Instructional Designer

Employment Status: Administrative

Description of Key Responsibility:

• Partner with faculty and subject-matter experts to design, develop, revise, and evaluate courses and learning experiences using evidence-informed instructional design practices.

• Apply backward design and constructive alignment to connect program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes, instructional activities, assignments, assessments, and evidence of student learning.

• Build and configure course components within the learning management system, including modules, assignments, assessments, rubrics, learning outcomes or standards, and other instructional resources.

• Support academic programs in creating, organizing, and deploying learning-outcome or standards structures within the LMS , including mapping program learning outcomes to course outcomes and aligned assessments.

• Collaborate with faculty, academic leaders, and assessment colleagues to develop sustainable workflows for collecting, reviewing, and using evidence of program learning outcomes across courses and programs.

• Assist faculty with the design and use of rubrics, authentic assessments, and other measures that produce meaningful evidence of learner achievement.

• Develop and maintain course templates, blueprints, examples, guides, and other resources that promote clear, consistent, accessible, and learner-centered course design while preserving appropriate disciplinary flexibility.

• Review courses and digital learning materials for instructional quality, usability, accessibility, alignment, learner engagement, and effective use of instructional technology, and recommend practical improvements.

• Design and facilitate faculty workshops, consultations, institutes, and other professional learning related to course design, assessment, accessibility, online and hybrid teaching, Canvas or other LMS tools, and emerging instructional practices.

• Support the thoughtful and ethical use of generative artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in course development, teaching, learning, and assessment.

• Evaluate, pilot, document, and support instructional technologies in collaboration with CAFE colleagues, Academic Affairs, Information Technology Services, Institutional Effectiveness, and other campus partners.

• Manage multiple instructional design projects simultaneously, establish clear timelines and deliverables, communicate progress and risks, and maintain accurate project documentation.

• Create clear faculty-facing documentation, tutorials, examples, and support resources for instructional design processes and learning technologies.

• Other duties as appropriately assigned.

OTHER KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the College’s mission, vision and values, and contribute to the advancement of the College’s Strategic Plan.

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to continuous quality improvement.

• Demonstrate civil and inclusive behavior when interacting with staff, faculty, students and visitors to the College. Promote a flexible, collaborative and inclusive work and living environment and engage in educational opportunities to increase awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion.

Education/Training:

Master’s degree in instructional design, instructional technology, curriculum and instruction, education, learning sciences, educational psychology, or a related field is preferred. A bachelor’s degree with a combination of relevant education, professional experience, and demonstrated expertise may be considered consistent with NCC requirements.

Experience:

Two or more years of professional experience in instructional design, course design, faculty development, educational technology, e-learning, curriculum development, or a closely related area is preferred. Higher education experience is strongly preferred.

Candidates should demonstrate experience building or substantially revising courses in a learning management system and applying learning outcomes, assessment, and alignment principles in authentic educational settings.

Experience with one or more of the following is especially desirable: Canvas; LMS outcomes or standards functionality; program-level assessment; course templates or blueprints; online or hybrid course design; accessibility review; course-quality review; faculty professional development; HTML / CSS or digital content development; and educational uses of generative AI.

Licenses or Certifications:

Valid Illinois driver’s license and acceptable driving record are required. No other license or certification is required. Relevant certifications or professional development in Canvas, Quality Matters, OSCQR , accessibility, instructional design, online learning, or related areas are valued.

Position Summary:

The Instructional Designer, housed in the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence ( CAFE ), partners with faculty, academic programs, and campus colleagues to design, develop, evaluate, and improve high-quality learning experiences across in-person, hybrid, and online modalities.

A central focus of this position is strengthening alignment among program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes, learning activities, assessments, and evidence of student learning. The Instructional Designer will help faculty and programs build and deploy in-person, hybrid, and online courses focused on learning outcomes or standards, rubrics, and aligned assessments within the College’s learning management system, and will support scalable approaches for collecting and using program-level evidence of student learning.

The position also supports course quality, accessibility, faculty professional development, instructional technologies, and thoughtful use of emerging technologies. Experience with Canvas is strongly preferred, but candidates with substantial experience in another enterprise learning management system and a demonstrated ability to learn new platforms are encouraged to apply.