How to Apply
A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, in two pages or less, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations and skill set. Submit both a cover letter and resume as one file (because of system limitations).
Who We Are
About the Center for Academic Innovation
Through curricular innovation, tools for student success, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.
About Online Learning at CAI
The Online Learning group within CAI consists of four teams that collaborate with others across the Center and University to design and develop online learning experiences that support the future of education for a global community. We work with faculty and academic unit leaders to envision how they can expand reach and impact, advance innovative teaching, and support greater access and lifelong learning through the design and development of integrated online learning experiences. Our teams focus on the following areas:
- Strategic sourcing of new opportunities for online learning;
- Developing internal and external partnerships that promote engagement with learning experiences;
- Providing program management services throughout degree program development and operations;
- Supporting end-to-end design and development of online learning experiences, including design management, learning experience design, and iteration of learning experiences after they have launched;
- Supporting learners' success and engagement in live courses and programs
For more information, please visit our website: Academic Innovation.
Responsibilities*
Innovative, AI, and innovative Technology Support (40%)
- Collaborate with faculty to design, implement, and evaluate funded AI and innovative technology initiatives
- Coordinate CAI's Learning Experience Design support to ensure funded projects integrate effective teaching and learning practices
- Propose technical solutions to pedagogical design challenges through the thoughtful integration of educational technologies
- Work with faculty to identify desired success metrics and provide recommendations for measuring instructional impact
- Establish evaluation criteria that communicate success with projects with innovative technologies
- Maintain strong partnerships with faculty across multiple projects and units
- Provide insight and recommendations for future rounds of support for innovative technologies
- Collaborate with CAI Compliance colleagues to document best practices, ethical considerations, and responsible use frameworks
- Assist in developing workshops, presentations, and resources that enhance AI literacy among educators and learners
- Contribute to evaluation and dissemination of innovative technology pilot outcomes, including white papers and case studies
- Serve as an internal resource on the intentional and responsible use of AI and innovative technologies in teaching and learning
- Work collaboratively with faculty and CAI staff on AI teaching and learning projects, which may include design thinking, rapid prototyping and the design or development of chatbots, agents or learning tools as well as exploring new technologies and informing decisions for future use
Online Course Design (60%)
- Collaborate with faculty, program leaders, Learning Experience Designers, Design Managers, and Media Designers at the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) to design high-quality online and hybrid courses
- Apply a range of instructional design methods and learning theories to learner-centered course design
- Collaborate with program administrators, faculty partners, and CAI staff to scope the goals of new and iterative course design projects for online courses
- Create and use learner personas for primary and secondary audiences, ensuring that diverse groups of learners are represented
- Provide course design teams and faculty partners with practical examples to spark ideas and creative solutions
- Support integration of practices that follow regulatory and compliance norms for non-credit and credit-bearing courses, including practices related to credit hour guidance, regular and substantive interaction, and accessibility
- Work with academic unit support staff and CAI team members to develop and/or remediate course materials, including media, to make them more accessible for all students
- Refine and apply templates, checklists, and guidelines to assist faculty in the development and iteration of online and hybrid learning experiences
- Collaborate with Design Managers (DMs) to coordinate and manage project pace and scope
- Explore and integrate existing and new educational tools to assess their potential fit within a given project
- Review course design decisions to ensure that activities and resources are aligned with programmatic goals and desired course outcomes
- Use feedback to course design teams on consistency and appropriateness of course content and presentation
- Build content, activities, and assessments on hosting platforms, including the technical integration of learning technology interoperability (LTI) and other third-party educational technology tools
- Characterize the pedagogical design of a course and make research and evidence-based recommendations for immediate iteration and long-term improvement
- Support the Learning Experience Design team in assessing design proposals for innovative online credit-bearing learning experiences to assess feasibility and fit
- Document course design decisions and support hand-off of course development notes to ensure seamless support and iteration of projects
- Explores innovative trends in pedagogy, learning design, and digital innovation, such as generative AI, evaluating their implications for higher education and identifying applications that align with the Center's commitment to excellence and access
What You'll Do
The Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan is seeking a qualified Learning Experience Designer of AI and Innovative Technologies to support the design and iteration of a growing portfolio of technical online and hybrid learning initiatives. You will support academic units in developing both non-credit and for-credit online and hybrid learning experiences. In addition to core design responsibilities, this role will support enhancing CAI's internal capacity for the intentional, responsible and pedagogically sound integration of AI and innovative educational technologies into courses and faculty-led projects.
With a focus on learner-centered design, this role will partner with design team colleagues and external partners to apply established practices and learning theories to the development of high-quality online courses. You will report to the Associate Director of Learning Experience Design and also work with the Director of the EdTech Accelerator.
Required Qualifications*
- Bachelor's degree in education, curriculum and instruction, learning sciences, instructional design, educational technology, or information science or an equivalent combination of education and experience
- 1-2 years of experience (or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience) in instructional computing, educational technology or instructional design
- Strong collaboration skills in a matrixed environment
- Knowledge of tools for digital avatars, virtual and extended reality, custom chatbots, and AI modeling
- Exhibits a forward-thinking mindset by investigating innovative developments in learning innovation, such as generative AI, evaluating their potential, and identifying strategic opportunities for integration
- Experience in leveraging the use of AI and innovative technologies to most effectively support course goals and learning objectives
- Working knowledge of standards for online non-credit and for-credit course design, including copyright and accessibility
- Understanding of integrating learning theories, instructional design methods, and learner-centered design principles into online learning experiences
- Demonstrated expertise in applying a learner-centered approach to online course design
- Demonstrated expertise in assessing technical project outcomes and making recommendations for improvement and iteration
- Experience using online education platforms (e.g., Canvas, Coursera, and edX)
- Demonstrated initiative and customer service-oriented attitude
- Ability to learn and appropriately use new technologies to improve processes, communication, and outcomes, including AI-enabled tools where relevant to the role, consistent with university policy and job responsibilities
Modes of Work
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
This is a 5 year term-limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding. The position may be renewed or converted into an open-ended base appointment.
Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States.
The mode of work for this position is Hybrid with a minimum of 4 days in the office per week, Monday through Thursday, with an option of remote work on Fridays. On occasion, you may be required and must be available to work onsite on Fridays if necessitated by our center's policy and domain leadership or by your job requirements. The primary work location will be at 317 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The salary for this position will be based upon the selected candidate's education and experience.
We support the creative, responsible, and ethical use of AI tools to enhance our work, in alignment with institutional policies and best practices.
Excellent benefits are available, for details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/.
Organizational Statement on Harassment
We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with any staff members and student employees in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.
Salary Information
The general salary range for this position is $65,000 - $70,000 You can expect to be paid a great compensation package. Factors used to determine salary include education level and experience for the position and internal equity within the unit. You are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor agreement and transparency throughout the recruiting process.
Union Affiliation
This position is included in the bargaining unit represented by University Staff United, AFT Local 284, AFL-CIO, which represents Employees in all matters with respect to wages, benefits, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.
Decision Making Process
Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.