The issue is that until now, remote learning programs have been largely self-selecting students opt in and have the necessary technology, and faculty are trained to teach this way. That’s not necessarily the case in the current situation, for either students or faculty. There’s a lot of research in online education that says the more social presence you can have, the better: the more engaged the learners are, the richer the interactions. One strand of my work that’s particularly relevant today has to do with digital identities: the idea that there’s something about yourself as a student that’s evident in your participation in online classes. I’ve always been interested in the idea that learning happens in multiple places and spaces, and the ways that technology can be the conduit or connective tissue. Can you talk about that in the context of the pandemic? You’ve done a lot of research on digital technology in education. We can’t assume that because we’re good people and we want good things to happen, that good things are automatically going to happen. We have to be vigilant and active in how we’re conducting ourselves every single day. So it’s not enough to have morally worthy goals, missions, and external efforts. In the School of Education, social justice is a key driving component of who we are and what we do.Īnd yet sometimes we find-and this is common to a lot of institutions – that our outward mission and the ways we think about students, whether they’re K-12 or university, don’t always translate to how we treat one another as colleagues, to what happens to our everyday interactions, to our thinking about the structures we inhabit and the ways those structures may also be participating in racism-institutional racism in particular. Something that School of Education and UE have in common is that we care fundamentally about the educational experience of students. How is the experience that you bring from the School of Education positioning you to think about our national and institutional reckoning with systemic racism? I like taking on challenges, and my best-laid plans to relax never seem to quite work out. I am a creative problem solver, and taking on this role in this intense period is consistent with the way I approach my career. I had planned to go on sabbatical, write a book, spend some time deciding what’s next – but I knew this was the right next step. My term as Associate Dean was just wrapping up when the VPD position became open. I had a strong sense of UE as important and growing and having a wider purview on campus. Education is the largest minor on our campus, so I’ve worked with First Year Seminars, the University Honors Program, the Center for Educational Effectiveness, etc. Undergraduate education is important.Īs Associate Dean in the School of Education I had a lot of existing connections with Undergraduate Education. I’m an education scholar and a product of the University of California. The idea of being in a role where the primary job is to advocate for undergraduate students – especially in this office, where it’s our only mission-is compelling. What attracted you to the role of interim Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, particularly in a time of national crises that are impacting higher education? She gave an informal interview on her first day in office. She earned her BA in psychology at UC Irvine and her PhD in education at UCLA. For 20+ years, she has done research on technology in teaching and learning. She was associate dean for academic programs in the School of Education from 2015-2020 and faculty director of the education minor from 2008-2013. Cynthia Carter Ching on becoming interim Vice Provost and Dean, confronting institutional racism, and remote learningĬynthia Carter Ching, professor in the school of education, was appointed interim vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education on July 15, 2020.
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