Instructional Designer and Development Specialist

The Digital Solutions: Educational Technology (EdTech) portfolio is responsible for supporting the design, development and maintenance of online learning artifacts including e-modules, virtual patients, simulations, facilitated learning sessions, blended learning opportunities and other educational outputs as required for all programs and schools across the Faculty of Medicine.

This position is responsible for identifying, promoting, developing and managing educational technology projects from the analysis and conceptual design stages through to implementation. The position works closely with other members of the Educational Technology team and educational stakeholders to ensure that educational resources and technologies appropriately, effectively, consistently and sustainably support the educational objectives of the Faculty of Medicine.

Organizational Status
The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world. Since 1915, UBC’s entrepreneurial spirit has embraced innovation and challenged the status quo. UBC encourages its students, staff and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery and explore new ways of learning. At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world.

Our Vision: To Transform Health for Everyone

Ranked among the world’s top medical schools with the fifth-largest MD enrollment in North America, the UBC Faculty of Medicine is a leader in both the science and the practice of medicine. Across British Columbia, more than 12,000 faculty and staff are training the next generation of doctors and health care professionals, making remarkable discoveries, and helping to create the pathways to better health for our communities at home and around the world.

The Faculty—comprised of approximately 2,200 administrative support, technical/research and management and professional staff, as well approximately 650 full-time academic and over 10,000 clinical faculty members—is composed of 19 academic basic science and/or clinical departments, 3 schools, and 25 research centres and institutes. Together with its University and Health Authority partners, the Faculty delivers innovative programs and conducts research in the areas of health and life sciences. Faculty, staff and trainees are located at university campuses, clinical academic campuses in hospital settings and other regionally based centres across the province.

The UBC Vancouver Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. The City of Vancouver is located on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations territory.

Reports to the Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager, Educational Technology, Faculty of Medicine.

Work Performed

• Participates in the strategic planning for improvement of existing learning materials, learning activities, e-Learning systems, processes and resources as well as the expansion, overall direction and development of the learning management system (LMS) and related systems. Work as part of the learning design and support team providing continuous improvement support, subject matter expertise, and technical expertise on major e-Learning and educational technology projects.
• Coordinate resources through the educational technology proposal process and provide pedagogical support, courseware design and development, instructional technology authoring, programming expertise and technical design advice to faculty and staff developing educational and technology enabled curricula in the medical program. Makes decisions impacting program and curriculum design. Develops policies, training plans, provides strategic guidance and development support for educational technology systems integrations and organizational practices.
• Provide consultative support in the design, development, delivery, and maintenance of software solutions aimed at enhancing learlning experiences and streamlining educational processes.
• Research, monitor and evaluate developments in educational technologies and design philosophies to enhance educational objectives, accessibility, interactivity and systems interoperability. Identify, anticipate and conceptualize long-term and immediate program requirements and manage resulting instructional design and e-Learning project opportunities and priorities.
• Liaise with academic departments, stakeholders and committees to facilitate support and interest for educational technology projects. Facilitate and manage initiatives through the development and maintenance of workflow and timelines from start to completion while ensuring deadlines and milestones have been met throughout the process.
• Hire, train and manage work-study students to support and develop e-Learning resources with respect to various curriculum projects for the Faculty of Medicine.
• Work with the e-Learning support team and other team members to develop processes, standards and templates for educational and instructional technology resources in the LMS and other systems as applicable. Ensure effective transition of new developments/projects into operationally supportable learning services and assist with development of quality assurance processes. Monitor implementation of technology resources and strategies and assist with evaluation efforts of e-Learning activities in the Medical Program.
• Serve as the Faculty's representative with several of UBC's Course Management Systems committees and groups such as UBC IT, CART, LT Hub and the Centre of Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) to represent the unique user requirements and interests of the Faculty of Medicine related to educational technology, particularly during major infrastructure and software updates. Act as liaison between campus-wide groups and Medicine IT and educational units to determine implications of changes with regards to systems interoperability and support models to ensure adequate consideration for e-Learning requirements in the Faculty of Medicine.
• Develop and deliver presentations, workshops and training materials to students, faculty and staff for the purpose of orienting participants and maximizing the utility of existing and planned educational technology instructional tools and resources; collaborate with internal units such as PLAT, ESU, CMU, and the Office for Faculty Development for Faculty-specific projects and University groups such as OLT for campus-wide sessions.
• Determines functional specifications through focus groups, surveys and interviews related to new and existing educational technology initiatives based on the priority of user requirements.
• Conduct assessments, prepare reports and analyses based on learning data, make recommendations for change. Develop methods to determine the value/effectiveness of technology solutions.
• Conduct educational needs assessments with clients to determine educational and technology requirements, create storyboards and design mock-ups, develop instructional materials, courseware, and technology enabled learning activities, and evaluate and maintain learning materials.
• Apply instructional design and adult education principles to the design and evaluation of educational resources and technology solutions.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Reports to the Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager, Educational Technology, Faculty of Medicine; additional inter-site accountability within the MED Program; works under general program or departmental guidelines. Work is reviewed in terms of quality and effectiveness in meeting educational goals. This position, through the Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager, Educational Technology, receives guidance and direction from Faculty of Medicine stakeholders on pedagogical components of Educational Technology.

Supervision Received
Reports to the Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager, Educational Technology, Faculty of Medicine; additional inter-site accountability within the MED Program; works under general program or departmental guidelines. Work is reviewed in terms of quality and effectiveness in meeting educational goals. This position, through the Senior Instructional Designer and Program Manager, Educational Technology, receives guidance and direction from Faculty of Medicine stakeholders on pedagogical components of Educational Technology.

Supervision Given
This position may be expected to supervise work-study students; is expected to operate with wide latitude.

Minimum Qualifications
Master’s degree in Education. Minimum of six years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

A minimum of six years’ experience in the design, development and delivery of mixed-mode education courses and programs or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required.

• Extensive experience working within enterprise-level and open-source learning management systems such as BlackBoard, Canvas, Moodleetc., familiarity with learning object repositories, curriculum management technologies and learning technology system architecture is an asset.
• Extensive experience creating learning activities, learning modules, courseware, and learner assessments; experience with user experience and user interface design; extensive experience with e-learning authoring software applications such as Articulate Storyline, Raptivity, Lectora, Camtasia, Adobe Creative Suite; experience with assessment and quizzing technologies.
• Ideally the candidate will have experience in the areas of project management, analytical and organizational skills; adult education, facilitation and presentation skills; excellent oral and written communication.
• Extensive experience in needs assessment/requirements analysis, technical solutions analysis and design, and liaising with internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated computer expertise in areas of web-authoring, web-based application design and development, content management systems, web-server technologies, and social networking and collaboration technologies.
• Sound knowledge of usability and user experience design, educational technology standards and protocols including SCORM and xAPI, and educational metadata standards; experience proactively promoting and supporting the use and application of educational technologies in a rapidly evolving context of digital instructional technologies.
• Ability to exercise initiative, diplomacy and judgment; ability to work effectively under pressure and manage multiple projects simultaneously to meet deadlines. Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team environment; knowledge of and comfort in working with technology and technological teams, as well as a diverse set of stakeholders of variable technical competencies.

The incumbent possesses a strong work ethic with excellent interpersonal and time management skills. You demonstrate the ability to communicate logically and effectively both verbally and in writing. A highly motivated self-starter, you will be expected to solve problems in a challenging environment with limited supervision and direction. The ability to effectively manage changing and competing priorities is essential. In addition, the successful applicant must thrive in a team setting in a diverse, complex, distributed and fluid environment.

The incumbent will have the ability to:

• Compose correspondence, reports, presentations, workshops and other materials using clear concise business English in a way that maintains accuracy and attention to detail.
• Analyze and interpret data, determine implications, and provide recommendations.
• Think conceptually. (i.e., use creative, conceptual, or inductive reasoning or thought processes to identify patterns in complex data, and identify key or underlying issues in complex situations).
• Make decisions and recommendations involving highly complex issues.
• Effectively use job-related design and analysis applications.
• Mentor, coach and act as a resource for faculty members.
• Analyze problems, identify key information and issues, and effectively resolve.
• Analyze and redesign work flow/business processes to make them more efficient and effective.