Held Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2025, the Digital Collegium 2025 Annual Conference was a hybrid conference that explored and presented solutions for the unique issues facing digital teams at colleges and universities.
Presentations and video content are restricted to current institutional, professional-premium, affiliate and student members. Become a member.
General sessions
Tracks
AI, analytics and integration (AAI)
AI chatbots for coding: Friend, foe or just another fad?- The benefits and challenges of using AI for SEO
- Conversational AI and the Gen Z journey: What’s changing, what isn’t
- Custom GPTs for higher education: Building AI-powered assistants for efficiency and engagement
- Data makes cents: Turning digital metrics into informed business decisions
- From traffic to impact: Rethinking website measurement
- Integrating AI into your content workflows
- Personalization at scale: How to deliver tailored digital experiences without overloading your team
- Web analytics CSI: Investigating drop-offs, dead ends and digital crimes
- The wizard of labor market data: Get wicked results for SEO and engagement
Development, programming and CMS (DPC)
- Don’t make me wait: How we made monmouth.edu one of the fastest sites in higher ed
- Breaking down data silos: Connecting AI, vector search, CMS, CRM and analytics
- APIs: Because copy-pasting data is so last semester
- Dark patterns in higher ed: Are we (unintentionally) tricking our users?
- Design systems: Bridging the gap between developers and designers
- How do frameworks work? Understanding the fundamentals, variations and key considerations
- Introducing Drupal CMS: Designed for content and marketing teams
- More than an extension: WordPress REST API customization
- Shifting left: Incorporating testing early in the development lifecycle
- Turning inward: Boosting student confidence and accessibility through virtual reality campus exploration
Digital strategy and content (DSC)
- Preparing for AI search and the generative college discovery process
- AI in action: Higher ed’s masterclass for marketing and communications
- AUWire: One platform to share Auburn’s stories
- Building bridges: How intentional campus communication resulted in a successful website redesign
- Building the website while we’re flying it: Lessons in scaling design, content and strategy
- The JEDI Order: Defending and communicating justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in a new policy era
- The power of progressive profiling: Smarter recruitment strategies
- The rise of zero-click behavior: Navigating the new landscape of university marketing and engagement
- Unlocking GA4 insights: Advanced reporting and attribution for higher ed
- Working with subject-matter experts
Hot topics in higher ed (HTHE)
- NotebookLM in 45 minutes
- 10 GenAI tools and tricks every higher ed pro should be using
- Beyond the brochure: Making college websites work for the modern student
- Bigger than a breadbox: Thinking beyond the redesign
- Designing — and maintaining — a better web
- Governance, community of practice and generative AI
- In-house SEO, you can do it!
- One university, one website
- Roll for sanity: Surviving the ever-expanding web feature bestiary
- Surviving the strategy trail: Overcoming challenges to reach your project destination
Management, teams and personal development (MTD)
- AI-enhanced accessibility: Balancing efficiency with human insight
- The beacons are lit: Uniting marketing and web teams for a stronger digital realm
- It’s not you, it’s the process: Breaking bad habits in tech teams
- Making faculty research discoverable: SEO tactics for scrappy teams
- Moving from a decentralized content management system to a centralized one
- Redesigning without the chaos: A strategic approach to website overhauls
- Search experience optimization: Expanding student reach with thought leadership content
- Silos are costing you: How to win leadership buy-in with real ROI
- Train your colleagues for the future
- Why traditional lead generation fails in higher education
Partners (PAR)
- What works, what’s hype: Higher ed digital trends to adopt or drop in 2025
- ABCs and 123s of website accessibility
- AI-driven click‑through rate hits 48 percent: Two universities share their playbook
- Bring your digital bench to bat
- Building the AI ready campus
- Closing the gap: Integrating digital and enrollment marketing through CRM-driven personalization
- Component clarity: A strategic approach to modern CMS components
- Rethinking SEO for higher education in 2026 and beyond: Are you ready for the new reality?
- Simplified and supercharged: Transforming campus engagement and success
- Speaking geek (without being one): Technical questions to ask before a university redesign
Posters
- Demystifying AI agents
- Brand cohesion in a complex environment
- Digital downloads as a tool for audience engagement and appreciation
- Experiential digital EDGEyness
- “I know you can’t read this, but…”; Best practices for creating accessible presentations
- Illustrating a major with a website timeline
- Is your website ready for AI-based search?
- Plain language and design: Rethinking your approach to administrative websites
- Putting the AI in emAIl
- Want better content? Stop doing it yourself.
- What high school students really think about higher ed
Usability, accessibility and design (UAD)
- Don’t let your website flunk: The college guide to user testing
- AInspector Sidebar browser extension for WCAG evaluation
- Building RAMPS for digital access
- Coloring inside and outside the lines: Balancing best practices and creativity in higher ed web design
- Freshen up your forms: A UX case study
- From policy to practice: ADA Title II changes for campus communities
- One man band: Creating content harmony by balancing UX, accessibility and SEO
- Putting the “you” in Canisius U: The importance of embracing UX/UI
- Site archi-what? Taxono-who? Build the web foundation you’ll need — for AI, SEO and everything else
- When campus politics crash the user experience
Related resources
Link articles
Our own LINK Journal published coverage of conference sessions and events.
