By Shohreh Bozorgmehri. This 2018-2019 fiscal year, I was honored to serve as chair of the systemwide Educational Technology Leadership Committee (ETLC). The ETLC is a committee of the Information Technology Leadership Council (ITLC), with direct involvement and support from UCSD CIO Vince Kellen and UC System CIO Tom Andriola.
Our mission
Committee members are enthusiastic about issues surrounding educational technology and genuinely care about innovation in the academic realm. With creativity, passion, and dedication, members collaborate with one another to develop and enhance educational technology throughout UC campuses.
ETLC’s mission is to review, discuss, and tackle issues regarding the effective use of technology in academia. We work with the broader academic community to improve educational technology to support students and pedagogy. Our teams, which are composed of senior leaders across all of the UC campuses and the Office of the President, represent the diverse educational technology efforts at the University of California.
Strong partnership
ETLC also fosters collaboration with campus academic leadership, such as vice provosts of Teaching and Learning, or Divisions of Undergraduate Education, as well as systemwide committees, such as the University Committee on Academic Computing and Communications.
Reflecting on the ETLC team’s joint ventures and outcomes this year, I could not have imagined an endeavor more rewarding than a cross-campus collaboration and partnership. The chairs before me have worked hard toward creating a long-lasting and well-functioning committee focused on leveraging technology to enhance educational practices. Members of the ETLC work together to understand and support emerging educational practices, while focusing on creating a digital learning strategy. We actively explore and review new tools and approaches to find those that best encompass the goals of all campuses.
Goals and achievements
Throughout the year, the committee identified and focused on primary emerging themes by forming four subgroups. All groups were thoughtfully selected based on a series of meetings, activities, and innovative discussions. The subgroups are listed here:
- The Changes in Teaching, Learning, and Technology subgroup examined strategies that would encourage and support more creative, novel, and innovative applications of technology in academia by building and rolling out an assessment instrument and reporting on the findings.
- The Student Success Analytics subgroup focused on collaboration around Student Success Data Analytics strategies and supported the development of a peer network across UC.
- The Campus Organizational Structure and Decision-making subgroup issued a report on the results of a systemwide survey designed to identify the placement of common educational technology services within each campus.
- The Collaborations with other Groups or Systems subgroup worked toward increasing opportunities for communication and collaboration across UC and peer universities.
We also collaborated on a strategic level around active learning spaces, the direction of learning management systems, and the assessment and integration of third-party tools. Additional collaborations include working with systemwide licensing and procurement workgroups, as well as information exchange with the UC third-party application review process team.
Many thanks to all ETLC members for their engagement and contributions this past year. They are Suzann Harrison from UCB, Owen McGrath from UCB, Meggan Levitt from UCD (incoming chair), Todd Van Zandt from UCD, Matt Williams from UCI, Michelle Lew from UCLA, Rose Roccio from UCLA, James Williamson from UCLA (in coming Vice Chair), Joan Holmquist from UCM, Mary-Ellen Kreher from UCOP/ILTI, Mike Wood from UCOP/ILTI, Israel Fletes from UCR, George Michaels from UCSB, Lisa Berry from UCSB, Jim Phillips from UCSC, Dan Suchy from UCSD, Gail Persily from UCSF, and Matt Epperson from UCSF.
Looking forward
As my time as chair comes to an end, we continue to discover innovative and efficient mechanisms for faculty to teach and for students to learn. We have had a successful and productive year and look forward to continuous engagement in collaborative projects that enhance the University of California campuses.
I would like to congratulate incoming ETLC chair Meggan Levitt, UCD’s assistant vice provost and associate chief information officer for Academic Applications, and incoming ETLC vice chair Jim Williamsom, UCLA’s director of Campus Educational Technology Systems and Administration. I look forward to supporting ETLC’s future endeavors.
Shohreh Bozorgmehri is the divisional director of Student & Academic Services in the Office of Information Technology, UC Irvine.