Literacies at San Diego State University, where her scholarship advances critical visual and multimodal qualitative methods for understanding how youth... Read More →

Majid Komasi

Doctoral Student and Graduate Research Assistant, NC State University

Majid Komasi is a Doctoral Student in Learning Design and Technology at NC State University's College of Education, where he works as a Graduate Research Assistant affiliated with the Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI). His research focuses on the intersections of multimodal... Read More →

Sarah Blankenbeker

Graduate Student, NC State University

Sarah Blankenbeker is a first-year doctoral student in the Literacy and English Language Arts Education program within the Teacher Education and Learning Sciences department at North Carolina State University. She holds a Master of Arts in Reading and Literacy Education from East... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
Circular Church

Paper

11:00am EDT

Re-Seeing Together: Pláticas as Collaborative Visual Literacy Across Time

Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am EDT

Circular Church

This presentation positions pláticas, a culturally grounded dialogic practice rooted in feminist and Chicana/o scholarship, as a form of collaborative visual literacy and a structured way of seeing one's own experience through the eyes of others across time. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnographic study of three Puerto Rican bilingual educators in rural North Carolina, the presenter examines how a three-session plática approach created conditions for shared memory-making. The study draws on a personal archive of over 1,800 handwritten diary pages and 63 blog posts produced during the researcher's own migration, which served as the analytical foundation for the collaborative sessions. Each plática session opened with voluntary artifact sharing that helped participants ground abstract memories in concrete images. By modeling vulnerability and sharing first, the researcher established confianza (trust) as an epistemological condition rather than a relational courtesy. What emerged was a collaborative act of re-seeing. Participants helped each other identify colonial structures that had remained invisible or normalized in individual memory. The paper argues that pláticas constitute a visual literacy practice that makes legible the images people carry internally of themselves, their profession, and their place in institutions. This presentation offers visual literacy scholars a model for participatory, culturally sustaining approaches to memory research that center positionality and shared experience as conditions of collective sight.

Speakers

María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Hawai`i - West O'ahu

Dr. María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo is a scholar, educator, and storyteller whose work sits at the intersection of language, place, and social identity in multilingual education. María Heysha is an assistant professor of early childhood education at the University of Hawai`i... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am EDT
Circular Church

Panel

1:30pm EDT

Teachers Inducting Mexican Cultural Themes through Co-Construction of an Informal Mural

Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm EDT

Circular Church

In this presentation, we share the results of a mural co-construction activity with in-service teachers participating in a study abroad program in Mexico that aims to prepare and encourage educators to carry out culturally-reflective representation activities in their own classrooms. The activity was intentionally reflective of and synergistic with the rich heritage of Mexican muralism viewed by participants during study abroad (Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros). The activity tasked teachers with initially collecting a mix of original visuals (e.g., photographs, hand-drawn art, sketches) and printed visual artifacts (e.g., brochures, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, advertisements) in Puebla and Mexico City that reflected Mexican culture, broadly conceived. Teachers were asked to bring at least eight printed images to a reflection session where they met in small groups to share and group images thematically where possible. A facilitator invited groups to share developing themes and asked follow up questions to help differentiate, collapse, and relate themes. A large wall covered in flipchart paper was then used for teachers to attach their images into themed collages. With the informal mural in place, small groups used the Visual Thinking Strategies process (Gardner, 2017; Yenawine, 2013) to critically examine what they had co-constructed and how it reflected Mexican culture (e.g., "What is happening in this picture?" "What do you see that makes you say that?"). In the presentation, we will share the theoretical grounding for our activity, including: preparation for culturally-responsive teaching by becoming learners of culture (Gay, 2010); place-based education and learning in situ (Smith, 2002); and material culture theory that calls for reading physical objects as primary texts (Cunningham, 2004). We will also share results on how well the activity prompted teachers to see and value funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992) or community cultural knowledge during their time abroad.

Speakers

Angela Wiseman

Associate Professor, Literacy Education, NC State University

Kevin Oliver

Professor, North Carolina State University

Dr. Oliver is a Professor of Learning, Design, and Technology in the College of Education at North Carolina State University.

Mary Estrada

Assistant Teaching Professor, North Carolina State University

Dr. Estrada is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at North Carolina State University.

Michael Cook

Professor, Auburn University

Dr. Cook is a Professor of English Language Arts Education in Auburn University's College of Education

Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm EDT
Circular Church

Paper

2:00pm EDT

The Impact of Visualization Across Multiple Intervention Phases on the Writing Growth of Bilingual Students as Measured by a Standardized Writing Assessment.

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

Circular Church

The use of visualization in writing instruction has been known to be effective with multilingual learners. Learners of new languages produce more content when they have access to alternative semiotic resources by reducing cognitive demands associated with written expression, However, less is known about the role of visualization as a tool for identity and cultural representation in student-centered, equitable learning environments and its impact on personal narratives. In this presentation, we will discuss the study conducted in a bilingual 4th grade classroom that included the use of visualization across multiple phases of writing instruction focused on personal narratives. In addition to presenting quantitative findings, the discussion of qualitative data will highlight student growth through their increasing command of multimodality in personal narratives, illustrating how visualization supported text generation. The audience will be invited to review and discuss student samples. Implications for the use of visualization in creating inclusive environments to support multilingual students represent their identities, cultural and lived experiences.

Speakers

Priti Haria

Associated Professor of Education, Stockton University

Priti Haria, Associate Professor of Special Education, Stockton University, NJ Priti Haria received her Ph. D in Special Education from University of Delaware with focus on developing genre-specific reading and writing strategies to support school-age students’ comprehension and writing skills. She has several years of teaching and research experience in t... Read More →

Ekaterina Midgette

Associate Professor of Literacy, St. John's University, NY

Ekaterina Midgette, Associate Professor of Literacy, St. John’s University, NYEkaterina Midgette earned a Ph.D. in Literacy from the University of Delaware where she specialized in researching planning and revision strategies for adolescent writers. She completed her graduate degree at Moscow State Linguistic University where she majored in Linguistics and Intercu... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
Circular Church

Paper

3:00pm EDT

(IN)VISIBILITY CLOAK EMBODYING WHITENESS, MEMORY, AND TRANSFORMATION THROUGH ARTS BASED EDUCATION RESEARCH

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT

Circular Church

This project explores how arts-based educational research can be used to investigate whiteness, memory, and identity through embodied making. Centered on the transformation of an inherited wool cloak, the work engages personal and ancestral narratives as a way to question the social and emotional structures that shape what it means to be a “good” white woman. Drawing from family archives: photographs, lace, handwritten notes; the cloak becomes both material object and living archive, holding tensions between visibility and invisibility, performance and authenticity, harm and healing.
Through an improvisational and tactile process of stitching, transferring, layering, and revising, I worked in a way that prioritized intuition, slowness, and presence over efficiency or outcome. The exterior of the cloak reflects ideals of composure and beauty through formal portraits, while the interior reveals more intimate and complex realities—grief, play, resistance, and contradiction. This duality mirrors the inherited scripts of whiteness and the often-unspoken emotional histories that sustain them.
Rather than seeking resolution, this project embraces inquiry and disruption. It positions artmaking as a method for re-narrating the past, not to fix it, but to open space for new understandings. The work also extends into my role as an educator, highlighting the importance of embodied, relational, and co-created learning environments that challenge dominant norms of productivity and knowledge.
Ultimately, this project is an exploration of becoming; of sitting with discomfort, honoring complexity, and using creative practice to hold space for transformation.

Speakers

Amy Sparks

Assistant Extension Professor, University of Minnesota Extension Youth Development

Amy Sparks is a University of Extension Educator in Youth Development and a PhD student whose research explores arts-based, embodied, and liberatory approaches to education, with a focus on identity, belonging, and youth empowerment. She is dedicated to innovating and implementing... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
Circular Church

Paper

3:30pm EDT

Collage as Thought, Form, and Technology

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Circular Church

This panel convenes artist-educators across graphic design, illustration, painting, and sculpture to explore a shared premise: all visual art operates as a form of collage. Across disciplines, artists construct meaning by assembling visual elements drawn from observation, memory, imagination, and reference. Framing image-making through collage offers a powerful multimodal lens for understanding how ideas move across materials, media, and contexts.

Extending this framework into contemporary practice, the panel examines generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) imagery as a complex and evolving form of collage. While generative systems synthesize images from vast datasets, technologically mediated processes often obscure source material, raising critical questions around transparency, authorship, and ethics. Unlike traditional practices, where influences may be visible or intentionally integrated, generative AI complicates how images are constructed and understood.

As artist-educators, panelists will also address the pedagogical implications of this shift. How do we prepare students for professional creative practice in a landscape increasingly shaped by AI/GenAI tools? How can educators foster critical, responsible engagement with these technologies while preserving student agency and authorship? By connecting multimodal art practices, visual literacy, and emerging technologies, this panel invites participants to reconsider what it means to make, interpret, and teach images today.

Speakers

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand

Director of Learning and Operations & Art/Philosophy Adjunct, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts & Saint Leo University

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand (b. 1986) is an American figurative painter, scholar, and educator from Michigan. Her work explores portraiture as a site of encounter, examining how identity, memory, and embodiment emerge through the relationship between subject and beholder. Through layered... Read More →

Nathaniel Underwood

Assistant Professor of Illustration, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Nathaniel Underwood is an Assistant Professor of Illustration at UNC Charlotte. He received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and MFA in Painting from UNC Greensboro. Before teaching at UNC Charlotte, he taught life drawing at the Savannah College of Art and Design... Read More →

Jimmy Rhea

Assistant Professor of Art - 3D Design and Sculpture, Pensacola State College

Jimmy Rhea received his Master of Fine Arts in 2007 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked as a founder for three years at the Inferno Art Foundry in Atlanta, and as a carpenter, after completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of West Georgia.
... Read More →

Samira Shiridevich

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Samira Shiridevich is an Iranian designer and entrepreneur who explores the complexities of freedom, equity, and agency through design. She holds an MFA in Design and Visual Communications from the University of Florida and an MA in Visual Communications from the University of Art... Read More →

Caitlin Rhea

Curator of Education and Public Programs & Sculpture Adjunct, Pensacola Museum of Art & University of West Florida

Caitlin Rhea is the Curator of Education and Public Programs at the Pensacola Museum of Art in Florida, where she offers engaging educational opportunities for visitors of all ages and is passionate about encouraging creative growth in the visual arts. She also works as an adjunct... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Circular Church

Panel

IVLA 2026 Charleston

From $5.00

Tickets

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IVLA 2026 Charleston

9:00am EDT

Maria D. Avgerinou

Vassilia Stefanou

10:30am EDT

Angela Wiseman

Majid Komasi

Sarah Blankenbeker

11:00am EDT

María Heysha Carrillo Carrasquillo

1:30pm EDT

Angela Wiseman

Kevin Oliver

Mary Estrada

Michael Cook

2:00pm EDT

Priti Haria

Ekaterina Midgette

3:00pm EDT

Amy Sparks

3:30pm EDT

Alaina Plowdrey Forehand

Nathaniel Underwood

Jimmy Rhea

Samira Shiridevich

Caitlin Rhea

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