I. SYNTHESIS
Rockland Falls University is seeking an experienced instructional designer to create innovative educational materials including learning activities and assessments based on proven ID methods and theories. The designer will work with several departments and colleges to redesign programs and curricula. The objective is to create both online and hybrid courses that include interactive modules and lessons. The designer will manage course development through all phases of the instructional design process including analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. This detail-oriented, team player must collaborative with management and partners to determine appropriate learning outcomes. They will work closely with designated subject matter experts including RFU faculty, external experts and other stakeholders. A successful candidate will be have a passion for education and for instructional design tools that feature technology.
Assigned Duties:
- Provide consultation on effective instructional strategies
- Recommend and develop creative instructional curriculum for various types of university-level courses (e.g. MOOCs, non-credit courses, self-paced courses, online degree programs, etc.)
- Apply learning principles and theories to the development of instruction
- Ensure content and instructional strategies meet established learning objectives
- Plan and write evaluation components for online programs and projects
- Repurpose existing content or courses for online delivery and/or distance learning.
- Review, evaluate, and critique existing instructional designs
- Research creative strategies for incorporating academic technology solutions
- Identify, apply, and integrate the appropriate blend of pedagogy and technology into the course curriculum
- Conduct applied research and evaluation, interpret data, and recommend adjustments or solutions for effective learning and instruction
- Build relationships with partners, collaborators, and Subject Matter Experts to determine the needs of each course and the appropriate methods of delivery.
- Identify and communicate project expectations to faculty/staff and communicate progress to managers and other stakeholders.
- Work with technologists, programmers, media developers, and video producers to create multimedia components
- Ensure compliance with copyright laws for all materials prior to implementation
- Share and develop instructional technology resources that inform and support faculty
- Outreach initiatives may include consultations, presentations, and workshops as well as participation in online discussions and conferences
- Provide training and support to faculty in the use of the course management system as well as provide outreach and end-user support
Required Skills:
- Excellent written, visual, and verbal communication skills and interpersonal skills
- Able to generate organized documentation of instructional design process and evaluation activities
- Able to make effective oral and written presentations
- Able to interact effectively with instructors with varying abilities and knowledge of educational technology
- Prepared to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
- Highly organized and able to thrive in a deadline-oriented environment
- Strong project management and evaluation skills to deliver quality outputs on time and within budget
- Can coordinate the activities of multiple faculty and staff
- Can create project timelines, work plans, and storyboards
- Can monitor completion of milestones and deliverables
- Ability to work flexible hours as needed
- Actively encourages a collaborative approach to brainstorming, exploration and problem-solving
Required Knowledge/Background:
- Master’s degree in instructional design, education technology, learning design, curriculum development or similar
- Familiarity with a variety of instructional design processes, such as student-centered, backward design, Agile, and ADDIE
- Familiarity with various online learning experiences, knowledge platforms, competency frameworks, assessments, and online communities
- Current in latest research and trends in instructional design theories and/or educational best practices
- Interest in emerging academic technologies (e.g. mobile learning, MOOC’s)
- Experience designing and producing web-based course materials, including instructional websites, activities, and resources
- Experience in using and developing content for online course management systems
- Expertise in instructional tools such as Microsoft Office, Creative Suite, Google Apps for Education, multimedia production, survey tools, online community tools, and social media
Desired Skills/Experience:
- 3-5 years of instructional design and development experience, preferably in the field of education
- Portfolio samples of prior instructional design work
- Experience in the design of online and/or hybrid educational programs
- 2 years experience working with faculty in a higher education setting
- Experience in developing grant proposals
- Knowledge of technology solutions as they relate to various grant offerings
- Experience with graphic design
- Proficiency using multimedia hardware, software, and equipment
- Understanding of the software development process
- Bilingual (Spanish) written and verbal communication skills
II. REFLECTION
Teachers and instructional designers are both tasked with the mission to help students learn. They strive to do so by making the process efficient, effective, and appealing. Both professions look to techniques and models that are based on tested theories and ongoing research about human cognition and learning behaviors. Teachers focus on transmitting content to their students and exploring it within the classroom community. Instructional designers, however, are mostly focused on how to transmit content, that is, how to package up information into an effective, easy-to-digest bundle of learning. Ideally instructional design should be a component of every teacher’s job description, to some degree. At the same time, paying attention to best practices and innovative teaching methods would make any instructional design model more effective. Nonetheless, there are a number of differences that distinguish the nature, focus, and duties of these two professional domains.
Teachers, unlike instructional designers, are interested in creating learning environments. They are frontline field-workers. Teachers are caught up in the diverse and unpredictable antics of both eager and apathetic learners, but are expected to fill these students with knowledge (often using the products of instructional designers). However, more than that, they are expected to create independent, critical-thinking, responsible, collaborative, skillful (young) adults filled with social grace, civic duty, and a strong moral backbone. In my various K-12 teaching experiences, a big part of my job involved instilling soft skills that extended beyond the prescribed set of curricular objectives. In every classroom, no matter the age or content area, I would manage behaviors, offer praise and encouragement, spark thoughtful conversations, and build rapport with my audience. That is not to say I was not concerned with the content of my course. More than might be required of instruction designer, I was expected to have solid background knowledge in each of my course’s topics. I was expected to know my audience well enough to pace instruction, offer individual accommodations, and structure the classroom in a nuanced way. In my opinion, teaching is more organic than instructional design, and encompasses many more, perhaps unpredictable, human components. All in all, the work of a teacher is directly in support of her students.
Instructional designers, on the other hand, are interested in creating learning products. They work behind the scenes. They are much more focused and prescriptive than teachers in the ways they seek to improve outcomes and content comprehension. The roots of this profession are in cognitive and behavioral psychology and use a prescribed systems approach to find problems and develop solutions. Instructional designers generate coursework, which is a complete package of informational materials and modes of transmission. They are primarily concerned with choosing the most appropriate mode of delivery that transforms a student from a state of “not knowing” to “knowing”. The individual characteristics, emotions, behaviors, or background of the student body are of less concern to the designer than they would be to a teacher. Although instructional design is similar to lesson planning, it appears to be much more elaborate and strategic in that it follows a model of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation. In my own experiences with lesson plan development, these stages were desired but rarely fully attained due to time constraints, work load, or lack of reflective practice. In addition, a large part of my lesson plan development involved researching content. Whereas a teacher is expected to be well-versed in her own subject matter (or be prepared to research it on her own), instructional designers are expected to be well-versed in the learning of content in general, and therefore rely on a collaborative relationship with Subject Matter Experts to develop the content of specific course materials as needed. In addition, an instructional designer’s plans would incorporate technology to a greater degree than a teacher’s might on her own. To an instructional designer, the medium is very important, and an important part of their role is to bridge pedagogy and technology. All in all, the work of an instructional designer is directly in support of a teacher.
Three major differences between a teacher and an instructional designer are:
1) Instructional designers are more prescriptive, and their role reads more like a recipe. Their products are developed by following tried-and-true models, and this formulaic approach is often quite successful. Instructional design is more scientific and methodical. Working behind the scenes like a chemist, an instructional designers’ role lacks some of the “human” or soft side of teaching. Teachers, on the other hand, must be more flexible and creative in their dealings with their, often fickle, audience. A teacher’s role is less prescriptive and more reactive, like a doctor’s might be. For example, a teacher would need to adjust coursework based on the performance and interest of her students, as well as other external environmental variables. A teacher also offers an emotional contribution to the learning process. She provides encouragement, questioning, redirection, humor, empathy, immediate feedback. She also makes connections to her students’ background knowledge. These variables are of less importance to the system’s model of instructional design. Alas, a teacher serves students, whereas an instructional designer serves teachers.
2) Instructional designers are not an “expert” in one particular subject matter. What they focus on is simply how people learn best, and therefore are highly trained in pedagogical and learning theories. Teachers, on the other hand, are expected to know their subject quite well. In addition, they are expect to fulfill many other roles and duties such as marking papers, classroom management, discipline, classroom design and decoration, parent conferencing, administrative and secretarial tasks, resource management, etc. Ideally a teacher should understand and be able and willing to follow the process of an instructional designer, but often the best a teacher can do is get to the point of “implementation”. There are simply not enough hours in the day to develop course materials and teaching strategies as well as stay abreast of their subject matter, child development, behavior management, and latest teaching trends. The role of both teacher and instructional designer supports the other. Although they may overlap, the most effective and efficient use of time (and the best results) come from keeping the jobs separate.
3) An instructional designer gives structure and purpose to a classroom activity or a course. They create a framework that, when followed, should lead to solid learning of a set of objectives. A teacher’s job is to bring this activity or curriculum to life. A teacher uses the framework of instructional design as a resource, but implements the lesson in her own fashion. She may color outside the lines (by expanding or altering an activity), because education is messy business. It doesn’t always follow a succinct model. In a child-centered classroom, for example, students themselves may be part instructional designers. They may take a prescribed activity and alter it according to their interest or abilities. Or they may come up with the entire project of learning on their own! In many of my teaching experiences, I did not have the luxury of instructional-designed courseware or materials. In some cases I did not even have an established curriculum! Nevertheless, the students still learned quite a bit. Instructional design is not a prerequisite to learning, but it certainly does appear to make the process more effective and efficient. It keeps teachers and students on target and provides a level of standardization that is easier to manage and evaluate. In addition, instructional designers give teachers a solid anchor to latch on to.
III. Job Posting URLs
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