Director of Instructional Design

Releasing possibility, changing lives

Founded in 1999, K12 is a company committed to excellence in education. K12 is a curriculum development company and provides management services to public charter schools throughout the United States. The company has developed an excellent curriculum and instructional tools to help give students a great education. We have become the leader in providing individualized, one-to-one learning solutions to students from kindergarten through high school across the country and around the world. These solutions have literally changed lives and opened up possibilities for many children. The company's unique programs combine online technology with traditional content and the world's best teaching methods. It's all about removing the barriers that keep children from reaching their true, individual potential-it's what gets us jumping out of bed in the morning to come to work. Each year, we help tens of thousands of students reach out toward their true personal possibility. Education is delivered several ways to charter schools, school districts and to home school environments. "Online learning through virtual schools is one of the most important advancements in attempting to rethink the effectiveness of education in the United States. The virtual school provides access to online, collaborative and self-paced learning environments-settings that can facilitate 21st Century skills. Today's students must be able to combine these skills with the effective use of technology to succeed in current and future jobs." (The North American Council for Online Learning and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, November 2006).

Director of Instructional Design – K12

While reporting and working under the supervision of the SVP of Product Development, the Director of Instructional Design will work to build creative, engaging, and efficient instructional design (ID) practices at K12. The Director of Instructional Design will demonstrate effective leadership capability and will inspire and facilitate breakthrough thinking amongst the Instructional Design team. The Director of Instructional Design will ensure key cognitive science research is incorporated into the day-to-day development practices, and inspire and challenge our talented core of instructional designers to incorporate the best practices of Instructional Design. This person will regularly review work of Senior Instructional Designers and Instructional Designers and make recommendations for improvement for content, process, and best practices as well as conduct regular meetings for Instructional Designers focusing on topics related to learning research input, state-of-the-art engaging interactive media, efficient instructional design practices, industry trends, and other issues related to K12 Instructional Design professional development and practice. The Director will support internal and external clients as a resource, a speaker, and an advisor, providing exciting recommendations for instructional design at any level of investment. This person will innovate efficient and compelling ways to rework legacy content as well as suggest and analyze pilot projects and prototypes.  Additionally, the Director will oversee Senior Instructional Designers in their role, work with all ID’s to translate text of lesson plans for grades K thru 12 into dynamic instruction for Web-based and print-based presentation.  In addition, the Director will resolve day-to-day issues facing Instructional Designers on different curriculum teams for grades K-12 and collaborate on instructional issues with senior level Subject Matter Experts (SMEs):  Chief Learning Officer, Content Specialists, Creative Designers, Writers, Editors, Media Designers, Evaluation and Research experts, Teaching Specialists, Systems Specialists, Gaming and Prototyping Designers. 

Responsibilities:

• Oversee work of senior IDs in managing the conception, creation, and editing of lesson plans based on instructional soundness, learner engagement, pace of presentation, age-appropriateness, consistency of tone and style, appropriate investment for the difficulty of an objective, and general readability

• Work with senior IDs, external ID idea sources, and other internal SMEs to determine the most effective use of media (interactive, online, and off-line) to support effective and compelling lesson content within schedule and budget

• Participate in usability and effectiveness studies and make necessary changes to match what is learned

• Work with learning research personnel to review relevant learning research literature and move to implement these within different learning environments, for both children (students) and adults (teachers, families)

• Help develop overall conception, capability, processes, and structure of new Content And Learning Management System (CALMS) for K12

• Lead and consult with IDs, editors, and writers to develop standards and consistency of content, style, visuals, and PDFs, and coordinate content across units and lessons

• Work with senior level graphic designers to create compelling and effective high-level graphic approaches, tools, and supports for efficient development

The ideal candidate for this position will have:

• 5-7 years of Instructional Design management experience

• 4-5 years of experience in interactive learning product development (software and materials) in preferred areas of educational, professional, or consumer products.

• Strong technology skills

• A history of innovative and efficient practice, use of media and instructional design techniques coupled with excellent communication and people skills

• Excellent organizational, planning, and communications skills as essential

• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines with creativity, independence, and high standards

• Proven ability to establish objectives, identify problems, analyze data, motivate and train staff and creatively deliver solutions

• Classroom teaching and/or online teaching experience is preferred

Additional special expertise:

• Knowledge of an experience in the effective application of technology to improve teaching and learning

• Demonstrated knowledge of diverse, high-impact strategies for integrating technology into educational programs and course content

• Ability to think conceptually, strategically, and critically and to contribute to growth and research

• Experience in designing and implementing innovative projects that leverage the power of the Internet and computer technologies

• Demonstrated ability to demonstrate the impact of innovative projects in education and development

• Demonstrated capacity to generate and manage partnerships for development initiatives

• Proven ability to write a variety of documents including project descriptions, case studies, project reports, journal articles, conference papers, etc., and to write concisely, quickly and compellingly

Benefits:
In return for your hard work, K12 offers an attractive compensation package of salary and an outstanding benefits package.