Teaching, Learning, and Technology Specialist

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The Universities of Wisconsin are a premier system of public higher education. We educate approximately 161,000 students each year and employ about 35,000 faculty and staff statewide. Through a constellation of 13 universities statewide, Universities of Wisconsin are a tremendous academic, cultural, and economic resource for Wisconsin, the nation, and the world.

The Office of Online & Professional Learning Resources, formerly known as University of Wisconsin Extended Campus (UWEX) is the online and Continuing/Professional Education arm of Universities of Wisconsin. We work in partnership with all 26 UW System campuses to offer continuing education and lifelong learning opportunities, fulfilling the “Wisconsin Idea” of extending the university’s resources to every corner of the state. We bring the Universities of Wisconsin academic programs to adult and nontraditional students, in conjunction with advising and support that fosters student success.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Office of Online & Professional Learning Resources (OPLR) is seeking a Teaching, Learning, and Technology Specialist to join our Academic and Operational Technology and Support Team. The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Specialist’s primary responsibility is to provide technical expertise to students, faculty, and staff for OPLR’s Learning Management System, Virtual Lab (cloud based virtual desktop environment), and portfolio of learning technologies including both on premise and cloud-based environments.

A successful candidate will be focused on positive, responsive, and customer-service oriented interactions that support OPLR’s collaborative and team-based approach to delivery of services to students and instructors. This candidate will be responsible for identification, recommending, implementing, and maintaining technology solutions that bolster educational program designs that are focused on learner success.  An ideal candidate will have experience with academic technology solutions, providing quality customer support, and the ability to maintain the balance between day-to-day support and identifying future direction for the technology platforms.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Provide first and second level support to students, faculty, and OPLR team members in their use of academic focused technology.  Answer questions, solve technical problems, and ensure effective escalation of issues and requests to other business units and partners.
  • Administer applications such as learning management systems, third-party hosted educational applications, and virtual desktop environment for use by students and faculty.
  • Administration would include configuration, integration of third-party tools, user provisioning, and supporting integration with operational systems to facilitate enrollment, access provisioning, grading, advising, and reporting.
  • Advise and support groups working on program-level curricular design and development by facilitating the work and contributing expertise in accordance with current pedagogical practices, cognitive/learning science, and learning technology. May also contribute subject matter expertise.
  • Research and develop business cases for the use of academic technologies that improve the student experience, improve delivery of learning objectives, provide access to all potential students, allow programs to develop and scale more effectively.
  • Implement process, procedures, and controls to ensure operability of services and provide a highly available, secure, and robust academic technology infrastructure that is compliant with all policies, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices including data privacy and other security concerns.
  • Participate in the evaluation, testing, implementation, and procurement of new systems and/or participate in testing and implementation of software releases that impact the Academic Technology suite.
  • Regularly communicate with internal leadership and advisory groups to assess efficacy of systems and discuss improvements and new features. Leverage stakeholder and constituency groups to ensure service communications are transparent and timely.
  • Document, coordinate, and analyze interactions with students and faculty regarding their requests and incidents to make sure resolutions are complete. Uses the information to identify widespread problems and/or areas for process improvement.
  • Advocate for student and faculty perspective when resolving issues or implementing changes.
  • Develop, maintain, and facilitate access to documentation for academic systems.
  • Communicate effectively with students, faculty, staff, tech support or external vendors to resolve complex problems.
  • Train and guide internal employees and external partners in the optimal use of academic learning technologies, including the development of support strategies and materials to enhance faculty effectiveness.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s degree and one (1) year of experience working to support customers with technology related issues -OR- an equivalent combination of education, training, and work experience.
  • Demonstrated experience providing support to a remote user community that included written and verbal communication methods.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s degree in a learning/instruction design or technology related field.
  • Demonstrated experience providing recommendations or leadership implementing technology into teaching and learning environments.
    •  Demonstrated experience with academic technology system support environment including:
      Learning Management Systems such as Instructure Canvas
    • Third party applications and tools used in learning environments.
    • Microsoft Azure deployed desktops.
  • Demonstrated expertise with instructional design methodologies, pedagogical issues, and best practices for classroom, online, and hybrid learning.
  • Demonstrated experience designing, testing, implementing, and administering technology solutions that solve complex problems and challenges.
  • Demonstrated experience working on cross-functional teams with media professionals, learning experience designers, academic technologists, and software developers.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting students and faculty using a wide variety of devices including Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Linux based laptops, desktops, phones, and tablets.
  • Demonstrated experience managing vendors of computer and software services including coordinating procurement and support activities.

COMMITMENT TO INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

Inclusive Excellence is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for Universities of Wisconsin. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the Universities of Wisconsin community.  We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, research, scholarship, creative activity, community service, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

Universities of Wisconsin fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who serve the State of Wisconsin and the public good.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Universities of Wisconsin is required to conduct a criminal background and sexual harassment check for the selected finalist prior to employment.

Please note that successful applicants are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to work in the United States (i.e., a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment.

WORK LOCATION

Our office is located at 780 Regent Street, Madison WI. Hybrid work options may be available to Wisconsin residents. Hybrid work arrangements will be discussed during the interview process. Telecommuting agreements are subject to change at any time.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Specialist (official title: Teaching, Learning &Technology Specialist II) is a full-time, salaried (exempt), academic staff position.

Well-qualified candidates can expect a starting annual salary within a range of $55,000-66,000 per year, commensurate with the candidate’s education, related experience, and qualifications.

Universities of Wisconsin employees receive an excellent benefits package. To learn more about the benefits package, review the Universities of Wisconsin Employee Benefits Quick Guide. Use the Health & Retirement Contributions Estimator to calculate the estimated value of your compensation and benefits.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
To ensure full consideration, please submit application materials as soon as possible. Applicant screening will begin immediately and be ongoing through Wednesday, September 4, 2024. However, applications may be accepted until the position has been filled.

  1. Go to the UWSA Applicant Portal to submit your materials online and select the appropriate applicant portal, either External Applicants or Internal Applicants and click on the position title that you want to apply for.
  2. Follow the onscreen instructions and be sure to include your salary expectations when asked in our applicant tracking system. In addition, please be sure to upload your resume. A cover letter is preferred, but not required.
  3. Submit your application.

SPECIAL NOTES

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request by contacting Shelby Buchanan at Shelby.Buchanan@uwex.wisconsin.edu .

The Universities of Wisconsin will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. §. 19.36(7).

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran, and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies.  We promote excellent through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

Questions may be addressed to: Shelby Buchanan, HR Business Partner: Shelby.Buchanan@uwex.wisconsin.edu.