Listen now: Lev Gonick talks "tech alignment" on EdScoop's PrioritiesEDU podcast

Editors note: To read the full article and learn more about EdScoop's newest podcasst series, check out PrioritiesEDU episode one "Tech alignment ‘single most important’ issue for higher ed CIOs"

Lev Gonick, Chief Information Officer for ASU, was featured this week in the launch of EdScoop’s

PrioritiesEDU podcast. Hosted by EdScoop's Jake Williams, the series chronicles the top IT issues facing higher education leaders as defined annually by Educause. During the fifteen-minute conversation, which focused on the topic of tech alignment, Gonick challenged listeners to embrace “an understanding of the art of the possible,” both in responding to in-the-moment circumstances and innovating the future. 

 ASU’s responses to bring 100,000+ students and over 4,000 faculty online in response to the shift to remote learning included the development ASU Sync. Sync adds a third mixed modality approach that enables live interactive experiences, while also offering flexibility for personalization and active experimentation with faculty and students. Through core deliverables centered on engagement and collaboration, ASU “focused on students and the marketplace for delivery of flexible and agile learning materials.” To date, this has resulted in the consumption of millions of hours of Zoom time and the creation of over 4,000 workspaces in Slack by students, faculty and staff.

Looking beyond the now, Gonick believes that the pandemic shifted the focus of technology as it “earned its way to the executive suite [and] became more than a cost-center.” His vision is “committed to a different kind of culture,” which includes innovating the tools and resources that enable learner agency to collect, reflect and share artifacts of their learning past their time at ASU. Through distributed ledger technologies, ASU is developing “digital wallets” that serve as a 360-degree portfolio including performances, research projects, publications, community service experiences for a holistic picture beyond the numbers on a transcript.

For more information, listen to the full conversation. 

PrioritiesEDU is hosted by EdScoop, an online media source surfacing the latest news and conversations among the top leaders driving technology and digital learning in higher education.

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