Learning Technologies & Innovation

January 2026

Meet Microsoft Copilot: Your Everyday AI Assistant

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is an AI assistant available to all faculty, students, and staff as part of Loyola's Microsoft 365 licensing. Join us for an interactive webinar led by our Microsoft partners to explore how Copilot Chat can transform the way you teach, learn, research, and work. You'll discover how Copilot Chat can help you summarize complex information, draft and refine content, analyze data, and collaborate more effectively across Microsoft 365 apps. The following topics will be covered.

Copilot Overview: Understand what Microsoft 365 Copilot is, how the Loyola-licensed experience differs from the public version, and what it can do across Microsoft 365 tools.

Effective Prompting: Learn practical strategies for writing clear, goal-oriented prompts to get better results for teaching, learning, research, and administrative tasks.

Live Demonstration: See Copilot Chat in action through real-world examples such as summarizing materials, drafting content, creating checklists, and turning notes into actionable outputs.

Upcoming Webinars

February 11th, 2025, 1:00-2:00pm CT

February 26th, 2026, 11:00am-12:00pm CT

In addition to these live webinars, Microsoft will host a virtual office hour on February 27th from 10:00-11:00am CT. This drop-in session is an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about using Copilot Chat at Loyola. No registration is required—Join Here.

Empower Your Students with Virtual Labs: A Labster Quick Start

Labster is a virtual science lab platform with a rapidly expanding catalog of over three hundred simulations across multiple scientific disciplines. It provides students with a realistic environment to perform experiments, build skills, and deepen their understanding of core concepts. In partnership with Labster, we invite you for an in-depth look at this powerful platform—exploring how it can support student learning in your courses and how to seamlessly integrate it within your Sakai sites.

February 3rd, 2026, 10:00-10:30am CT

Research Technologies for Teaching and Learning

As the new semester begins, we'd like to remind you of the academic research technologies and assistance available to you and your students. We support a range of tools for data analysis, qualitative research, and survey administration, including SPSS, NVivo, STATA, SAS, and Qualtrics. Faculty, students, and staff can schedule virtual or in-person consultations for help selecting the right tools, training, and planning projects. Support is also available for software installations on personal devices, as well as Qualtrics survey design, distribution, and data management. We look forward to collaborating with you! For more information, read the full article.

Still Time to Participate in the Panopto Elai Pilot

Elai is an innovative platform that leverages artificial intelligence to revolutionize the way you create and manage video content. It empowers you to generate professional-quality videos in a matter of minutes, eliminating the complexities that often accompany traditional video production processes. With its user-friendly interface and advanced technology, Elai empowers you to render content at a whole new level. To get started right away, join the pilot. If you'd like a quick tutorial, schedule a consultation.

In Next Month's Issue

The Learning Curve blog's latest article
Upcoming Piazza webinar
Faculty outreach poll