Instructional Designer, CPLED

The Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) is a non-profit organization that offers the Bar admission program in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia. To be called to the Bar, students must article and complete CPLED's Bar admission program, Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP).

CPLED is dedicated to helping students hone their practical skills and assesses how well they can apply their legal knowledge and skills in everyday situations. This helps ensure new lawyers are well-equipped to meet the demands of the workplace.

CPLED maintains a high standard of programs and services for students to ensure a strong transition into the legal profession.

The Instructional Designer will play a key role in the ongoing, maintenance, design, development, and evolution of CPLED's online programming. Reporting to the Supervisor, PREP Programs, this position collaborates closely with internal and external subject matter experts, the LMS technical team members, and other interested partners to ensure the delivery of high-quality, pedagogically sound learning experiences for both the CPLED PREP and International programs. The Instructional Designer leads the creation of new program components, updates existing content in the Learning Management System (Desire2Learn), and ensures alignment with CPLED's educational and evaluative standards and competencies.

Success in this position requires expertise in instructional design principles, proficiency with digital learning tools, and a strong understanding of adult learning principles in professional education contexts.

Key Responsibilities:

As a member of the Programs. LMS Team, the
Instructional Designer
will:

• Lead the instructional design, development, and maintenance of CPLED programs, ensuring alignment with adult learning principles, professional competencies, and regulatory requirements.
• Partner with internal Learning Evaluation Specialists (LES), external subject matter experts (lawyer contractors), and other stakeholders to translate legal content into engaging, accessible learning experiences.
• Utilize CPLED's learning management system (D2L) and integrated tools (i.e., Integrity Advocate, Mentor City and Feedback Fruits) to enhance learner engagement and assessment integrity.
• Apply instructional design best practices and evaluation methodologies to ensure programs meet high standards of quality, consistency, and learner competency.
• Stay current with trends in education and instructional design, recommending and implementing improvements to enhance CPLED's programming.
• Act as a resource to colleagues across the CPLED Programs team by sharing instructional design expertise, best practices, and emerging trends. Support capacity-building through informal coaching, collaborative design sessions, and the development or enhancement of internal resources that enhance team-wide understanding of effective online learning design.
• Exhibit and practice strong organizational skills; meet deadlines, establish priorities, plan, manage time well and demonstrate the ability to resolve issues.
• Build and maintain relationships with external partners and interested parties through regular contact and effective communication.
• Collaborate closely with CPLED colleagues to ensure efficient delivery of CPLED programs.
• Manage multiple tasks simultaneously and manage multiple conflicting priorities effectively.
• Develop and maintain professional working relationships with staff, supervisors, managers, and stakeholders.
• Undertake other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Behave Ethically: Understand ethical behavior and business practices and ensure that one's own behavior and the behavior of others is consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization.
• Communicate Effectively: Speak, listen, and write in a clear, thorough, and timely manner using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques.
• Creativity/Innovation: Develop new and unique ways to improve the organization.
• Foster Teamwork: Work cooperatively and effectively with others to set goals, resolve problems, and make decisions that enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Organize: Set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details/data/information/activities.
• Solve Problems: Assess problem situations to identify causes, gather, and process relevant information, generate workable solutions, and make recommendations and/or resolve the problem.
• Timeliness: Commit to a deadline and meet those deadlines in a timely manner.
• Compassion: The ability to treat internal and external customers with dignity and compassion and to work with customers to find solutions within the guidelines of CPLED's policies.

Qualifications:

• A bachelor's degree in education, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Curriculum Development, or related field; a master's degree is considered an asset.
• 3-5 years of experience in instructional design, preferably within professional education, legal education, or online learning environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing and developing competency-based or outcome-focused learning experiences.
• Proven ability to collaborate with subject matter experts to translate complex content into engaging and pedagogically sound learning materials.
• Strong working knowledge, designing and developing content within a Learning Management System, ideally D2L Brightspace.
• Familiarity with assessment design, including formative and summative evaluation strategies.
• Experience leveraging AI-powered tools (e.g., generative AI for content creation, adaptive learning platforms, automated feedback systems) to enhance instructional design workflows and learner engagement.
• Proficiency with eLearning authoring tools (e.g., Articulate Storyline, Rise).
• Experience with multimedia integration; designing and developing educational videos.
• Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of partners/interested parties.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Strong attention to detail, with demonstrated professional and quality outcome work ethic.
• Plan and oversee multiple projects simultaneously, prioritizing tasks appropriately and setting deadlines.
• A positive, energetic, self-starter attitude.
• Proven ability to protect confidentiality.
• Make a positive contribution to a high performance, result-orientated culture.
• A desire and capability for growth to meet additional requirements added to this position over time.

Current Hybrid Work

Our current Hybrid work model requires staff to have in-person time in the office and work remotely on other days. Attendance in the office is mandatory on Wednesdays and Thursdays for all staff unless it is an exemption day due to live student sessions or indicated by your Manager. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays remain flexible, allowing you to work remotely. However, you are also welcome to work three, four, or five days in the office. We believe this hybrid model will provide staff with the best of both worlds and allow us to maintain strong connections, collaboration, and productivity.

Additional Information

The Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) is partnering with the Law Society of Alberta on this search. CPLED thanks all applicants, however, only selected candidates will be contacted. CPLED values diversity in its workforce and equal access to opportunity. All inquiries and applications will be handled with the highest level of confidentiality.