Instructional Designer - Office of Academic Innovation - Penn Engineering

University of Pennsylvania•Woodworth, OH

21h•$61,000 - $75,000

About The Position

The Instructional Designer is a key member of the Learning Design and Technology team. This role partners with Penn Engineering faculty to design and deliver rigorous, scalable online learning experiences that reflect current learning science, strong pedagogy, and the Penn Engineering brand. The designer leads the course design process, guides faculty through critical decisions about translating their teaching for an online audience, and collaborates on the development of high-quality learning assets. This position also manages course builds in Canvas, oversees QA for each course launch, and supports iterative improvements after the course goes live.

Requirements

Bachelors degree with 1 to 2 years of experience designing complete online courses, or equivalent experience
Strong collaboration and communication skills, including the ability to guide faculty toward effective design choices
Ability to work independently, juggle multiple deadlines, and keep projects moving in a fast paced environment
Familiarity with Canvas, Panopto, and related learning technologies
Basic understanding of UX principles and front end concepts such as HTML
Working knowledge of learning science, online pedagogy, and current best practices in digital learning

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education preferred

Responsibilities

Collaborate with faculty to design engaging online courses that meet Penn Engineering standards
Manage 3-4 course projects at a time, often at different phases of development
Lead faculty through core decisions on objectives, assessments, learning pathways, and instructional strategies
Offer clear guidance to help faculty adapt in person teaching approaches for online learners
Maintain timelines, milestones, and documentation to keep projects on track
Create design deliverables such as learning objectives, assessment plans, content outlines, and interaction frameworks
Work with faculty and teaching assistants to shape and produce rigorous instructional materials
Document and manage asset inventories to support production and long term maintenance
Build and configure courses in Canvas
Author supporting materials including pages, assignments, and media assets
Conduct comprehensive QA for function, consistency, accessibility, and overall learner experience
Coordinate corrections and improvements after launch and plan for future revisions
Design with accessibility from the start and audit existing materials for compliance
Write alt text, remediate PDFs, and ensure all assets meet accessibility requirements
Apply learning science principles and online teaching best practices consistently across courses
Contribute to process improvements within the Learning Design and Technology team
Support special projects as assigned

Benefits

Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare.
You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.
Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.
In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.
Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.
Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.
As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.
From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.
Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.
Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.
Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.