| Job Description: |
The University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning’s mission is to improve the quality of teaching, learning, and childcare. We research, develop, and scale educational innovations for adults and children that put all learners on trajectories for lifelong success. Specifically, the Center targets kindergarten readiness, 3rd grade reading proficiency, and algebra proficiency as critical milestones in children's educational trajectory that are predictive of success in school and life. The Center works at the nexus of research, practice, and policy to develop sustainable systems that leverage educational technologies and improve the implementation of research-based practices. Housed in one of the nation's elite public research universities, the Center operates as a dynamic, entrepreneurial workplace focused on executing UF's service mission to strengthen the human condition and improve the quality of life. The Lastinger Center is committed to attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent by valuing a broad range of thought, skill, and experience. We believe in fostering environments where team members feel respected, valued, and empowered to do their best work.
Team Management & Development
- Supervise, coach, and support the designers on the Learning Experience Design (LXD) team.
- Set clear day-to-day expectations for design practice, communication, documentation, and collaboration.
- Support onboarding, training, and ongoing professional development for team members.
- Carry out performance management, including regular check-ins, feedback, goal-setting, and professional growth.
- Help team members prioritize work, manage workload, navigate project complexity, and make appropriate design decisions.
- Facilitate regular team meetings, design reviews, and project check-ins.
- Identify individual and team skill gaps and provide coaching, resources, or practice to strengthen the team.
Instructional Design Management
- Provide day-to-day guidance for the design and development of online learning experiences across the Center’s programs.
- Guide designers in translating program goals, learner needs, and SME content into aligned course maps, prototypes, activities, assessments, and learner supports.
- Help designers make sound decisions about content organization, instructional presentation, media use, assessment design, learner engagement and support.
- Review and provide feedback on course maps, prototypes, storyboards, modules, assessments, and other design artifacts.
- Model strong instructional design practice and support consistent application of the Center’s established design standards.
- Design or build course components directly when project complexity, timelines, or team capacity require.
Course Development
- Keep the team’s courses moving through the full development lifecycle and on track to shared production timelines.
- Coordinate the team’s design work with project schedules, media production, learning technology setup, and review timelines.
- Collaborate directly with subject matter experts, project managers, product managers, and other stakeholders on the team’s projects.
- Help SMEs and stakeholders understand instructional design decisions, tradeoffs, and review processes for their courses.
- Identify and resolve bottlenecks that slow course design and development, escalating issues through appropriate channels when necessary.
Quality & Accessibility
- Ensure the team’s courses and learning products meet the Center’s standards for instructional quality, alignment, coherence, consistency, and usability.
- Ensure accessibility is built into the team’s work throughout design and development, in compliance with ADA/WCAG standards.
- Oversee or support instructional quality and accessibility reviews at appropriate points in the development process.
- Use learner feedback, stakeholder input, and quality review findings to improve the team’s courses and design practice.
Other Tasks as Assigned
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| Preferred: |
- Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Curriculum and Instruction, Learning Sciences, or a closely related field.
- At least five years of professional experience in instructional design, online learning design, eLearning development, educational technology, or a related field.
- Direct experience supervising or managing instructional designers or learning design staff.
- Demonstrated experience applying accessibility standards and universal learning
- Design practices to online learning materials.
- Familiarity with learning management systems such as D2L Brightspace or Canvas.
- Experience using Articulate 360, especially Rise and Storyline, for content design and development.
- Strong writing, editing, organization, facilitation, and stakeholder communication skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, support team members, and make sound decisions in a complex, collaborative environment.
- Experience designing professional learning for educators, coaches, administrators, or other adult learners.
- Experience working in higher education, nonprofit, education-focused research, professional learning, or grant-funded environments.
- Experience in thoughtful and responsible use of generative AI or other emerging technologies to support course design, content development, assessment design, accessibility, and continuous improvement.
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