Director of Learning Design

Position Summary:

Mary Baldwin University is recruiting a Director of Learning Design to support the MBU Online Division. Reporting to the AVP of Growth Strategies & Operations, the Director of Learning Design will support the management of the MBU Design Team by creating and implementing design processes, leading program mapping workshops, and developing exemplary learning experiences. The Director of Learning Design will have demonstrated excellence in course design and development as well as an awareness of latest research and processes in the field. The Director of Learning Design will safeguard the quality of MBU learning products and the professional development of the team to achieve established KPIs.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategy & Program/Course Design

In partnership with the AVP of Growth Strategies & Operations, this role will work with various stakeholders to identify and evaluate new development opportunities. The Director will engage in the initial stages of early program and product suite development. As an early ideator, contribute to the vision of the product, while articulating the scope and requirements of this work. They will lead the creation of requirements and product specification documents as well as program proposals. This individual will ensure initial mapping and skill identification for all learning products. 

Once a product suite is envisioned, the Director will create a development roadmap and identify required resources from assigned staff to required tools and technology. This role will work collaboratively with academic leadership, faculty, program administrators, designers, and various campus leaders to ensure excellence and quality in all MBU learning products. 

Design Management

The Director of Learning Design will manage the full and part-time learning designers as well as the various vendors utilized in the development of learning products. They will lead the development of best practices and internal tools/resources and create professional development materials to improve efficiency and consistency of MBU products. 

MBU works with various vendors to assist with the development of learning experiences. The Director will have oversight of the vendors, requiring meeting with the vendor consistently and reviewing their output to ensure it meets MBU’s quality standards.  

In partnership with the AVP of Growth Strategies & Operations, the Director will manage the scheduling of design resources to projects. This individual is responsible for the allocation, monitoring and reporting out of performance toward milestones through the entire product development process, including tracking of time and resources to production models. Strong interpersonal communication skills are required to communicate with peers and colleagues around difficult and challenging topics in an objective and proactive manner.

There is an emphasis at MBU on the creation of a strong work culture. The Director will partner with the AVP to create strong and consistent internal culture, practices, and processes to ensure an efficient, productive, and creative team. This will include the creation and identification of professional development opportunities.

Process and Organization

The Director will partner with the AVP to set up consistent design and development processes. They will lead in the creation of visuals, documentation, and training to ensure everyone on the design team (including vendors) are utilizing a consistent process. Once the process is set up, the Director will assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the process and update as needed to ensure MBU’s product continues to be cutting edge and supports the mission and goals of the university. 

Quality Standards

The Director will maintain quality standards for the review of MBU courses. This individual will develop processes and mobilize staff and resources to ensure excellence and quality in all Design Team products through the use of evidence-based and rigorous metrics. They will maintain a Quality Assurance (QA) framework and process for the design of all learning products as well as manage processes for data-driven course revisions.

Required Qualifications: 

• This position requires a Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Educational Psychology or a related field and/or demonstrated equivalent work experience
• 5+ years experience as a designer on a learning design team within a private company or college/university. 
• This individual will have a track record of innovation with learning technologies and an understanding of learning science principles and technology trends 
• Experience building engaging course experiences in Canvas
• Demonstrated experience and tangible success in designing and developing online experiential courses. As well as experience with other models of course design. 
• Ability to work strategically with many constituencies, peers, faculty, campus administrators, and leadership, etc.
• Leadership abilities in training, mentoring and coaching designers, new or otherwise, in course design, learning experiences design, and faculty relationship building best practices. 
• Experience managing junior designers. 
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and a comfort with providing clear feedback.
• Ability to take on new design projects with little oversight. 
• Ability to identify needed updates, changes, and upgrades as necessary to ensure the design process is efficient and meeting identified goals. 
• A thorough knowledge and experience with best in class approaches to the development of various types of learning experiences is required. 
• Strong teamwork, organizational, and interpersonal skills are essential. 
• Strong attention to detail and willingness to probe for deep understanding
• Demonstrated sensitivity to working in a fast-paced environment 
• Excellent time management, organizational, and professional effectiveness skills

To Apply:

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to Bridget Stearns, Assistant Vice President, Growth Strategies & Operations, at bastearns@marybaldwin.edu.