Remote Instructional Designer

This is a remote position.

An education institute is seeking a remote Instructional Designer to design, develop, and enhance programmes, qualifications, and support content for lecturers and students. This role ensures that all instructional materials align with the institution’s mission, teaching and learning philosophy, and desired graduate attributes. This can be a permanent position or a fixed term contract, depending on the candidate's preference.

The Instructional Designer will be responsible for creating engaging and effective learning experiences that support student success.

• Perform any duties and accept responsibility as assigned by the leadership as might be required from time to time that falls within the scope of the Learning Innovation and Development team.
  
• Be flexible and adapt easily to changing requirements and needs.
  
• Intentionally contribute towards the best practice of a specific portfolio.
  
• Manage multiple instructional design projects simultaneously, ensuring deadlines and quality standards are met.
  
• Excellent organisational skills and time management.
  
• Communicate effectively and regularly with various project stakeholders.
  
• Stay abreast of current trends, research and best practices in instructional design in higher education. Especially understanding the learners' perspective and ability to create learning that is appropriate for the audience.
  
• Demonstrate excellent skills in educational writing, editing, and layout in various contexts.
  
• Adhere to checklists, standards, workflow processes, legislation, policies, and procedures to safeguard the company and ensure efficiency that will limit unnecessary costs.
  

• Collaborate with faculty members, the academic operations team, and company committees to design, develop, and enhance programmes, qualifications, lecturer or student support/onboarding courses/content aligned with the company’s mission and vision, overall teaching and learning philosophy, and graduate attributes.
  
• Employ best practices in instructional design to create engaging, immersive, and compelling learning experiences in the online higher education environment.
  
• Implement a variety of pedagogical approaches to meet diverse learning needs.
  
• Integrate educational technologies and multimedia elements into course design, ensuring a seamless and interactive learning environment.Inform innovative learning and teaching strategies aligned with the company’s vision for educational quality and learning journeys in collaboration with the Senior Academic Designer and School.
  
• Conduct assigned reviews of course materials to identify learning needs and ensure alignment with learning outcomes, accessibility standards, and instructional design principles. Implement feedback and improvements.
  
• Work closely with subject matter experts (internal and external to the company) to create cohesive and meaningful learning materials on the LMS and other tools.
  
• When reviewing content, ensure that all instructional elements are in place per the design guidelines and template and that the writing style is suitable for learners and appropriate for the specific NQF level. Focus on the consistency of the writing style, voice, and tone, as well as the overall structure, sequence of text, and the appropriate use of design and illustrative elements concerning text for the online environment.
  
• Co-facilitate workshops or training sessions for faculty on effective learning and instructional design. Co-facilitate workshops to engage with faculty to scope learning requirements.
  
• Co-create, review, and revise resources and documentation used to inform the approach to the delivery of learning and teaching, ensuring alignment with the company’s overall philosophy towards learning journeys.
  
• Consult faculty on the company’s best practices in learning and instructional design, pedagogy, and assessment strategies.
  
• The expectation is not just to review and recommend improvements but also to implement them. This requires the ability to write succinctly and with clarity, as well as to develop the necessary learning activities or visuals. Constructive feedback is encouraged when working on extended projects with external developers to enhance the overall quality of subsequent submissions of educational material.
  

• Review and edit educational materials, including module outlines, study guides, and online content, to ensure clarity, accuracy, and adherence to the company’s standards. Correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors while improving clarity where appropriate.
  
• Ensure that educational content maintains a consistent style, tone, and voice, aligning with the company’s vision, mission, and specific learning and teaching philosophy. 
  
• Conduct quality assurance checks to verify that educational content complies with industry standards, accessibility guidelines, and copyright requirements, ensuring seamless integration of text and multimedia elements in the LMS.
  
• Stay abreast of trends and innovations in educational publishing to continuously improve educational content. 
  
• Check that citations and references align with the company’s Reference Guide and make necessary corrections where needed. 
  
• Format manuscripts and assessments according to the styles outlined in the Style Guide, using pre-established Word styles in the latest Style Template, and ensure that all formatting is consistent and correct to produce high-quality materials.
  

Requirements

• Previous working experience in instructional design for at least 5 years
  
• An excellent understanding of the process of learning design and experience negotiating the challenges of those processes
  
• An excellent understanding of learning design methods, learning theories and practice and demonstrable experience of applying these concepts
  
• Ability to engage with stakeholders and scope learning requirements
  
• Excellent skills relating to writing, editing and layout in a variety of contexts
  
• Be able to work outside an office: A reliable home internet connection. A suitable working environment
  
• Teaching experience in a higher education institution will be advantageous
  
• Curriculum development experience across a range of NQF levels
  
• Visual design skills or experience (Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva)  will be advantageous
  
• Experience with Authoring Tools and LMSs/ VLEs (e.g. Articulate Storyline, Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas)
  
• Knowledge of the Higher and Further Education quality frameworks in South Africa
  

• Understanding the learners' perspective and ability to create learning appropriate for the audience
  
• Knowledge of learning theories and instructional design models and a deep curiosity for the science of learning
  
• Insight into the relationship between assessment and learning and the ability to design meaningful assessments
  
• Excellent collaboration skills
  
• Ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously
  
• Excellent organisational and time management skills & ability to work to deadlines
  
• Possess a strong attention to detail
  
• Highly independent, self-starter
  
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
  
• Clear alignment with the company's values as well as an intuitive understanding of their learning and teaching philosophy and graduate attributes  
  

• Align behaviours to their values 
  
• Able to work under pressure
  
• Committed team player
  
• Passionate about education
  
• Persuasive & assertive
  
• Professional & reliable
  
• Quality orientated
  
• Service orientated/ Customer service focused
  
• Strong business ethics and ethos 
  
• Ability to listen and talk in a good manner
  
• Ability to plan
  
• High level of attention to accuracy and quality
  

Benefits