Director, Academic Media Development
Biography
After earning his B.S. in Aquatic Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Alex Ray worked as a field scientist conducting subtidal marine surveys with the PISCO Lab at the northern Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura. The purpose of the surveys was to monitor and assess the effectiveness of marine protected areas in supporting wildlife populations and biodiversity. Some of the results and conclusions can be found at CINMS After 10 Years.
Alex ultimately left fieldwork to return to school to obtain his single-subject teaching credentials in biology, chemistry, and geosciences from the University of California, Irvine. His work in the credential program eventually led to a master of science degree from UCI in Biological Sciences and Educational Media Design. This in turn led to his work on a multiyear National Science Foundation grant tasked with investigating the effects of arts-science integrated curricula on student achievement in earth, life, and physical sciences. Publications of results are pending.
In 2016, Alex came to Concordia University Irvine to join the Office of Innovative Instruction and eLearning where he currently serves as Director of Academic Media Development. Although his responsibilities vary, his academic and research interests are focused on efficient leveraging of media to support student learning in ways that weren’t readily accessible during his own undergraduate and graduate school education. Of particular interest to him is the concept of tailoring asynchronous design to meet students’ spatial and temporal limitations through the use of intentional versus opportunistic learning opportunities and matching them to appropriate instructional media.
Alex and his wife, Jess, live in Dana Point with their two children. When he can get the time, he enjoys free diving and spearfishing off the California and Baja coastlines and, after a good day on the water, feeding his family freshly caught treats from the deep.