Learning Experience Designer Senior for Faculty Development

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How to Apply

A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, in two pages or less, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations and skill set. Submit both a cover letter and resume as one file (because of system limitations).

Who We Are

About the Center for Academic Innovation

Through curricular innovation, tools for student success, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.

About Online Learning at CAI

The Online Learning team within CAI consists of four teams that collaborate with others across the Center and University to design and develop online learning experiences that support the future of education for a global community. We work with faculty and academic unit leaders to envision how they can expand reach and impact, advance innovative teaching, and support greater access and lifelong learning through the design and development of integrated online learning experiences. Our teams focus on the following areas:

• Strategic sourcing of new opportunities for online learning
• Developing internal and external partnerships that promote engagement with learning experiences
• Providing program management services throughout degree program development and operations
• Supporting end-to-end design and development of online learning experiences, including design management, learning experience design, and iteration of learning experiences after they have launched
• Supporting learners success and engagement in live courses and programs

For more information, please visit our website: Academic Innovation.

Responsibilities*

Faculty Development (35%)

• Design, lead, and evaluate professional development opportunities across multiple modalities focused on effective and evidence-based practices for online and hybrid teaching.
• Plan and facilitate workshops, events, consultations, office hours, and cohort-based learning experiences that anticipate and respond to the evolving needs of faculty, academic units, and CAI's online learning portfolio
• Identify, engage, and coordinate faculty, staff, and other subject-matter experts to contribute to professional development programs and resources
• Develop and customize teaching resources, learning experiences, and training materials to address institutional, program-specific, and discipline-specific needs
• Create stand-alone resources that support instructors in designing, developing, and teaching high-quality online and hybrid courses
• Support faculty throughout the course-development lifecycle, including preparing instructors to transition from course design and development into online teaching and facilitation.
• Cultivate communities of practice that connect instructors engaged in online and hybrid teaching with colleagues and members of CAI's learning experience design community
• Partner with CAI's Marketing and Market Strategy team to develop practical, evidence-informed content for the Online Teaching website

Non-Credit Faculty Readiness and Experience (35%)

• Develop and apply readiness criteria that clarify when projects are prepared to transition into design and identify unresolved decisions or risks that should be addressed before design begins
• Design and facilitate pre-design workshops, consultations, and resources that help faculty make foundational decisions and understand the expectations of the course-development process
• Collaborate with faculty, academic units, and CAI teams to identify project needs, surface areas of ambiguity, and connect faculty with appropriate expertise and resources before design begins
• Serve as an advocate for the non-credit faculty experience throughout the project lifecycle, bringing insights from faculty interactions to relevant CAI teams and leaders
• Establish milestones and feedback mechanisms to assess faculty readiness, experience, and sentiment and use those findings to strengthen services and processes
• Provide Online Learning domain leadership with recommendations for improving the faculty experience and supporting successful projects from initial scoping through course launch
• Develop opportunities to recognize and increase the visibility of faculty contributions to academic innovation

Online Course Preparation (30%)

• Lead complex course design projects with a focus on pedagogical approaches that result in engaging online learning experiences by advocating for learner-centered instructional strategies, and aligning learning outcomes with activities and assessments to ensure continuity between outcomes, course content, and design goals
• Collaborate with faculty, program leaders, Learning Experience Designers, project managers and Media Designers at the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) to design high-quality online and hybrid courses
• Apply a range of instructional design methods and learning theories to learner-centered course design. Implement inclusive design approaches, considering diverse audiences of learners, and foregrounding issues of equity and accessibility throughout the design process
• Support partner and team member relationships, process management, and project success

What You'll Do

The Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan is seeking a qualified Learning Experience Designer Senior for Faculty Development to strengthen faculty readiness, development, and support across the online learning lifecycle for both online degree programs and non-credit learning initiatives. You will partner with faculty and academic units to design and facilitate professional development across a variety of modalities, supporting the creation of high-quality online learning experiences. You will also support faculty developing non-credit courses and certificates by helping them define the scope and vision of their projects and preparing them for a successful design process through targeted training, resources, and consultation. You will report to the Associate Director of Learning Experience Design and collaborate closely with the Director of Learning Design.

Required Qualifications*

• Bachelor's degree in education, educational psychology, learning sciences, instructional design, or educational technology or an equivalent combination of education and related experience
• 3 or more years of experience (or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience)
• Experience designing and facilitating professional development, workshops, consultations, or other learning experiences for adult professionals
• Experience with learning theories, instructional design methods, and learner-centered design principles, and the ability to explain related concepts
• Experience collaborating with a variety of instructor roles (e.g. tenure track, adjunct, clinical, or graduate student instructors) in a higher education environment
• Experience teaching in an online environment in higher education
• Expertise in assessing project outcomes and making recommendations for improvement and iteration
• Experience using online education platforms and tools (e.g., Canvas, Coursera, or edX)
• Experience working in a collaborative team environment
• Demonstrated initiative and service-oriented attitude
• Ability to learn and appropriately use new technologies to improve processes, communication, and outcomes, including AI-enabled tools where relevant to the role, consistent with university policy and job responsibilities

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Additional Information

This is a 5 year term-limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding. The position may be renewed or converted into an open-ended base appointment.

Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States.

This position is included in the bargaining unit represented by University Staff United, AFT Local 284, AFL-CIO, which represents Employees in all matters with respect to wages, benefits, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

The mode of work for this position is Hybrid with a minimum of 4 days in the office per week, Monday through Thursday, with an option of remote work on Fridays. On occasion, you may be required and must be available to work onsite on Fridays if necessitated by our center's policy and domain leadership or by your job requirements. The primary location for this role will be 317 Maynard, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The salary for this position will be based upon the selected candidate's education and experience.

We support the creative, responsible, and ethical use of AI tools to enhance our work, in alignment with institutional policies and best practices.

Excellent benefits are available, for details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/

Salary Information

The general salary range for this position is $75,000 - $83,000. Candidates can expect to be paid a competitive and equitable salary. Factors used to determine salary include education level, experience, knowledge and skills for the position and salaries that are currently established within the unit. All candidates are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor alignment and transparency throughout the recruiting process.

Organizational Statement on Harassment

We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with any staff members and student employees in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.

Union Affiliation

This position is included in the bargaining unit represented by University Staff United, AFT Local 284, AFL-CIO, which represents Employees in all matters with respect to wages, benefits, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

Decision Making Process

Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.