Learning Design Team Lead / Learning Strategist

Location: Cape Town

Working Practices: Hybrid, comprising of two office-based days and three remote working days per week. 

Contract Type: Permanent

Reports to: Learning Manager

Job summary: 

The Learning Design team is responsible for developing and implementing innovative and effective online learning outcomes that reflects current best practice in this area.

The Learning Design Team Lead / Learning Strategist is responsible for management of a Pod to develop and implement quality online learning programs that comply with OES’s pedagogical model and unit quality standards and optimise the student learning experience. The role will oversee unit delivery to agreed timeframes with multiple stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

People Leadership:

• Manage, develop, and engage Learning Designers in a Learning Design pod.
• Manage the development of online units that meet the quality matters standards.
• Manage the identification of pedagogically sound interactives that enhance the online learning experience for OES students.
• Manage all performance related issues within the pod (high achievers and under-performers).
• Manage the performance management process across the pod.
• Manage development plans and career pathing for learning designers with the pod.
• Collaborate effectively with university partner Academics, OES internal academic stakeholders, and IT colleagues to create resources and learning activities that support learning outcomes and deliver a best practice online student experience.
• Contribute to a professional culture and working environment that is based on the premise that happy and engaged people are essential to the success of the business.

Thought Leadership:

• Lead the creation of learning experiences that are in line with OES’s pedagogical model and quality standards, and that are innovative, engaging, active and learner centered.
• Deploy a mastery of educational design principles to produce measurably superior student outcomes.

Process Leadership:

• Effectively manage and prioritise Pod workload and responsibilities to deliver quality units within workload targets, time and academic constrains.
• Manage pod capacity to ensure staff workloads are allocated to high priority learning design tasks to best achieve quality online learning.
• Lead and take responsibility for QA processes and timelines.
• Reach pragmatic decisions about resource allocation that balance student outcomes with time invested.

What does success look like?

• Pod engagement, productivity, and collaboration.
• Stakeholder satisfaction and engagement.
• Delivery of unit workload each Teaching Period.
• Mastery of educational design principles to drive quality improvements and measurable advances in student outcomes.
• Continuous improvement to unit quality and team efficiency and productivity, within the Pod and wider team.

Requirements

• A relevant undergraduate and/or postgraduate tertiary qualification.
• Demonstrated expertise in innovative design and delivery methods and tools for online teaching.
• Strong understanding and application of adult learning principles.
• Extensive experience in tertiary teaching environments, including online, that addresses contemporary approaches to learner-centered, flexible education.
• Extensive experience in online subject design and development in a tertiary setting.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of online technologies and Learning Management systems including, Canvas, Moodle and editing and design software.
• Process and project management experience in environments of competing priorities, tight deadlines and multiple stakeholders also highly regarded.
• Demonstrated standard of interpersonal and communication skills including the ability to develop effective stakeholder relationships and influence and engage others outside the team.
• People management skills and experience are highly regarded.
• Highly developed skills in stakeholder management.

Benefits

About OES

OES is a vibrant and values-led organisation, and we are passionate about enhancing lives through education. We work with university partners, training institutes, and professional bodies worldwide, to develop and enable immersive and engaging learning experiences. We empower our teams to be student-focused, innovative, and embrace change with a growth mindset to ensure we achieve our vision of being the world’s most impactful enabler of education. We encourage our people to grow and develop through teamwork and a diverse range of projects, programs and challenging work. We trust our people to deliver, so when you work with OES, you will join a team who are empowered to impact every day.

Company Culture & Values 

We are a people-focused organization with a culture built around collaboration, connection, and working together toward one common goal. Our vibrant, values-led culture is grounded in four core principles that guide everything we do: 

Passion and Perseverance: We love what we do (even though it’s not always easy) and take pride in creating transformative learning experiences. We bring a ‘can-do’ attitude to our work, tackling challenges and inspiring others. 

Teamwork: We operate as cross-functional teams globally with trust and respect, celebrating success. We have fun while we work and enjoy collaborating with each other and OES partners. 

Agility and Innovation: We are innovative, lateral thinkers who use our skills to do things better for our students. We thrive in ambiguity, embrace change and challenge conventional thinking.  

Integrity: We do what’s right, and what we say we will do, every time. We value a culture of respectful feedback and believe that respect trumps harmony. 

These are some of the benefits you can expect when you join the team:

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Medical allowance
• Commute allowance
• Flexible work for genuine career-life fit
• A healthy and supportive company culture
• Generous annual leave
• Paid maternity and paternity benefits
• Study leave
• Professional development and mentoring
• Construct Culture Club events
• Company funded lunch and drinks every 8 weeks

*Policy T&Cs apply for certain benefits