Richard Rush

Victoria, Bristish Columbia

Richard Rush’s seventeen year career in technology adoption and education has crossed both the private and public sectors. He is currently the Director of Community and Professional Programs at the Univeristy of Victoria. Previously the Director of SAIT Polytechnic’s Centre for Instructional Technology and Development, a unit that collaboratively supports the institution through faculty development, curriculum development and learning technology support. Richard serves as the chair of three key institutional committees at SAIT: the Curriculum Council, the Sustainability Steering Committee and the e-Learning Steering Committee.

Prior to SAIT, Richard worked with SMART Technologies during a time of exciting and challenging growth. He also oversaw the implementation of learning management systems in four different organizations, and consulted on the development of the synchronous web-classroom for Elluminate, now known as Blackboard Collaborate. He honed his educating skills in the trenches, teaching middle school, high school and post-secondary students and was one of the founding teachers at Rocky View Virtual School, which opened in 1998.

Richard’s extensive professional experience is reinforced by a formal education in technology, business and education. He has a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Business Administration. Currently he is working on a Doctorate of Business Administration with a specific research and dissertation focus on the interface between Roger’s innovation diffusion theory, learning curves and Bloom’s revised taxonomy. He has also completed post-graduate work at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Higher Education leadership.

Over the years Richard has spoken at conferences on synchronous e-learning technologies, learning management system implementations and technology adoption and education. He has also consulted on a number of organizations’ training and technology initiatives.

A former competitive triathlete, Richard likes to play as hard as he works. He ran competitively for thirty-three years and has participated in numerous international Ironman triathlons. He is active in community service with his church and has volunteered for a number of years with Scouts Canada. Richard is happily married to his wife Melanie and has five daughters.

  • Work
    • University of Victoria