Seeking an Instructional Designer/Technologist (II) Whose Passion is Large Scale Academic Innovation!

Our Center for Teaching and Learning is looking for a high-level contributor who wants to make a huge impact at Charlotte. This position will be part of a recently formed teaching and learning innovation team in the CTL. To help give you a sense of what this role is like, please read the full job description below.

Please note: this is an onsite position. 

The successful candidate must live within a commutable distance of campus. This position is eligible for telework per the School of Professional Studies telework policy once fully trained.

Primary Purpose of Position

The Instructional Designer/Technologist manages large scale instructional innovation projects from initiation through design and development and implementation. These projects are mission critical and directly related to student success in areas of high need to shorten time to degree and reduce DFW rates. This essential position will collaborate with faculty and other instructional staff in building out mass scale course projects for the university and for the UNC system partner universities, including development of content, curriculum structure, and instructional technique. 

Specifically, the position provides project oversight and coordination across multiple departments and units, including faculty, other instructional designers/technologists, stakeholders from leadership in partner units at the university and other UNC schools, graduate assistants, working as a team for design, development, revision, management, and scaling up of innovation projects. 

Instructional in nature, these duties are associated with the regular academic and educational experiences provided by the university, are uniquely supportive of those academic and educational experiences, and involve significant and independent interaction with participants in the university’s instructional and educational program.

This is an advanced role in an Instructional Design and Technology position to plan, design, and implement academic technology and/or innovative approaches that directly support faculty effectiveness in instructional design and delivery for student success. This position requires an advanced degree in a teaching or instructional design related field and teaching experience in higher education.  Given the need to continually advance and promote the use of mixed teaching methodologies that incorporate the use of technology to not only enhance traditional classroom-based instruction but also broaden the basis for online and blended/hybrid courses, this position involves engaging with faculty, departments, and partner units across the university in multiple ways for course design and delivery, implementation and evaluation.

Summary of Position Responsibilities 

The Instructional Designer/Technologist position is an advanced role for digital innovation and strategic projects in teaching and learning.  The position includes functions on curriculum development, implementation and support; educational technology management; data analytics, faculty development and performance support, and capacity building and stakeholder engagement.  As such, the position requires significant project management skills for strategic instructional initiatives, architecting the use and support of instructional technology, functioning as data learning analyst, and acting as pedagogical consultant for learning innovation, particularly with innovative approaches for faculty and student success.  The ID/T position also requires advanced skills in consultation, support, and training for technology-based instructional systems as well as providing expertise in the use of academic technologies, instructional design, and best practices in teaching and learning. This will include planning, implementing, promoting, managing and evaluating the changes associated with learning environments and instructional systems. The position requires that a substantial proportion of the work commitment is devoted to instructional activities and the direction of educational/academic supportive activities for student success.

This position provides project management, oversight, and coordination across multiple departments and units, working as a team for design, development, revision, management, and scaling up of multiple large-scale course redesign learning projects. This will include planning and coordination for these strategic initiatives, supporting and fostering learning innovation, promoting systems thinking and design thinking for faculty and student success, leading the design and redesign of learning environments and instructional systems. The work involves a highly complex chain of functions requiring strong consultancy skills in fostering change and the ability to execute and deliver results.  The position requires that a substantial proportion of the work commitment is devoted to instructional activities and the direction of educational/academic supportive activities.

Project Management for Curriculum Development, Implementation, & Support (25%)

  • Serve in a curriculum development, course implementation, and course support function for the Teaching & Learning Innovation team
  • Coordinate with faculty and vendor teams to facilitate design sessions, develop curriculum maps, and align course outcomes 
  • Provide consultations with faculty and stakeholders on designing learning pathways, prerequisites and remediation strategies, and adaptive assessment strategies 
  • Collaborate with relevant stakeholders on content development efforts, including the selection, evaluation, and integration of resources
  • Monitor course implementation, student engagement, faculty engagement on innovative courses during the academic semester
  • Perform quality assurance on course content and media for quality, consistency, formatting, and relevance, and accuracy
  • Provide support for faculty and student users of various kinds of courseware through troubleshooting issues and resolving support tickets 
  • Develop and lead efforts to ensure accessibility and provide support on meeting accessibility policies/guidelines / coordinate with stakeholders (Disability Services, vendors, OneIT) to test accessibility of modules
  • Collaborate across all stakeholders to ensure implementation success and to communicate changes, particularly with the vendor, faculty, and OneIT
  • Update and test courses on a semesterly and/or continual basis to ensure proper functioning prior to the start of the semester
  • Ensure student access to systems by coordinating with faculty, vendors, OneIT, and Bookstore to create robust and reliable processes for all learning platforms

Specialized Faculty Development and Performance Support (20%)

  • Serve in a faculty development, training, and/or performance support function for the Teaching & Learning Innovation team
  • Lead and collaborate with team members on faculty development programs and documentation, including onboarding for new faculty
  • Serve as a consultant for learning innovation and the effective use of instructional technologies
  • Develop and coordinate ongoing / just-in-time performance support resources, media, or projects for faculty and/or student users of emerging technologies, smart learning  platforms, universal design, and active learning pedagogy for student success 
  • Develop and execute innovative approaches to faculty development and TA development

Stakeholder Engagement & Capacity Building (15%)

  • Serve in a capacity building function for the Teaching & Learning Innovation team
  • Collaborate with team members to determine strategies for engaging internal and external stakeholders on teaching and learning pedagogy and learning systems on campus
  • Research / identify gaps and opportunities to streamline and strengthen on-going projects, document workflow processes, and improve products of the learning enterprise
  • Coordinate or contribute to a learning knowledge base, peer learning communities, outreach, partnerships, training events, or promotional /website materials 
  • Consult with faculty, departments, colleges, committees, ad hoc groups to develop requirements and to proactively establish technical directions for such

Instructional Systems / Technology Management (20%)

  • Provide technical expertise in enterprise instructional systems and technologies
  • Select, evaluate, test, integrate, and maintain vendor tools and enterprise academic technologies/systems such as the LMS, SIS, mobile applications, smart learning applications, and others
  • Update and test courses on a semesterly and/or continual basis to ensure proper functioning prior to the start of the semester
  • Coordinate with stakeholders such as vendors, registrar office, OneIT, bookstore, and others to ensure all learning platforms are functional and integrated efficiently with the LMS (Canvas), SIS (Banner), mobile responsive platforms, and smart learning applications
  • Coordinate with units and vendors to obtain contract agreements/protocols for Single Sign On, privacy, security, compliance, licensing, copyright, and IP Agreements, per OneIT and university policy to ensure successful educational technology adoption among stakeholders
  • Convene working stakeholder groups across functions within unit and among partner support units for analyzing problems, developing solutions, and communicating solutions with enterprise level instructional technologies, 
  • Collaborate with team members on the preparation of user documentation, manuals, or job aids to support learning systems adoption
  • Develop and lead vendor management protocols to ensure project success
  • Determine and execute strategies for engaging university partner units, including academic and technical and student services units
  • Responsible for addressing faculty and student support tickets in all support collection points in a tiered support structure (vendors, OneIT, CTL, et al.)

Learning Analytics & Reporting (20%) 

  • Serve as data learning analyst for process improvement in faculty effectiveness, student success, and the associated systems and technologies in support thereof
  • Collect, organize, analyze, and interpret quantitative and qualitative data to describe, diagnose, predict, and prescribe student outcomes
  • Assist and collaborate with stakeholders, especially faculty, in using analytics to drive design decisions and to impact student success during course delivery
  • Create and oversee ongoing evaluation efforts for projects and courses
  • Identify new sources of data, methods, and infrastructure to improve data collection, analysis, and reporting.
  • Develop key performance indicators/measures and implement evaluation/assessment efforts on faculty and/or student access, efficiencies, effectiveness, engagement, success outcomes, and perceptions 
  • Produce reports, data dashboards, and data visualization on an annual and ad hoc basis about the effectiveness of projects and programs, including for institutional reporting
  • Disseminate knowledge, results, and/or recommendations to stakeholders in support of the university’s academic mission for student success 

Qualifications / Hiring Criteria 

Minimum Education/Experience: 

  • Requires a minimum of a Master’s Degree in Instructional Systems Technology, Instructional Design & Technology, Learning Design & Technology, or a comparable field; doctorate preferred. 
  • Must have at least 4 years of related experience in a comparable role in Instructional Design & Technology in Higher Education specifically.
  • Must have the ability to manage complex projects with different stakeholders.
  • A strong knowledge of instructional systems design (ISD) methods, instructional strategies and methodologies, course design (face-to-face, hybrid, and online), instructional technologies, media selection/design, evaluation, learner analysis, learning theory. 
  • Must have knowledge regarding the appropriate hard and soft technologies and their applications used in redesign of courses for blended learning environments. Experience with academic enterprise instructional technologies required. 
  • Strong knowledge of scholarship of teaching and learning and research design in the social sciences required.  
  • Ability to use analytics tools for qualitative/quantitative analysis, data visualization, and learner analytics required. 
  • Ability to provide constructive feedback and to work in a team-oriented environment required. 
  • Must have the ability to organize programs, project plans, and documents responsive to stakeholder needs and goals. 
  • Exceptional communications skills are required, in both writing and public speaking/presentation. Must be confident in leading instruction or instructional programming.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills and Experience: 

  • Doctorate preferred in closely related field.
  • Classroom teaching or training experience preferred. College teaching preferred. 
  • Experience providing support to faculty, trainers, or curriculum developers is desired.
  • 5-9 years of experience in higher educational setting preferred.
  • Experience in conducting educational research, including quantitative and qualitative research skills preferred.
  • Project management certification preferred 
  • Learning analytics certification preferred 
  • Experience with national, international, government academic grants

Apply Today!

All the details on how to apply can be found in the official job posting at https://jobs.charlotte.edu/postings/54210.

The review of applications will begin immediately for this position