CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST & PROJECT MANAGER– SPECIAL PROJECTS UNIT

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMING AND DELIVERY DIVISION

 

GENERAL

 

1.The University of the West Indies, Open Campus serves the following English-speaking Caribbean countries:

 

Anguilla Antigua & Barbuda Bahamas, The Commonwealth of Barbados Belize British Virgin Islands The Cayman Islands The Commonwealth of Dominica

Grenada Jamaica Montserrat St. Christopher & Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent & The Grenadines The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago

              

2.The University began teaching in 1948 at Mona in Jamaica as a University College affiliated with the University of London, and became independent in 1962.  The University is now a dual mode institution offering teaching by distance education as well as face-to-face teaching.  The University has campuses at Mona in Jamaica, St Augustine in Trinidad and Cave Hill in Barbados, and University Centres in the above countries.  The UWI on campus student population is currently over 30,000 full-time equivalent students.

 

3.In a major initiative to grow our student population and service the widely dispersed needs of country partners, the University has launched the Open Campus; an entity that is built on our success in distance education and continuing studies throughout the Caribbean.  The current population of our distance students and continuing education students is over 20,000 today and it is hoped to grow to over 40,000 Open Campus students by 2012. Open Campus currently employs a wide variety of distance delivery methods and has 52 education centres in 16 different English speaking countries and a staff of almost 400 professionals to support our growing student population.

 

OPEN CAMPUS

 

4.The UWI Open Campus works with faculty on the three campuses, as well as with other tertiary institutions and development agencies throughout the Caribbean to design, develop and deliver quality programmes by distance to meet the learning needs of the people of the Caribbean.

 

5.The office of the Director of the Academic Programming and Delivery Division is located at the Cave Hill campus in Barbados. Other Open Campus faculty and staff are also located on the Mona campus in Jamaica and St Augustine in Trinidad. Open Campus centres in Non-Campus Countries and off-campus Sites in campus territories are managed by Heads of Centres or Site Coordinators in collaborating institutions.

 

6.There are four functional areas within the Open Campus Academic Programming and Delivery Division:  Pre-University and Professional Development; Undergraduate Studies; Graduate Studies and Special Projects.  The three Academic Departments within the Division are responsible for the planning and design of new programmes, managing existing programmes, developing and producing courseware employing a variety of distance and classroom formats and methods, managing the delivery of courses, supervising part-time faculty engaged in the learning environment and evaluating the quality of our programmes, courses and faculty supporting our students. 

 

7.The Special Projects Department manages external projects and provides the production and materials management support needed to deliver both online and face-to-face courses.  The Production Department is responsible for course layout, multimedia development, printing of materials, management of the learning environment (Moodle and other tools) and providing the course development and production support to curriculum development teams in Open Campus and for contractors supporting external projects.  

 

8.The Curriculum Development Specialist – Special Projects will be employed in the Special Projects Department of the Open Campus, managing the design and development of courseware in support of externally funded contracts. 

 

REQUIREMENTS

 

9. The successful applicant should have a Masters Degree (PhD or EdD strongly preferred) in one of the following disciplines:  instructional design, instructional systems, distance education, open and distance learning, educational technology, instructional technology or a related discipline. 

 

10. The incumbent must possess a minimum of five (5) years of experience working in a tertiary level curriculum development position.

 

11. The Curriculum Development Specialist - Special Projects must have relevant project management experience.  Ideally the CDS will have certification in Project Management from a reputable certifying body.

 

12. The incumbent must also possess good interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, and good time-management skills.

 

13.  The Curriculum Development Specialist will work with the Academic Division curriculum development teams and external contractors to support the development, production and distribution of courses or programmes for distance education delivery, face-to-face delivery and other educational and professional development experiences.

 

14. The Curriculum Development Specialist must be experienced in managing widely dispersed curriculum development teams and contractors;

 

15. The Curriculum Development Specialist should have experience working with a variety of different faculty from different disciplines and from different universities who will be acting as content subject matter experts.

 

16. Ideally the Curriculum Development Specialist will have knowledge of the academic and online learning environment within UWI and throughout the Caribbean. 

 

ACADEMIC LEVEL

 

17.  Lecturer or Senior Lecturer depending on qualifications and experience.

 

WORK LOCATION 

 

18.  This position may be physically located in any of the locations supported by Open Campus.  The job incumbent will be required to travel throughout the Caribbean as part of his/her job responsibilities.

 

WORK ENVIRONMENT 

 

19.  The job incumbent must be able to work in a complex virtual team and technical team environment.  The incumbent will live and work in one country and manage and collaborate with others located throughout the Caribbean.  The incumbent must be able to engage others in team meetings, manage projects, develop ideas, and supervise the work of others using a variety of ICT and collaborative web tools.  Extensive experience in managing distance curriculum development projects and working in virtual project teams is an asset; and excellent computer skills are essential.

 

REPORTING

 

20. The Curriculum Development Specialist will report to the Head of the Special Projects Department, but will be required to work collaboratively with other academic units in the division as authorized by his/her Academic Head.

 

TENURE

 

21. Appointment will be for three years in the first instance.

 

 

 

OPEN CAMPUS JOB DESCRIPTION: CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST& PROJECT MANAGER - SPECIAL PROJECTS UNIT

 

 

 

 

The Curriculum Development Specialist (CDS) – Special Projects is the expert in needs analysis, programme analysis, instructional design, curriculum design, online learning, blended learning, workshop design and classroom delivery.  The CDS is also an expert in managing training, education and professional development projects.  The CDS will work closely with the Open Campus funding agencies and contractors to define programme needs and to design instructionally sound courseware.  He/she will act as the project manager and team leader for all curriculum development teams formed to support the courseware design, development and production process.  The Curriculum Development Specialist will mentor, monitor and supervise the contracts of the course writers and other professionals needed to create effective courseware. 

 

Through the assigned academic Head he or she will support the professional development and training needs of members of the Academic Programming and Delivery Division. The CDS Special Projects will provide advice and assistance to the various Heads throughout the Open Campus, and external organizations re: curriculum planning, the instructional design process, course design, course delivery and the tools used to support the Open Campus curriculum development procedures.  The Curriculum Development Specialist is expected to conduct applied research projects that will help improve the operation and academic excellence of the Open Campus.

 

The Curriculum Development Specialist will be responsible for the completion of the following duties and tasks.

 

1.    Manage externally funded curriculum design and development projects and project teams.  This will include production of:

 

a)    project statements of work and draft contracts;

b)    description of deliverables;

c)    project schedules and budgets;

d)    project charters;

e)    project management plans;

f)     project evaluation instruments and quality assurance checklists;

g)    logframe documents;

h)    project final reports.

 

2.    Production of Project Proposals in response to funding agency Requests for Proposal.

 

3.    Provide expert guidance and advice to all members of the contractor’s instructional design teams on matters related to learning, instructional design, distance education, instructional technology used to support distance learning and the effective management of a distance learning environment.

 

 

 

4.    When required lead funding agency curriculum development teams consisting of course writers, programme coordinators, members of the production team and other stakeholders involved in the curriculum development process.  This will include:

 

a)    the identification and recruiting of course writers and other team members;

b)    the creation and management of contracts for part-time professionals supporting the curriculum development process;

c)    produce project management plans and identifying deliverables and milestones for members to achieve;

d)    establish standards by which the curriculum development team must work;

e)    establish a communications and idea sharing process that will support the creation of the courseware;

f)      sign off indicating that contractors have completed their work in accordance with the Statement of Work so that payment can then be processed;

g)    provide feedback to contractors on the quality of their work and their participation as team members.

 

5.    Plan and coordinate the analysis and evaluation of funding agency proposed academic programmes required to support Open Campus learners or other stakeholders throughout the Caribbean.

 

6.    Liaise with the Production Manager, Heads of Department and others in the Open Campus and UWI to procure the internal personnel and resources needed to support an externally funded project.

 

7.    Manage the curriculum/course development process and related project management activities to include the following.

 

a)    Conduct initial planning meetings and follow on meetings as required.

b)    Provide training, mentoring and guidance to the team members as required.

c)    Produce templates to guide the creation of curriculum development products.

d)    Supervise the creation of the curriculum/course plan.

e)    Work with writers to ensure their courseware employs innovative and motivating instructional strategies and methods appropriate to the media of delivery.

f)     Guide the creation of the curriculum/course assessment methods, assignments, final examinations and marking guides.

g)    Guide the effective use and creation of multimedia elements to support the delivery of online courseware.

h)    Ensure that the online course content reflects the academic needs of the students.

i)      Ensure that the supporting course paper-products conform to a standard of quality established by Open Campus.

 

8.    Review contractor, funding agency and programme evaluation results to identify areas that need to be improved or updated in future projects.

 

9.    Conduct needs analyses, curriculum analyses, programme analyses and market analyses to identify new academic programmes.

 

10.  Work closely with Programme Coordinators in the preparation of formal programme submissions to the Open Campus Academic Board and to the Board of Undergraduate Studies or the Board of Graduate Studies for programmes that are sponsored by external funding agencies.

 

11.  Research the best practices in instructional design, instructional theory, distance education and other relevant research and assess the potential to utilise these findings in Open Campus courseware or methods of delivery.

 

12.  Collaborate with the Head Special Projects in the creation of standards and procedures to improve the Open Campus curriculum development model.

 

13.  Design and deliver professional development courses and workshops in support of the Open Campus curriculum development process.

 

14.  Work with the Production Team and the Technical Team to explore ways of improving the Open Campus learning environment and providing support for different emerging technologies that can enhance our students’ learning experience.

 

15.  Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE NEEDED

 

The successful applicant should posses the following knowledge, skills and experiences.

 

• Project management.
• Contract management.
• External funding agencies.
• Institutions of higher education throughout the Caribbean.
• Private sector training and professional development processes and procedures.
• Learning theory, instructional theory and systems theory.
• Adult learning principles, strategies and methods.
• Instructional design models and instructional design strategies that are used in distance education and online learning programmes.
• Student-centred course design strategies.
• Multimedia development and online courseware knowledge.
• Online instruction and facilitation.
• Classroom facilitation.
• Workshop design and development.
• Education and training project management skills.
• Virtual team management.
• Contract management skills.
• Course evaluation and programme evaluation skills.
• Analysis and research skills.
• Knowledge of learning management systems, content management systems and web collaborative tools.
• Good communications skills.
• Effective time manager.
• Team player.
• Motivator.
• Excellent computer skills.