How to Apply

A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, in two pages or less, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations and skill set. Submit both a cover letter and resume as one file (because of system limitations). 

What You’ll Do

The Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) at the University of Michigan is seeking a qualified Course Operations Specialist to support online learners and faculty partners, and maintain a portfolio of open online learning experiences. This work involves collaboration with U-M faculty and staff, colleagues across the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI), and external platform partners to facilitate, support, and improve the learning experience of global learners participating in a variety of online learning experiences developed by CAI. This position is an exciting role spanning both the front-line of learner engagement, and the behind-the-scenes iteration of courses in our extensive portfolio. This position reports to the Associate Director of Online Learning Systems and Learner Support

Who We Are

Through curricular innovation, tools for student success and equity, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.

About Online Learning at CAI

The Online Learning group within CAI consists of five teams that collaborate with others across the Center and University to design and develop online learning experiences that support the future of education for a global community. We work with faculty and academic unit leaders to envision how they can expand reach and impact, advance innovative teaching, and support greater access and lifelong learning through the design and development of integrated online learning experiences. Our teams focus on the following areas:

• Strategic sourcing of new opportunities for online learning;
• Developing internal and external partnerships that promote engagement with learning experiences;
• Providing program management services throughout degree program development and operations;
• Supporting end-to-end design and development of online learning experiences, including design management, learning experience design, and iteration of learning experiences after they have launched;
• Supporting learners’ success and engagement in live courses and programs. For more information, please visit our website: Center for Academic Innovation 

Responsibilities

Learner Support and Engagement

• Troubleshoot, triage, and categorize bugs, technical problems, suggestions and issues that come in through learner support channels.
• Determine the complexity and level of priority of any bug or technical problem, and delineate responsibility for resolving those bugs.
• Direct learner questions to faculty team, other CAI staff, and external partners as relevant for resolution or future improvement ideas.
• Deliver timely and relevant updates on ongoing concerns to learners, Course Operations team members, and other stakeholders.

Course Management and Maintenance:

• Stay up to date on the status of a subset of courses within the Center’s portfolio of online learning experiences.
• Administer assigned courses to ensure appropriate support for learners and faculty.
• Identify the need for and lead the development, quality review, and implementation of course updates
• Continuously maintain in-depth knowledge of key learning platforms (e.g. Coursera, Canvas, edX).
• Provide timely consultation, implementation, and course-building support across teams, throughout the entire lifecycle of a course.

Continuous Improvement:

• Solicit, support, and manage course iteration projects with faculty and design team members.
• Provide faculty partners with periodic updates on the performance of courses and learners.
• Respond to faculty partner inquiries about the status or performance of their courses.
• Collaborate with faculty partners to update courses and resolve issues on learning platforms.
• Guide faculty partners through the course iteration planning and implementation process.
• Facilitate and assist cross-functional teams designing new models and tools to create and/or enhance online learning experiences across the CAI portfolio.

Operational Management, Leadership, and Supervision:

• Deliver timely and relevant status updates regarding course operations to learners, team members, and other stakeholders.
• Lead, refine and socialize team processes.
• Collaborate with external platform support teams to investigate and resolve learner and technical issues.
• Generate internal and external facing support documentation.
• Share insights with cross-functional team members with regard to building and improving learning experiences and workflow processes.
• Manage and supervise part-time staff in courses and/or student fellows.
• Support recruitment, hiring, and onboarding of new staff members within the Course Operations team. 

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• 2 or more years experience in customer service or end-user technical support.
• Strong commitment to customer success, problem solving, and teamwork.
• Experience supporting online learning experiences in learning management systems (LMS) such as Coursera, Canvas, edX or other educational platforms.
• Experience in working with datasets and records in different formats, such as CSV, spreadsheets, and database tables.
• Experience using generative AI tools in a workplace setting.
• Demonstrated experience with work productivity tools (e.g., Google G Suite, Microsoft Office) and project management tools (e.g., TeamDynamix, Zendesk,Trello, Asana).
• Ability to deliver clear messaging to a variety of audiences and skill levels.
• Ability to manage workload under time constraints and conflicting demands.
• Ability to work well in a multicultural and collaborative environment.

Modes of Work

The work requirements allow both onsite and offsite work and an employee has an expected recurring onsite presence. On occasion, the employee may be required and must be available to work onsite more frequently if necessitated by unit leadership or their designee and/or the job requirements.

Additional Information

Please Note: This is a 5 year term limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding.

Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States.

The mode of work for this position is Hybrid with a minimum of 4 days in the office per week, Monday through Thursday, with an option of remote work on Fridays. On occasion, you may be required and must be available to work onsite on Fridays if necessitated by our center’s policy and domain leadership or by your job requirements.

The salary for this position will be based upon the selected candidate’s education and experience.

Excellent benefits are available, for details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/

Organizational Statement on Harassment

We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with any staff members and student employees in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.

Salary Information

The general salary range for this position is $62,000 – $65,000. Candidates can expect to be paid a competitive and equitable salary. Factors used to determine salary include education level, experience, knowledge and skills for the position and internal equity within the unit. All candidates are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor alignment and transparency throughout the recruiting process. 

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

Decision Making Process

Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled. 

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.