Office of Innovative Instruction and eLearning (OIIE)

Executive Director

Biography

Dr. Jason Neben grew up in Orange County, California, where he attended St. John’s Lutheran School and Orange Lutheran High School. Enjoying the Lutheran educational environment throughout K-12, he was called to the vocation of teacher in Lutheran education and pursued post-secondary studies at Concordia University Irvine.

Jason graduated from CUI with honors and was awarded the Mathematics Student of the Year award. Earning a teaching credential and Student Teacher of the Year recognition the following year launched the first phase of his professional journey in education as a middle school math and science teacher at his alma mater, St. John’s Lutheran School. After 10 years in elementary and middle school education, a call from his collegiate alma mater brought him back to CUI.

Now an Associate Professor of Educational Technology, Jason has previously served at CUI in multiple roles for Student Affairs, the School of Education, and the Provost’s Office. In his appointment as Executive Director for the Office of Innovative Instruction and eLearning (OIIE) he leads a dynamic team tasked with facilitating new academic initiatives and supporting instructional design and academic media development across all schools and disciplines.

Jason completed his doctoral studies in instructional technology and distance education at Nova Southeastern University where he studied instructional design, media development, and online administration. He completed the program with a doctoral dissertation titled Perceptions of College Regents Regarding Diffusion of Online Education in a Small Liberal Arts University. His research interests include diffusion of innovations theory, its implications for online education, and application at the institutional level. A part of his doctoral study work, "Attributes and Barriers Impacting Diffusion of Online Education at the Institutional Level: Considering Faculty Perceptions", was published as a chapter in the book Beyond the Online Course: Leadership Perspectives in eLearning.

More often than not, Jason is recognized as Amber Neben’s husband, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. Amber is a two time Olympic and three time World Champion cyclist for Team USA and much of Jason’s free time is spent supporting Amber’s cycling career as it has brought both of them to many different parts of the world. In his vocation as husband he has been a mechanic, soigneur, manager, counselor, attorney, accountant, travel agent, web designer, and sherpa; and loved every minute of it. In 2010 Jason and Amber founded The Dare To Be Project, a nonprofit 501c3 charitable organization that inspires and equips physically challenged children with adaptive cycles to actively DARE TO BE their dream.

Administrative Assistant

Biography

Tonya McPherrin serves as the Administrative Assistant for the Office of Innovative Instruction and eLearning. In this position, Tonya manages the day-to-day tasks of the OIIE office including serving as the main point of contact, providing general support to the OIIE team, overseeing the OIIE quarterly newsletter, and managing contracts with Subject Matter Experts. Prior to joining Concordia Irvine, Tonya served as the Administrative Assistant at Stanford University for several years at various institutes and departments including the Chair’s Office in the Department of Medicine, the Stanford Cancer Institute, the Woods Institute for the Environment, and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In addition to her administrative experience, Tonya has over 13 years of court reporting experience, which has given her a keen eye for detail.

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.