Alanna Riley

I have spent close to two decades working in higher education, with my professional identity firmly rooted in teaching, learning, assessment, and educational technology. Across this time, my work has been shaped by a consistent question: how can technology be used purposefully to enhance learning, strengthen academic practice, and support meaningful student engagement?

I am currently the Head of Educational Technology at Milpark Education, where I provide strategic leadership for the institution’s digital learning ecosystem. My role focuses on aligning educational technology with curriculum design, assessment strategy, and quality assurance across programmes. This includes guiding the integration of learning platforms and tools, supporting academic staff development, contributing to institutional policy, and advancing a human centred approach to technology enhanced learning within private higher education.

Prior to joining Milpark, I spent several years at the University of Fort Hare, where I held a range of academic development and leadership roles within the Teaching and Learning Centre. Leading technology enhanced learning initiatives during the first two years of the Covid 19 pandemic was a defining period in my career. It reinforced the importance of agility, reflective practice, and sustained capacity development in times of disruption, as well as the value of grounding digital innovation in sound pedagogy rather than tools alone.

My academic background includes a PhD in Social Science Psychology, with a research focus on identity, as well as a Master’s in Education Cum Laude specialising in technology integration in higher education. My research interests sit at the intersection of educational technology, assessment, and social psychology, with a particular focus on identity, learning, and human experience in digital environments. I am actively involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning and serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Leadership, Strategy and Impact in Africa.

Beyond my professional and academic roles, I am a wife and mother of three children aged 15 to 22. I value balance, lifelong learning, and time outdoors, and I remain deeply inspired by education’s capacity to transform individuals, institutions, and communities when it is approached with care, curiosity, and humanity.