EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPER

Unit/Project Description:

The mission of the MacPherson Institute is to collaborate to explore, enhance, support, and recognize teaching and learning experiences at McMaster. Specifically, the Institute partnerns with, supports, and connects diverse groups of educators by: 1) creating and delivering professional development that engages educators throughout their careers in teaching and learning in order to enhance the student learning experience; 2) facilitating curriculum development and revision that fosters continuous enhancement and engagement in learning; 3) supporting, conducting and recognizing teaching and learning scholarship that has the capacity to develop, inform, and enhance educational initatives and student learning; and 4) encouraging and elevating the pedagogical use of educational technologies and creative solutions to enhance teaching and learning.

There are three teams within the MacPherson Institute: Research, Educational Technologies, and Program and Educational Development. This Educational Developer position will report to the Associate Director of Program and Educational Development. While the responsibilities and key functions of the role are outlined in detail in this job description, this position will have a specific focus on supporting graduate student/teaching assistant teaching development, and collaboration and leadership within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The MacPherson Institute is committed to core values of collaboration, respecting and valuing diverse perspectives and approaches, trust and transparency, scholarly and creative exploration, caring relationships and a commitment to equity.

McMaster University and the MacPherson Institute are committed to building an inclusive community dedicated to teaching and learning within a diverse environment. The MacPherson Institute seeks to attract culturally and academically diverse staff and welcomes applications from qualified candidates with skills and abilities that will contribute to the values of equity, diversity and inclusion in teaching and learning.

Job Summary:

Responsible for supporting teaching & learning programs. Responsible for designing, developing, supporting and delivering campus-wide educational development activities. Promotes a scholarly approach to enhance teaching and learning initiatives within the University for staff, students, and faculty.

Purpose and Key Functions:

• Identify, build, cultivate and maintain relationships with campus partners and with various stakeholders across the University and the greater community.
• Work with and advise faculty regarding the development, coordination and enhancement of academic course and program design and development projects that meet the academic learning goals.
• Stay current with institutional and provincial policies, frameworks, and standards related to university teaching, curriculum, and quality assurance.
• Provide program and policy information to others and advise on matters related to implementation, process, timelines and deadlines.
• Work with department chairs, associate chairs, and faculty to identify teaching support needs and gain cooperation to develop and implement action plans on teaching related matters.
• Develop curriculum and establish guidelines or plans for consultations, workshops, training sessions, retreats, institutes, courses, and other elements within the teaching and learning program areas.
• Facilitate and instruct faculty, staff, and students, through consultations, workshops, training sessions, courses, retreats, institutes, and teaching and learning programs on effective teaching strategies, academic course and program design, research, and other teaching related matters.
• Develop, deliver, and evaluate training programs designed to assist faculty, staff, and students in developing teaching skills and designing (or redesigning) academic courses and programs.
• Provide advice and recommendations to faculty, staff, and students regarding best practices in teaching and learning, teaching dossiers, modes of delivery, academic course and program design, accessibility, learning technologies, learning portfolios, and other teaching practices and innovations.
• Conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups with faculty, staff, or students to collect, gather, and summarize findings used to assist in identifying areas in academic courses and programs that require modifications.
• Facilitate curriculum mapping for new program development and for existing academic programs.
• Organize and facilitate retreats and meetings for other units, departments or schools.
• Review existing academic course and program designs, provide faculty with evidence-based recommendations for enhancement.
• Develop relevant and quality resource information for the website and social networks.
• Write and deliver instructional and training materials, as well as other pertinent information for students, faculty and community partners for presentation in print and on-line formats.
• Develop a variety of documents including, but not limited to, guidebooks and rubrics.
• Engage and advise faculty, staff, and students in research involving teaching and learning models.
• Complete research ethics board applications and other related proposals for review by senior staff.
• Conduct primary and secondary research for new program and project concepts to determine potential fit, and viability.
• Research best practices in service delivery and resources available by conducting regular scans of literature, attending conferences, and reviewing other institutional websites.
• Contribute to educational research projects using qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
• Author educational and research-based abstracts, proposals, journal articles, chapters.
• Review, edit, and revise peer-reviewed journal articles and papers.
• Present research and teaching ideas at local, provincial, and national conferences.
• Plan and coordinate a variety of events and activities.
• Schedule staff and volunteers during conferences and events, and specify tasks and objectives.
• Propose, implement, and maintain a teaching event budget and schedule for review and approval.
• Make recommendations on issues related to the overall operation of events and programs.
• Using databases and project management software, record, update, verify and report activities, service provisions, program participation, impact measures, and accomplishments for the purpose of quality assurance and research.
• Obtain further training or certification, as necessary to stay current in the teaching & learning field.

Supervision:

Provide direction to others in how to carry out work tasks.

Requirements:

Master's degree in Education or related field.

Requires 3 years of relevant experience.

Assets:

• Experience working as an Educational Developer within a University environment
• Background in Social Sciences or experience working with educators in the Social Sciences
• Experience supporting teaching assistants, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in teaching development