Digital Learning Specialist

Duke University:

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

OCCUPATIONAL SUMMARY

The staff member would provide technical support throughout the Sanford School of Public Policy to all faculty, staff, and students, but specifically focused on assisting the Master of National Security Policy (MNSP) and Master of Public Affairs (MPA), both executive-level, hybrid-delivery, programs.  Working closely with the Director of Digital Learning, the Digital Learning Specialist will design online learning activities, create online courses and programs, consult on instructional design, and collaborate on innovative uses of education technology in higher education.  This position can also include programmatic, outreach, coordination, administrative, marketing, and logistical support to these programs.

WORK PERFORMED

A detailed description of functional areas and tasks follows:

Staff member will oversee instructional design needs throughout the Sanford School through a variety of responsibilities:

Consulting and Design

• Collaborate, consult, and assist instructors with their online learning design needs, including integrating online modules in face-to-face courses, creating hybrid or fully online courses, designing online programs, and solving other technical or design challenges for education.

• Design prototypes and mockups of online learning activities that help learners apply what they are learning and achieve learning goals, such as interactive lessons, learning assessments, practice or reflective exercises, engagement with peers or the instructor, or other activities based on specified requirements, pedagogical best practices, and user-friendly design.

Project Management and Course Design

• Manage projects: build consensus on learning design decisions with faculty and Digital Learning expertise; facilitate and update course development workflows; ensure instructional integrity with quality assurance checks; maintain project timelines; coordinate efforts between the different roles of a project team; provide project status updates to Sanford stakeholders and partners.
• Work with instructors or other subject matter experts to draft and edit learning content for classes and projects, including scripts, storyboards, slides for video lessons, learning assessments, assignment instructions and rubrics, and discussion prompts.
• Carry out quality assurance reviews of course content and sites, identifying and fixing errors, and ensuring content is accurate, accessible, and professionally produced.
• Build out organized and user-friendly learning experiences using Duke's online course platforms (Canvas, Coursera, WordPress, etc.) and learning technologies.
• Help manage multimedia requests by faculty, staff, and students within our recording studio, including recording video, audio, and editing projects to specified outputs.

Faculty / Staff Development

• Through Digital Learning, create and facilitate trainings, workshops, templates, and design guides that help faculty, and staff, develop skills in online course design, multimedia creation, and teaching.

Staff member will also assist programming efforts through Other Duties:

Programmatic and Outreach Support for the MNSP and MPA includes communication with prospective students, incoming students, students currently in the program, alumni, and specific organizations (public and private) that support the program.  This includes maintenance of the program’s website and creation/maintenance of online alumni groups and data.

When possible, staff member will work closely with directors of the MNSP and MPA programs to ensure complementary efforts.

The staff member will participate in short-range, mid-range, and long-range planning meetings and be asked to provide input for the growth and vitality of each program.

Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

DEPARTMENTAL PREFERENCES

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Work requires instructional design, analytical, communications, and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a bachelor's degree program.

Preferred: A bachelor’s or master’s degree in instructional design, education, learning sciences, education technology, or information science.

EXPERIENCE

Work requires at least two years’ work experience in instructional design to acquire skills necessary to plan, coordinate, and implement a variety of online program and course activities.  Have excellent communication and customer service skills. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and help clients achieve their goals. Detail-oriented, highly organized, and capable of taking initiative in projects with minimal oversight.  

Preferred: Instructional design experience within a Higher Education setting and experience in multimedia content creation and editing.

OR AN EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATON AND/OR EXPERIENCE.

In addition, the successful candidate will possess the following qualities/attributes:

-Professional communication and work skills are a must. 

-Staff member must be comfortable learning new processes and working without constant supervision. 

-Capacity and willingness to interact with undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, donors, vendors, and distinguished visitors.

-Strong organizational and interpersonal skills.

-Excellent reading and writing skills.

-Attention to detail.

-Strong understanding of information technologies.

-The ability to work within varying degrees of management oversight, both independently and closely supervised.

-Please highlight any skills / tools knowledge in course creation (Canvas, WordPress, Coursera, etc.) and in multimedia creation (video, audio, editing, websites, etc.).

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Work requires knowledge of instructional audiovisual media programs related field. and materials normally acquired through a bachelor's degree in Education Media, Instructional Design, Marketing, or Public Relations.

Experience

Work generally requires two years experience in curriculum development, instructional design, medical education, television, instructional technology or a related area to acquire the ability to develop media design programs and plan and manage production and audiovisual projects.

A master's degree in Educational Media, Instructional Design or a related field may be substituted for experience.

OR AN EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE.

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.