Description
Instructional Designer, Professional Learning Design Contractor (Remote 12-Month Contract)
Note: This is a fully remote, work from home contract role. Qualified applicants from all time zones are encouraged to apply.
About This Role...
NWEA®, a not-for-profit organization, supports students and educators worldwide through assessment solutions and insightful data. Driven by our mission- "Partnering to help all kids learn"- we're transforming the way teachers teach and students learn. As part of our Professional Learning Design Strategy team, you'll play a key role in creating best-in-class learning experiences for K-12 educators. We're looking for an Instructional Designer who is comfortable exploring different methods and modalities to get engaging and effective blended and online experiences to educators. The ideal candidate is a big-picture thinker who is also comfortable working in the details. While thriving on creative independence, you will also balance the needs of internal stakeholders, including Professional Learning content writers, delivery consultants, user researchers, and other subject matter experts.
Responsibilities

• Use Human-Centered Design approaches to create engaging learning experiences for teachers, administrators, students, and families
• Lead the design and development of blended and online learning courses, eLearning (primarily using Articulate products), videos, and other digital assets
• Recommend solutions that will support performance and behavior change of target users, based on tested instructional design theories, practice, and methods such as Action Mapping
• Conduct needs assessment during project intake and drive unknowns to clarity through thoughtful collaboration and stakeholder management
• Develop project plans that are focused on rapid prototyping, user feedback, and iteration
• Collaborate with content SMEs, graphic designers, copyeditors, and others to effectively contribute to all phases of ADDIE process
• Perform quality checks throughout project timeline to ensure assets meet quality standards, including content, functionality, brand, and DEIA standards
• Help reinforce best practices and document processes that can be utilized by other team members
• Effectively integrate feedback and evaluation data into ongoing maintenance and updates of existing digital assets
• Perform LMS tasks, as needed, including the creation and maintenance of courses
• Assist in research and implementation of emerging learning technologies and concepts

Skills and Abilities

• Strong project and stakeholder management skills for setting expectations and resolving issues in service of larger goals and timelines
• Demonstrated design and development of engaging blended and online learning experiences demonstrating a user-centered design process
• Proven application of adult learning theory and instructional design models, including ADDIE
• Exceptional, flexible communication skills that are not limited to a single style or medium
• Insatiably curious and resourceful
• Deeply empathetic and doggedly focused on delivering valuable experiences to users
• Has a bias for action; learns by doing
• Has a knack for storytelling--a key piece to bringing data and procedures to life
• Practiced in gracefully giving and receiving constructive creative feedback

Competencies

• Manages complexity: making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
• Cultivates innovation: Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful
• Thinks strategically: Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies
• Is a nimble learner: Actively learns through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder
• Manages ambiguity: Operates effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear

Education and Experience

• BA/BS degree in instructional design, learning experience design, educational technology, or related field. An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
• 3+ years' experience in instructional design
• 3+ years' experience using action mapping or other human-centered design approaches
• Advanced Articulate Storyline, Rise and/or Adobe Captivate skills
• Intermediate LMS skills, including creating and maintaining courses
• Intermediate HTML authoring skills preferred
• Video and audio editing skills preferred (Adobe Premier, Adobe Audition, Camtasia, or similar)
• Experience developing digital assets that meet or exceed WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards
• Education or micro credentialing experience a big plus

About Us...
NWEA® is a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency-and provide timely data to help tailor instruction. For more than 40 years, NWEA has developed innovative pre-K-12 assessments, including our flagship interim assessment, MAP® Growth™; our progress monitoring and skills mastery tool, MAP® Skills™; and our reading fluency and comprehension assessment, MAP® Reading Fluency™. Educators trust our professional learning offerings to accelerate student learning and our research to support assessment validity and data interpretation. More than 11 million students in 146 countries use our solutions to support their learning and growth each year.
NWEA strives to make diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices the center of our work. Our organization's mission, Partnering to Help All Kids Learn, is the foundation for our DEIA commitment as we work to reflect, value, and support the educators, students, colleagues, and communities we serve. We seek to empower and engage all stakeholders in the research, services, solutions, and products we provide, our organizational culture, and the partnerships we establish with schools, districts, states, and countries.
NWEA is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. For our EEO Policy Statement, please visit our website. If you'd like more information on your EEO rights under the law, please visit the EEOC website