Aisha Jackson

Aisha Jackson joined UC Santa Cruz as our Vice Chancellor for Information Technology on August 1, 2022. VCIT Jackson, who holds a doctorate in education from the University of Colorado, Denver, carries a wealth of knowledge and experience working with academic technologies in teaching and learning environments, and she has a long history of working to support underrepresented students. 

TLC Director for Digital Learning and Engagement Michael Tassio connected with VCIT Jackson through a series of exchanges in March and April 2023 to explore topics related to the role of technology in teaching and learning.

MT: First of all, congratulations on your new position of Vice Chancellor of Information Technology, and thank you for choosing UC Santa Cruz. Much of your teaching and leadership positions have involved instructional technologies. Tell us a little about your background and what excites you about the role of technology in teaching and learning. What experiences have shaped your interest in instructional technologies?

AJ: Thank you for the wonderful questions, Michael. I have never been asked what experiences shaped my interest in instructional technologies, so I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on that.

I am an educator at heart. I was one of those children that played school with their dolls. I would teach a lesson, give them homework, and grade them, placing stickers on the papers of those that excelled. I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an educator. 

In college, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, specializing in exceptional children. During my internship, I had the opportunity to observe my mentor teacher go through her own professional development. A Reading Specialist from the district came in and modeled research-based teaching methods while my mentor observed. My mentor would study, read articles about the method, and discuss the material with the specialist. My mentor started practicing the methods while the specialist scaffolded and, over time, worked herself out of the classroom. I observed the interaction and appreciated what I later learned was a coaching method. I remembered this engagement, and many years later, when I got into the technology space, I thought about how I might do that with technology. 

My childhood dream didn’t pan out. After graduating, I taught first grade and realized I didn’t love it. I decided to pursue my master’s degree after finding a program that offered a specialization in Educational Technology and Teacher Education. I was excited by the novelty of technology being used in the classroom, and that it allowed me to build on my educational foundation to support teachers. 

As I was earning my master’s degree, I was offered the opportunity to work on grant projects. I received funding to teach teachers how to use technology. That’s when I made the connection between what I observed during my internship and the technology space. I loved working with others to explore what was possible when using technology in the classroom. 

After graduating and doing some work toward a PhD, I moved to Trinidad and Tobago to work and eventually teach at the University of the West Indies. My first position was in the equivalent of ITS, and I was responsible for not only helping faculty and staff adopt technology, but also for running the technologies as well. I led my first major software migration there, which served as an introduction to organizational change management and project management. It was also the first time I worked closely with the more technical components of technology. Rather than run away from what I didn’t always understand, I found ways to translate it for myself and others. 

MT: UC Santa Cruz has long had a reputation for providing transformational learning experiences. From making experiential learning a core part of classes, to innovating new fields of study, to continuing to use narrative evaluations long after peer universities had ended this practice. What do you view as the role of ITS in supporting faculty to provide transformative learning experiences?

AJ: In order to fully answer this question, I wondered how transformative learning is being defined at UC Santa Cruz. That’s something I’m still learning, and in that context, I referred to Stories of Transformative Learning by Michael Kroth and Patricia Cranton, which I read during my doctoral program. Kroth and Cranton (2014) define transformative learning as “a process by which individuals engage in the cognitive processes of critical reflection and self-reflection, intuitive and imaginative explorations of their psyche and spirituality, and developmental changes leading to a deep shift in perspective and habits of mind that are more open, permeable, discriminating, and better justified. Individual change may lead to social change, and social change may promote individual change” (p. 9). 

Whenever I think about how technology can be used to support learning, I immediately consider the objectives or what learners are expected to know or do by the end of the learning experience. If we consider the definition of transformational learning that I shared above, the objectives are critical reflection, self-reflection, and intuitive and imaginative explorations. ITS is responsible for providing accessible, secure, and foundational tools that facilitate students in meeting these objectives. As a part of that, ITS is responsible for providing the technical knowledge, or expertise, on how these tools work, including helping faculty and students learn to use them. The tools are just one component, of course. The learning experience has to be undergirded by content and pedagogical knowledge provided by the faculty as well. 

Beyond just providing the technology and the associated expertise, I would like ITS to get to a place of partnered exploration, alongside faculty and experts in the Teaching and Learning Center, conducting research on emerging technologies, their benefits, and thoughts around unintended consequences. 

MT: Our campus has had a cautious approach to bringing on new instructional technologies, and the formation of the Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning committee will help establish principles for considering new tools. What questions do you ask when introducing a new technology?

AJ: There are so many! The first question I ask is whether the tool is appropriate for the learning objectives and discipline. I don’t believe in the gratuitous use of technology, so I ask this question to help ensure that its use is supporting a faculty member’s learning goals. I consider how to support students and faculty so they can use the tool successfully. Do they know what it is? Why is it being used? How to access it? Do they have the skills to use it? If not, what resources can be provided to support its use? Where can students and faculty go for support? To me? To ITS? The vendor? Is it reasonable for the faculty to use it, given the size of the class? Before rolling it out to students, I consider how I might test the technology to ensure that it does what I expect it to and what will my backup plan be, in case things go wrong? 

Related to the tools in particular, before introducing something new, I ask whether there is an existing tool that would meet the objectives before introducing a new one. While ITS is working on mapping the student digital experience so that we can have a better sense of the tools students are required to navigate, I know from my work on other campuses, that that mapping typically looks like a bowl of spaghetti, a challenging environment for students to navigate. I also consider the accessibility of the tool — whether all students, from the linguistically diverse to those that use assistive technologies, can successfully use it. I explore whether the tool is secure, as I want to ensure that the provider has practices to ensure the data within it is safe. If the technology is going to be used in the classroom, I think about the availability of power and WiFi, so that students can use their devices without disruption.  

With my CIO hat on, I ask about the cost of the tool and the source of the funding, informed by whether it is a core, consortium, or specialized technology. I also explore its supportability and whether ITS has the capacity to support it. I think about how the vendor manages changes. I want to ensure that they cause as little disruption to faculty and students as possible and that we can decide when material changes happen. I consider how the tool integrates with existing systems. The more it integrates, the better for the user experience. While it might be counterintuitive to think about sunsetting a tool when it’s being introduced, it is also helpful to ask about the ability to back up and export the data in a reusable format, as some emerging technologies have short shelf lives. A final question I ask is about the consequences. What might we anticipate the consequences of introducing a new technology might be, good or bad? My hope in answering this question is to get in front of anything that might negatively impact our students, faculty, and staff. 

MT: Much of the discourse in higher education in the past year has been about student disengagement, and learning loss, as well as burnout among educators and learners alike. What bright spots do you see in how ITS can support faculty in re-engaging students?

AJ: Although I wasn’t at UCSC during the move to emergency remote teaching and learning, on many campuses it meant that technology was being used to address urgent needs without thorough assessments. Because of this, I don’t think more technology is necessarily the answer to re-engaging students. I think ITS needs to, instead, slow down and think about how we might reduce barriers to using technology so that the user experience is more seamless, so that the technology we provide isn’t another additional cognitive load. 

If I had to give an answer, one bright spot is in the data analytics space. For example, I imagine a future where we find a way to equitably use data to help faculty recognize when a student is not engaged, based in part on indicators from the technology they interact with. We’re not fully there yet as a campus, but there is so much opportunity! 

MT: One of the things I’ve appreciated most in getting to know you is how you carefully engage with others by asking insightful questions. What are the questions we should be asking now about the future of higher education and how instructional technologies may continue to intersect with teaching and learning?AJ: The technologies will change, but my questions remain the same. As I write these out, I realize it’s about the risks and rewards. I might be repeating myself here, but the three questions that are important to me are: (1) how will the technology help our students, faculty, and staff meet their objectives, (2) will the technology be accessible and secure, and (3) what are the unintended consequences if it is adopted?