1EdTech Consortium welcomes its first visiting scholar, Dr. Avi Hyman, from the University of Toronto.
Avi is using some of his study leave time to work on leadership projects with 1EdTech. As technology becomes more pervasive and vital to the success of higher education institutions, he plans to work at a leadership level in the organization to create resources that will help institutions improve both educator and student experiences.
“During my career, I’ve been fortunate to provide strategic and tactical leadership in terms of information technology solutions that support student, educator, and institutional success,” he said. “Interoperability is key to that success. I hope to spend this time digging deeper into that, making it easier for all institutions to embrace interoperability and looking forward to how it will work as new technologies emerge.”
Avi says interoperability, through open standards, is also an equity issue, ensuring institutions can provide their educators and learners with the tools they need when they need them without being tied to proprietary technologies.
“Without open interoperability, institutions are susceptible to the financial whims of one supplier, and the educational mission can get lost. We need to be able to balance the needs of students and how they use technology with the needs of educators to deliver their content in the most effective way. Interoperability gives us more flexibility to meet both of those needs.”
During his time with 1EdTech, Avi hopes to help his institution and others leverage open interoperability standards as they adopt and adapt to new and emerging technologies. He’ll do this in part by chairing 1EdTech’s Emerging Digital Pedagogies Innovation Leadership Network, leading collaborative efforts to create an Artificial Intelligence Institutional Preparedness Checklist, developing professional development content, and more.
“Over the past few years, we had to make a lot of changes quickly,” he said. “Now I’m excited to take a little extra time to think through where we are now and where we can go. There are a lot of possibilities if we do this the right way. I think 1EdTech can help ensure we all get there.”
About the Author
Andrea Deau
Andrea Deau is the senior director for higher education partnerships at 1EdTech, where she works closely with members to meet the challenges they face in the rapidly growing and evolving digital teaching and learning landscape. She has a robust professional history serving as an academic innovation leader focused on student-centered education and experiences.
