Dr. Valerie Irvine is an internationally-recognized Associate Professor of Educational Technology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria (UVic), where she is a member of the Senate and is area advisor for educational technology with courses and programs ranging from first year to PhD. She also serves as the Director of the Technology Integration and Evaluation (TIE) Research Lab. With a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Instructional Technology) from the University of Alberta and bachelor's degrees in Education and English from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Irvine has been a pioneer in integrating technology into education since 1998. She was founding president of the Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA), which hosts an academic and professional journal and an annual conference with co-located sites both face-to-face and online.
Dr. Irvine's research is connected to five movements in education: personalization, connectedness, assessment, openness, and access. Multi-access learning—a framework she developed in 2009 and now adopted in university registration systems as a fourth mode — enables learners to personalize their educational experiences by choosing among face-to-face, synchronous online, or asynchronous online modes. She also co-authored the Technology-Integrated Assessment Framework. Her work emphasizes online learner preferences, multi-access learning, open education, digital literacy, technology-integrated assessment, and the adoption of educational technologies to foster inclusive and flexible learning environments. How to teach in multiple modes and to do it well is a critical pathway to support accessible pathways for all learners, including those traditionally marginalized. She has secured over $1.7 million in funding from organizations such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Her commitment to open and accessible education continues to influence educational practices and policies at institutional and governmental levels. She proposed and helped to action the British Columbia Digital Learning Strategy and consulted by the federal government, provincial government, university leaders, and K12 school districts during the pandemic pivot. She is a keynote speaker internationally for university leadership, faculty, and learning designers, and for K12 conferences.