Transnational Workshop: Digital Creation 'Beyond the Screen'

Highlights

• Collaborate with graduate students at the University of Paris, Saint Denis, on an interdisciplinary digital storytelling project that combines multimedia software, digital humanities methods, and large language model (LLM) generative AI, drawing from your unique skills and areas of interest.
• Creatively reflect on how computer technologies – past and present – open up new modes and kinds of storytelling experiences that connect people, machines, and environments in new ways.
• Immerse yourself in Paris and explore its rich artistic heritage, multimedia experimentation, and cross-cultural artistic exchange.
• Visit museums, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and cultural sites such as the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Monet’s Gardens, and Mont St. Michel. 

This hands-on, international workshop explores the creative potential of generative AI—especially large language models (LLMs)—within the history of digital art, storytelling, and design. During a spring semester course at RIT, you’ll study how computers have shaped literature, visual art, interactive media, and games, and how AI builds on this legacy.

You’ll collaborate with students and faculty in Paris to develop a digital storytelling experience, learning to use LLM AI creatively, alongside other multimedia storytelling methods. The workshop highlights AI’s role in supporting—not replacing—human creativity and offers insights into cultural perspectives on these technologies.

In Paris, you’ll spend an intensive week working with local teams to develop your digital storytelling projects and explore the city’s rich cultural life.

This program offers valuable, hands-on experience with LLM-based AI, teaching you how to utilize these tools thoughtfully—skills increasingly in demand across fields such as human-computer interaction, digital literature and arts, game design, software development, new media design, and creative writing.

Examples of past projects students worked on in Paris:

• Video compilation of 2021 projects
• "Surreal Beasts" project (2022)
• "A Dream" project 
• Whispers in the Cave (2025)

Upcoming Student Info. Meetings

• Thursday, September 18th, 4:00 pm, RIT Global Office (Global Village, Bldg. 400, Room 2075, 2nd floor above the Cantina & Grill)
• Monday, September 22nd, 5:00 pm, Zoom (https://rit.zoom.us/j/92628493296)

Join the interest list for this program to receive more information.

Program Details 

• Course Term: Summer
• Travel Dates: May 20-30, 2026
• Location: Paris, France
• Credits: 3

Course Details:

• ENGL 510/610: Transnational Digital Creation (3 credits)
  Students will be enrolled in a spring 2026 class in Rochester, then travel to France in May. The spring 2026 class will meet on Fridays, 9:00-11:00 (Eastern Time).

No pre-requisites. Open to all undergraduate majors (3rd year and above will be given priority) and grad students, 2.5 cumulative GPA or above. No French language is required, and no prior technical skills are needed.

More about the digital creation process

Application Deadline: Sunday, October 19th, 2025

Program Cost & Financial Aid

Program Cost: Student budget worksheet - Transnational Workshop: Digital Creation Paris Spring/Summer 2026 - outlines all program costs.

Financial Aid:
Financial aid may cover some program costs. As you review the budget worksheet, please remember that it does not include your RIT financial aid or scholarships, which may cover some of the program costs. The purpose of the budget worksheet is to show all the costs associated with your study abroad program,m which will help your RIT Financial Aid Assistant Director determine how your aid and scholarships may be applied. 

To understand how your financial aid and scholarships may apply to your program costs:

• Make an appointment with your financial aid assistant director (call Financial Aid at 585-475-2186) and mention that you are calling for a study abroad appointment
• Upload a copy of your budget worksheet(s) via the Financial Aid upload portal at https://join.rit.edu/register/FA_upload (at least 48 hours prior to your scheduled meeting, so they have time to prepare) 
  • Please rename the file name of your budget worksheet before uploading it to the Financial Aid portal based on the instructions provided in the portal (adding your name and student ID)

To find out the name of your financial aid assistant director for your degree program visit: https://www.rit.edu/admissions/aid/contact#counseling-team

We recommend you meet with Financial Aid before the application deadline so you understand how your aid will apply. The RIT financial aid office is located in Bausch and Lomb Center (Bldg. 77), 2nd floor, 2125.

Scholarships:

• RIT Education Abroad Travel Grants ($500-$1,000)
  All students with pending applications in the RIT Study Abroad Compass for this program will be automatically considered for an RIT Education Abroad Travel Grant. You will be informed of your scholarship status shortly after the application deadline. Scholarships are awarded based on financial need, as determined by financial aid and your FAFSA on file.

• Additional Scholarships
  RIT scholarships and national scholarships for study abroad are good options to explore for scholarship funding. Make sure you are checking scholarship eligibility requirements and take note of scholarship deadlines. 

To Apply

1) Start an application in the Compass (RIT's study abroad application system)
Once you login to the Compass you will need to complete some profile/registration questions, then use the “Search Programs” tab to search for “Transnational Workshop” to complete an application.

2) Watch this video, which goes over all important application steps for RIT Faculty-Led Programs

Contact

Laura Shackelford
Assistant Professor - English Department
College of Liberal Arts
lxsgla@rit.edu