Instructional Designer

DEPARTMENT: XJTLU Learning Mall

POSITION TITLE: Instructional Designer

LOCATION: Suzhou Industrial park campus & Taicang campus

SALARY: Lecturer 5: 27,929-30,762RMB/month (with the opportunity to go to 34,219RMB/month based on future annual performance and evaluations after being in the post)

POSITION OPEN DATE: Immediate

ADVERTISEMENT CLOSING DATE: August 7, 2020

JOB ID: 996229

CONTRACT TYPE: Full-time

UNIVERSITY AND DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW:

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) is China’s leading Joint Venture university. Founded in 2006, it now has almost 1,000 students in China; and another 3,500 in Liverpool completing degrees. It plans to grow to about 27,000 students by 2025. The strengths of the university are in Science and Technology, as well as some professional subjects like Architecture and Business. There are currently more than 800 academic staff, about half of whom are not citizens of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The language of instruction, committees, and administrative work at XJTLU is English.

XJTLU is located in the Higher Education Town of Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), well-connected via nearby airports to cities such as Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei, and via high-speed rail to other major cities in China, including nearby Shanghai. SIP is a significant growth zone, including operations run by more than one-fifth of the Fortune 500 top global companies. Greater Suzhou is now the fourth-largest concentration of economic activity in China in terms of GDP, and the SIP has been on the receiving end of both private and public investments into innovation and R&D.

About the Taicang campus

XJTLU is building a new teaching site in Taicang city - XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang campus), with the collaboration of the Taicang Municipal Government and industry partners, as part of its strategic priorities for the next ten years. Taicang is a county-level city in Greater Suzhou. The Taicang campus will be a pioneer of, and an educational model for, the future campus in developing talents and leaders to meet local, national, and global challenges from the 4th Industrial Revolution. XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang campus) is directed by a Leadership Team comprised of the Taicang Principal, Taicang Associate Principal, Chief Operating Officer, School Deans and Director of the Learning Mall. The Taicang Leadership Team reports through its Principal to the Executive President, who heads the Senior Management Team of XJTLU. 

About The XJTLU Learning Mall

The XJTLU Learning Mall (XJTLU-LM) acts as an innovation and entrepreneurial research and development hub as well as project and partner center. It will promote the concept of lifelong learning for the XJTLU and Greater China extended learning community. It will also work jointly with core XJTLU departments and premier external partners, collaborating on critical innovation projects and initiatives.

The XJTLU-LM officially launched on 22nd May 2020, welcoming its first round of new partners: AliCloud, McGraw-Hill, AMT, Skillshare, Talespin, YouYong XinDao, CiWei, Hujiang, and more.

The XJTLU-LM will provide online and onsite space, or “storefronts,” for top global partners to share their learning content with its user audience. It will integrate onsite and online programmes developed by the university, industry and external partners, offering them as learning resources to a wide net of different education consumers. The overarching goal of the XJTLU-LM is to act as an engaging innovation community, allowing its collaborators freedom to develop their resources within its creative hub.

The online XJTLU-LM space will be an online community platform, creating a centralized location for content from XJTLU schools as well as premier global partners, which all users can access.

The onsite XJTLU-LM facility, which is currently under construction, will be one kilometer in length, and occupy space in the core circle which unites the entire XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) campus and schools. In this space, XJTLU Learning Mall partners can host individual community spaces, leveraging their resources and contributing to a symbiotic ecosystem of learning - online and onsite, campus to community.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:

The mandate of the XJTLU-LM Instructional Designer is to support the implementation of learning and teaching within the XJTLU-LM online (and later onsite) for the internal and external community of learners. The candidate plays an integral role in developing strategies and advancing experiences that promote learner development and enhance the learning environment. The primary role of the instructional designer is to create, select and/or suggest instructional programmes/short courses, instructional technologies, learning strategies and experiences to enhance user performance, skills, knowledge, information and attitude in order to promote achievement of program goals and learning outcomes as well as support the development of content with XJTLU schools and partners to be hosted through the XJTLU-LM. Other areas of support include providing assistance and guidance on peer review, and curriculum and assessment design, as well as collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to develop specific learning and teaching strategies, events or activities online and onsite for the XJTLU-LM. This is an exciting and rewarding opportunity enabling the post holder to gain extensive experience across the breadth of the XJTLU-LM’S operations and services.Be responsible for quality control regarding LM content, activities and services, online and onsite, including all content provided internally as well as externally by stakeholders.

• Support the implementation XJTLU Learning Mall’s vision for Learning and Teaching online and later onsite, creating a synergy of online and onsite learning as well as campus and community learning engagement;
• Envision, design, develop, implement and evaluate curriculum design initiatives based on the needs of XJTLU-LM learning community and where necessary support their delivery;
• Assist XJTLU faculty and partners in creating engaging learning activities and compelling course content for the XJTLU-LM;
• Explore and promote innovative pedagogic and engagement strategies including; traditional, Blended Learning, Just-in-Time Teaching, Flipped Classroom, etc. as well as work with subject matter experts to identify target audiences’ training needs;
• Visualize instructional graphics, the user interface and the finished product, including to create supporting material/media (audio, video, simulations, role plays, games, etc.);
• Analyze and apply trends and best practices in learning technologies and instructional design and work with stakeholders of the XJTLU-LM to develop exercises and activities that enhance the learning process;
• Orient XJTLU-LM stakeholders to university learning technologies, including the learning management system (Moodle);
• Design and develop curriculum design workshops and stand-alone digital resources to support all XJTLU-LM stakeholders and users;
• Help to identify courses that could benefit from course re-engineering through conversations with stakeholders and using data-driven methods;
• Adheres to the University's information security and confidentiality policies and procedures, and reports breaches or other security risks accordingly;
• Provide expert and specialist advice and guidance to academic staff in developing excellence in online and onsite teaching with a primary view of enhancing the user learning experience within the XJTLU-LM and contribute to the scholarship of learning technology, learning design and curriculum enhancement;
• Develop collaborative networks to identify and disseminate good practices in online and teaching and learning and evaluate their effectiveness.
• Engage in personal development and training and change the focus of the role, where appropriate, to meet the changing needs of the XJTLU Learning Mall.
• Engage with relevant XJTLU committees, working groups and forums to raise awareness of pedagogic principles, share examples of best practice and highlight developments in the field, particularly related to successful practices online in the XJTLU Learning Mall.
• Contribute to enhancing the brand and reputation of the XJTLU-LM as well as that of XJTLU through premier facility management support and service.
• Report to the XJTLU-LM Director and be responsible for any other duties commensurate with the level and grade of this post, and any other tasks assigned as needed.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:

The XJTLU Learning Mall is adopting a new higher education model based on the concept of Syntegrative Education (SE). SE is a new model that has been developed by the University to address future challenges from the 4th Industrial Revolution and is a core part of the University’s strategy for the next ten-year development that stresses innovation and entrepreneurship. SE aims at training syntegrative leaders with Management skills, International perspective, Discipline-specific knowledge, and adaptability in Industry (MIDI).

The position seeks individuals who will echo these values and are passionate about innovative online, hybrid and onsite learning. The XJTLU-LM seeks team members who can model the excitement of engagement, discovery, and creativity and who are committed to education as an integrated and transformational process.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE:

• A Masters in Education or related field (PhD in Education, EdD or related field preferred).
• A minimum of 5 years' experience in in curriculum design and/or instructional technology. Post-secondary/adult learner experience preferred.
• Ideally fluent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills both in English and Chinese (English only fluency can be considered for strong candidates);
• Excellent knowledge of current theories and practices in education, particularly with respect to post-secondary teaching and learning (e.g. student-centred active learning, blended and online learning, flipped classrooms, team-based learning, etc.), and educational development.
• Previous working experience with course development software and learning management systems (Moodle preferred) as well as Web 2.0 technologies.
• Ability to write effective copy, instructional text, audio and video scripts.
• Strong ability to create and deliver online programming to learners as well as training to stakeholders.
• Strong sense of ownership and result driven.

NOTE: While this position will begin at XJTLU SIP Campus in Suzhou in one and half to two years it will be relocated to the XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang) located in Taicang.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE:

• Basic HTML and Flash programming knowledge.
• Visual design skills (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator).
• The ability to effectively lead, work well independently and collaborate on cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams, multi-tasking and establishing priorities and meeting deadlines with minimal direction.
• A good track record of experience/engagement with business and industry and a commercial environment.

COMPENSATION PACKAGE:

Members of Academic Staff are entitled to subsidies for accommodation, travel, and children’s educational, medical insurance, and a one-time relocation allowance is provided. Overseas staff may receive a tax “holiday,” depending on nationality and personal circumstances.

CITIZENSHIP AND VISA REGULATIONS:

Employment at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is regulated by Chinese Labour Laws and must comply with the regulations of the provincial government. These regulations stipulate who is eligible for legal employment with regard to obtaining work permits and visas.  Please be advised candidates over 65 may be not eligible for PRC work visa.

TO APPLY:

Please send your application to AcademicPositions@xjtlu.edu.cn. In the subject line write the Position you are applying for and quote the job ID number for reference.

Applications must be submitted in a single pdf file that includes 3 parts in the order of:

• A cover letter
• A current CV, including date of birth, country of citizenship, and highest degree level
• Contact Details for Three References

Applications should be received by the closing date stated above.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to the Staff Management Team at AcademicPositions@xjtlu.edu.cn. Please quote the position and job ID in your enquiry.