“We are living in a world where technology is growing faster than we can imagine,” said Jase Teoh, Stan State’s new director of academic technology. “The ability to communicate across time and geography and across different countries is unprecedented and that means education is no longer confined to a location.”
Teoh comes to Stan State from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, where she served as director of educational technology. In that role, she led the Educational Technology, Media Services and Events and Conferences teams, which were charged with providing support and services of various institutional technology applications.
She also worked to foster collaborative partnerships among faculty, academic leaders and technology professionals to encourage the development of innovative, technology-enhanced instruction and academic support.
Teoh is a first-generation college graduate whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Malaysia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and public relations from the University of Northern Iowa, a master’s in counseling and psychological services from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from Illinois State University.
Within the first year of her new role within the Academic Affairs office, Teoh hopes to address three priorities. The first is to evaluate various learning management systems or platforms faculty and staff use to design and facilitate classroom curriculum. Right now, she said faculty members use several different platforms, depending on their area of expertise. Teoh will work to streamline operations to make the technology more cost-effective and easier to manage.
She will also work to increase accessibility to instructional materials and technologies and to build relationships with faculty, staff and students.
“I’m here to listen and understand what the colleges and departments need,” she said. “What is their direction? Their vision? Their mission? It’s all about how we can best work together so our students can benefit.”
Teoh believes her background in liberal arts, social sciences and technology provides her with a unique set of skills and experience to identify the needs of students and faculty and how to best address them.
“My area is very unique. I’m like a hybrid between the information technology world and academic affairs,” she said. “I’m able to understand both languages.”
Over the course of the next year Teoh said she hopes to build a team of people dedicated to instructional design.
“It takes time to grow something, so I think in the next 12 months we’ll add two more positions with the goal of dedicating each person to a college or subject matter/area of expertise,” she said.
With the right people in place, Teoh said the University will be better poised to tackle the unique challenges of each department.
“Each college is different. Does it make sense to offer face-to-face classroom instruction? Offer some courses online? Or provide a blended format with the help of a web conferencing tool?” she said.
Another area she said her office will focus on is growing the technological assets on the Stockton Campus.
“We’re really pushing equity, accessibility and inclusion,” she said. “My job is to look out for the best interests of all students, faculty and the University.”