Job description Academic Manager, Learning Solutions

Transcription

1 Job description Academic Manager, Learning Solutions Company context INTO s Mission: Through innovative partnerships with leading universities we expand opportunities for higher education, ensuring success and transforming the lives of our students and staff. Across the world, there is increasing demand for top quality higher education, with more and more students demanding access to provision beyond their home country. INTO partners with universities in three continents to address this global demand and help transform their international capacity and performance. Since 2006, we have successfully launched 21 partnerships with 19 universities in Europe, North America and Asia. We have enrolled over 50,000 students from 166 countries and now have about 1600 employees, based around the world. Our Mission is underpinned by five core values: Purpose, Partnership, Performance, Passion and Pride. We seek employees who share these values in an organisation which has a diversity of talent specialisms and cultures. Our website has details of how we are organised and our outstanding achievements so far. Role Context The role sits within the UK Operations team at IUP, which is responsible for ensuring operational efficiencies and compliance across the INTO UK network, and for driving new product development and quality enhancements in the UK centres to satisfy growing customer expectations, improve student outcomes, and meet emerging market needs. The creation of a dedicated Learning Solutions team recognised the need for increasingly new and innovative product and content solutions to address changing market needs and increasingly demanding student expectations of their learning s, fully harnessing latest developments in learning technologies. The team has a strategic brief to explore initiatives to enhance the student across the full student journey from initial enquiry, through arrival and study at one of our centres, and transition to the student s university course. The team works closely with the INTO UK centres to consult on learning solutions to enable growth, supporting the centres in finding 3rd party solutions where appropriate. Reporting line The role reports to the Director, Learning Solutions, and has a dotted line to the Director, Teaching and Learning.

2 Job purpose The primary purposes of the Academic Manager role are to lead, alongside the instructional design team, the pedagogical design of online content as part of wholly online or blended delivery courses, and to ensure that centre staff and other academic stakeholders responsible for delivering the courses are properly trained in how to do so. Where tutoring is conducted by staff employed by IUP the Academic Manager is responsible for recruiting and managing the tutoring team. A secondary purpose is to support the course build process on Moodle. Key accountabilities and duties Product development Work with academic leads to develop curricula and learning designs for new online or blended courses for INTO students Attend scoping, kick-off meetings with academic stakeholders to understand the brief for the new course Support the design process to create solutions, supporting and liaising closely with instructional designers and managing SMEs, including as appropriate providing insight into Moodle, plugins and any bespoke tools that will be used in the programmes Develop activities and learning materials for new courses as appropriate Produce proposals for new activity or platform features optimised for specific courses with clear presentations of learning outcomes and methodologies for delivery Attend sprint planning and sprint reviews as required to support the development process Support the Learning Technologist in building and configuring courses in Moodle and through operational delivery, and deputise in their absence End user Promote the use of learning technology in teaching to enhance outcomes and the student Contribute to wider initiatives to increase student and teacher satisfaction with the learning Participate in internal testing for academic user roles Evaluate student progress and academic performance Quality assurance and compliance Support the Director, and Assistant Director, Teaching and Learning in the evaluation of the delivery of blended/online course elements Provide training for new online tutors, and for teachers in centre Produce tutor guides for all INTO blended and online courses, articulating clear tutoring strategies where appropriate Page 2 of 5

3 Validate the quality of online learning content with robust quality assurance processes Provide ongoing academic guidance and support to the e-champion network in centres Support the Senior Product Manager in conducting product training for other INTO staff and partners as required Remain abreast of latest online learning theories, and technologies Product delivery Oversee the recruitment of online tutors for all new and existing courses Performance manage online tutors working on online or blended courses for INTO students Undertake coaching and development activities with less d tutors as required following quality and performance reviews. Actively identify opportunities to improve tutor performance Ensure the efficient allocation of students and teaching resource to both ensure quality provision and meet commercial imperatives Ensure the support of students studying online, to include ad hoc guidance and development of best practice guidelines Ensure the tracking of student performance against established course benchmarks Manage online tutor payment in line with established HR processes Other Liaise closely with the Director, the Senior Product Manager, and the Assistant Director, Teaching and Learning in the evaluation and enhancement of how online courses or content is delivered Liaise closely with key academic stakeholders in centres building close and productive working relationships Regularly attend cross-centre forums as required Communicate clearly the role of the Learning Solutions team across the INTO network Contribute positively to the overall goals of the IUP UK Operations team Deputise for the Learning Technologist in matters relating to course build and configuration in Moodle The job title does not define or limit your duties and you may be required to carry out other work within your abilities from time to time at our request. We reserve the right to introduce changes in line with technological developments which may impact upon your job duties or methods of working. Location The post is based in Brighton. Travel within the UK and abroad may be necessary and flexibility is required to meet the demands of the post, including occasional weekend working. The post holder may be reasonably required to work from any INTO or Partner location at any time. Page 3 of 5

4 Safeguarding As part of our Safeguarding procedures, applicants are asked to note that: references will be followed up; all gaps in CVs must be explained satisfactorily; proof of identity and (where applicable) qualifications will be required; reference requests will ask specifically whether there is any reason that they should not be engaged in situations where they have responsibility for, or substantial access to, persons under 18; Appropriate suitability checks will be required prior to confirmation of appointment. This role may meet the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act If so, all applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Serviced check before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings as well as convictions. Please see the next page for person specification Page 4 of 5

5 Person Specification Education and qualifications Essential Desirable Teaching qualification Masters level qualification focussing on the integration of e-learning in the teaching and learning process or in content production Experience, knowledge & Essential Desirable skills Experience of studying and/or teaching online Working knowledge of e- learning authoring tools Substantial teaching including Captivate, Camtasia and/or Articulate Strong stakeholder management skills: able to Experience of teaching international students quickly and confidently establish good working relationships with key Familiarisation with mobile development approaches and technologies internal and external contacts at all levels Experience of designing and developing courses in Commitment to excellent Moodle customer service and to using customer feedback to drive improvement. Experience of mentoring and managing less d teachers Experience of mentoring and managing less specifically on online or blended courses d teachers Experience of working in Excellent communications an Agile environment skills, both written and oral, including developing and delivering professional presentations and reports. Understanding of webdesign and accessibility issues, and of development and repurpose of learning Experience of designing activities and assessments, and scripting content for online learning objects to enhance online learning Personal attributes Essential Desirable Passionate about online learning and its potential for providing new and richer learning s for students Cultural awareness and sensitivity Positive attitudes and behaviours seeks solutions Coaching and mentoring approach Page 5 of 5