Spotlight on ALT Trustees: Leadership, Governance, and the Future of Learning Technology
We are delighted to welcome Michael James Day as ALT’s newly appointed Vice-Chair. This step represents a significant moment for the Association as we continue to build a Board shaped by leaders whose insight, experience, and commitment reflect the evolving landscape of Learning Technology. In this role, Michael will work closely with the Chair and fellow Board members to help steer ALT’s long‑term priorities, reinforce effective governance, and advocate for the principles that guide our mission.
In this profile, we learn more about Michael James Day’s journey, what inspired him to step into this leadership role, and the perspectives he brings to ALT at this important time.
How has ALT influenced your professional journey so far?
ALT has been one of the most important professional anchors in my journey as a learning technologist. I came to learning technology via my training at the Web Science Institute, where I was funded by the EPSRC and University of Southampton to undertake my PhD, Teaching the Web, at their Web Science Institute. As a working class, first-generation attendee, I had the honour of moving from teaching in secondary schools to working with a lot of people who built the digital world we live in. I formed my framework for developing the pro-human Web work there, which catalysed my career.
As a postdoc, I didn’t follow the typical path. I left the UK, moved across the world, and began teaching in charitable universities in Thailand, then later supporting development projects in Myanmar. Notably, I moved to China and led a faculty through the pandemic, being one of the only academics reporting on the conditions of quarantine. My research evolved to be about emancipatory change through technology. When I joined ALT, I’d just become the Institutional Lead for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) at the University of Greenwich. ALT helped me focus my practice on what matters: learning, people, and practice. It was our Senior University Technologist, Jimmy Lo, who proposed at Greenwich that we start ALT mentorship in-house; he was our first CMALT, reflecting our commitment to celebrate those working in digital innovation, as part of our digital sub-strategy led by Greenwich’s dynamic Chief Information Officer, Paul Butler.
No doubt, what I learn from ALT now on the board will play a key role in hope we shape TEL across Greenwich’s trailblazing collaboration with Kent, where, thanks to leadership by Professor Vanessa Lemm, our DVC, and Professor Jenny Marie, our PVC Education, we are placing significant attention to curriculum shape, assessment, and technology. This is the core of how we plan our curriculums, to empower students’ graduate trajectories.
ALT guidance informed development of our new Digital Pedagogy and Teaching Skills Framework (DPTSF); a commitment, at the university, to ensure everyone feels confident, creative, and supported in using digital tools and pedagogies. It’s an open-access resource, and it channels ALT’s Framework for Ethical Learning Technology (FELT). With Dr Jingyang Ai, another member of ALT, we developed Greenwich’s Advance HE awarding PgCert to create what I believe is one of the first CMALT/FHEA dual-award routes in a higher education teacher training programme; our TEL optional PgCert module operates as a digital incubator, where the portfolio assessment, built in Sway by our students, is based around the values and framework of ALT accreditation, so can be submitted after the module. This reflects what I want for ALT: widening pathways. Learning technology is everywhere and for everyone.
What motivated you to take on the role of Vice-Chair of ALT?
I was motivated by a combination of commitment and opportunity. Commitment, because I believe professional communities like ALT matter more than ever. Learning technology sits at the intersection of pedagogy, systems, policy, and ethics. We need a strong, trusted, member-led organisation that can convene the sector, elevate good practice, and advocate for approaches that genuinely improve learning. We also know that learning technologists often end up in a third space employment, between academic and professional roles, without clear consistency. This can lead them to be ignored, under-valued and, eventually, to leave the sector for industry, which highly values technical skills. So, I see the Vice-Chair as an honour and opportunity, and I am committed to building community confidence and cross-sector digital capability.
As Vice-Chair, what excites you most about ALT’s current direction and work in Learning Technology?
What excites me most is ALT’s ability to hold both ambition and responsibility at the same time. We’re in a period where learning technology can easily become vendor-led, or trend-driven. ALT’s current direction, so centred on professional practice, inclusion, and informed debate, helps the sector move forward without losing its integrity. I view ALT’s role as, first, a connector between scholarship and practice, second, a safe space for honest conversations (including the difficult ones), and third, a platform for members whose work is often essential but under-recognised is celebrated. That combination, practical support and thoughtful leadership, is what learning technology needs right now.
What priorities or areas of focus do you hope to champion during your term as Vice-Chair?
- Capability and confidence across the sector
Widening development pathways, training and opportunities to engage in professional growth, especially around assessment, accessibility, digital pedagogy, and responsible AI. - Ethical and evidence-informed innovation for diverse professions
Championing approaches that are transparent and learner-centred, but also widening what we mean by learner-centred; we can work with schools, FE colleges, NGOs, charities, executive business leaders and look more critically about how we widen opportunities and recognition. - Inclusive pathways into contribution and leadership
Making it easier for widened members, across role types, career stages, and institutional context, to contribute to ALT and to see themselves as future leaders in the community. I have a lot of technical demonstrators in my sphere, people who run labs with students and so on. That’s learning technology driven. Meanwhile, what can I do as a leader? One outcome I would love to help bring to our future in ALT is for us to have HESA recognition, like SEDA and Advance HE does, by redefining what a teaching qualification means in 2026. - A strong link between strategy, scholarship and lived practice
Ensuring ALT’s strategic work stays connected to what people are dealing with day-to-day: that’s constrained capacity, complex stakeholder landscapes, and real-world implementation challenges. My own work on responsible AI, and TNE, and, for example, digital piracy tries to solve challenges through practice.
How do you see your role in supporting the Chair, the Board, and ALT’s wider membership?
I am really excited by our board, trustees and leadership. In the month I was interviewed for the role, I also interviewed at several prestigious institutions elsewhere for my day job. Nobody had the vision, ambition and enthusiasm I met on my day with the ALT board representatives. They have ambitious plans to deliver value for our members, partners and drive to see ALT grow. I’m honoured, genuinely, to be chosen, and I see the Vice-Chair role as a blend of partnership, governance, and translation. In supporting the Chair, I want to be a dependable thought partner. So, someone helping shape priorities, stress-testing proposals, and helping maintain momentum while protecting sustainability. Equally, I want to support the board, contributing to strong governance based on my career of several decades in Education. I want to offer clear purpose, good decision-making, transparency, and a consistent focus on member benefit and organisational health. But most vitally, it’s about supporting the membership: listening carefully and representing members’ realities. Ensuring ALT’s work remains relevant, accessible, and genuinely supportive. As an institutional lead, in a university working under our most senior leaders, I’m very aware of the gap that can open between grassroots, sector strategy and institutional reality. A big part of my contribution is helping bridge that gap, so ALT continues to feel like a professional home that understands the work as it really is.
My email is open, anytime, and equally so is my LinkedIn, @drmjday, to our members to connect with me, share views, thoughts or opinions.
What advice would you give to members who are interested in contributing to ALT’s governance or stepping into leadership roles in the future?
Start contributing in a way that fits your strengths; and don’t wait until you feel fully ready. Across my career, people often told me I “wasn’t ready” usually because I was young or lacked experience. How did I ultimately get experience? By doing! We love to ask people to walk the line, but disruptors bring inspirational change; I led change as one of the youngest people to qualify as a UK teacher. Likewise, as one of the youngest people to be a senior leader in a UK university. What matters isn’t your background, qualifications or job, but your ideas and passion for change. We need people to help us grow our community: join a project, attend events, ask questions, share a case study, write something short, volunteer more as CMALT assessor and review accreditation portfolios.
I’d also say that we big up governance, and it’s often presented as this thing accessible to only senior executives. It’s not, at least not at ALT. So, think contribution, not CVs. Governance and leadership are not about always being right; they’re about being thoughtful, fair, collaborative, and values-led, which is how I operate, as does ALT’s leaders. ALT is a community organisation. So, connection and trust are part of how impact happens. We want you to bring your perspectives: ALT exists for you, and the sector benefits when governance includes people from a wide range of roles and contexts, including those doing the day-to-day work of implementation and support.
What was the last thing you read, watched, or listened to that inspired your thinking about leadership or governance?
Most recently, I’ve been reflecting on the idea that leadership is less about visibility, more about legacy and stewardship: creating conditions for others to succeed, and making decisions that stand up to scrutiny over time. That came to me as I watched Dr Maisha Islam’s keynote at SHIFT2026, a national teaching and learning conference hosted by Greenwich and led by our Academic & Learning Enhancement (ALE) Team. Dr Maisha’s amazing talk “Truly at the heart of learning and teaching? Reclaiming space for racially and religiously minoritised students” passionately conveyed how, despite decades of progress, awarding gaps remain a persistent and troubling feature of HE.
It was one of the best presentations I’ve seen in my career.
The talk made me question my own leadership, and the notion of digital divides, something ALT needs to situate at the core of its development pathways. We know the invisible awarding gaps affecting Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Muslim students, groups whose experiences are frequently underrepresented in institutional narratives, much as we do know about gaps for women, LGTBQ+ and other marginalised groups. In 2026, this is unacceptable. Technology can help empower change. This reflects my leadership, and why I am critical of who leads in the sector. That’s why, as part of my commitment to the role, I want to build on the already firm commitments, efforts and ideas driven by our board, and support more inclusive, equity weighted development agendas at ALT.
If you were on a deserted island, what one item would you take with you?
Bluey: The Complete Season Boxset, installed on a solar powered tablet. Personally, I’m inspired by the lessons and challenges that blue dog teaches us to solve.
We hope you enjoyed hearing from our new Vice-Chair. To learn more about ALT’s governance, explore opportunities to get involved, or stay up to date with news and events, visit alt.ac.uk.