Distance Learning and Education Director jobs in Portland, ME

The Company

At Unity, sustainability isn’t a buzzword. It’s the foundation of our entire approach and has been for more than 50 years.

We apply sustainability principles to everything we do, from our properties around the State of Maine, to our online degrees offered to students everywhere, to our enrichment experiences and entrepreneurial endeavors at locations from northern Maine to Arizona to Brazil.

Engage with Unity College and you’ll start to ask tough questions, challenge the status quo, and envision new possibilities. If taking the lead in creating a more sustainable future sounds like the future you want, we can make it happen.

The Position 

The Instructional Designer’s primary responsibility is to manage projects involving online course and micro-credential development and maintenance for Unity College Distance Education. To accomplish this, they will: Synthesize technical and pedagogical literacy and apply that expertise, in collaboration with subject matter experts (SMEs) and college administrators, to design engaging, experiential learning activities; Iteratively improve upon student-learning experiences through the collection and analysis of student data, as well as feedback from course instructors and SMEs, to follow the evolving needs of the professional spheres for which the students are being prepared; Continuously evaluate the performance of the courses and micro-credentials they design, and the efficacy of established instructional design practices, using student performance data; And, ensure the accessibility of the content and activities they build using universal design principles and American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance standards.

• Work collaboratively with Distance Education (DE) faculty and staff to design and develop high quality, innovative, experiential online courses and micro-credentials.
• Act as an expert resource for our Canvas learning management system (LMS) and related tools.
• Apply the appropriate learning and instructional theories for excellent online course and micro-credential designs and implementations.
• Design online content for the Canvas LMS.
• Integrate current educational technologies to promote effective teaching strategies and to improve student-learning experiences.
• Develop and lead trainings on online instructor and student support materials, including tutorials, orientations, help sessions, and workshops, as needed.
• Communicate knowledge and application of effective pedagogy and use of academic technologies.
• Facilitate and coordinate administrative aspects of course and micro-credential development, delivery, and support.
• Act as a consultant to Distance Education faculty and leadership on the process of instructional design in teaching, research, and creative works.
• Provide instructional design services, consultation and assistance to help plan, coordinate, support, evaluate and improve course, micro-credential and program designs.
• Appraise learning content quality in terms of design, writing, and editing.
• Identify and provide corrective action when needed in alignment with the Quality Matters program and rubric.

Please see the attached job description for a full list of roles and responsibilities.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will possess a bachelor’s degree in a related field or comparable work experience, master’s degree in Institutional Design or Education preferred and have

Required:

• Strong research, content analysis, and content preparation skills.
• Experience in leading and managing multiple, complex projects, and the ability to schedule, prioritize and meet varied deadlines across these projects.
• Ability to work both independently and within a team.
• Demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills with strong interpersonal and presentation skills, while working with diverse content and populations.

Preferred:

• One year of experience working in a full-time instructional design capacity, collaborating directly with faculty in online curriculum building and course development.
• Experience developing non-traditional learning experiences and micro-credentials
• Experience with badging.
• Proven knowledge of instructional design strategies, along with the current techniques, tools, and procedures used in the design, development, and evaluation of technology-enhanced and online courses and programs.
• Experience with graphic design and AV elements appropriate for online instruction, especially using the Adobe Creative Cloud suite.
• Experience in online classroom teaching or workshop facilitation.
• Knowledge and understanding of Quality Matters, Online Learning Consortium and similar online learning rubrics.
• Familiarity with Universal Design and other accessibility principles to ensure course content is accessible to all learners.
• Proven ability to work effectively and communicate with subject matter experts, peers, users and media developers.
• Demonstrated competence in working with learning management systems, such as Canvas.
• Familiarity with HTML and CSS.

The Location 

As our distance education team rapidly grows, we have also acquired space at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine where our enterprise and distance education teams will be located. This position will be located at 49 Farm View Drive, New Gloucester, Maine.

Benefits

Unity College offers a generous benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, short term disability, long term disability, life insurance, PTO, and a company match on our 403b retirement plan. Waiting periods will apply.

To Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should click on the “Apply Now” button and submit a resume and cover letter.

At Unity College, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our students, and our community. Unity College is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.