KINGS COLLEGE LONDON: Learning Designer

About Us

King’s Digital is a truly collaborative team. We partner with academics and professional services staff across the university, and with our external partners to design, develop and deliver a wide range of educational programmes in line with King’s Education Strategy.  

We produce online master’s degrees, short courses, bespoke executive education courses, and increasingly, stackable micro-credentials. You will be joining us at an exciting time as we seek to realise our strategic ambition of being a UK leader in online and blended education, specifically in the areas of learning design, development, and partnerships.

We are a dynamic team with ambitious growth targets in a priority area of development for King’s. We proudly foster a supportive culture and community which prioritises both individual and collective wellbeing. We actively work to protect and improve the wellbeing of all staff; be it physical, mental or social, and recognise this as central to our work and success.    

King’s offers a wide variety of support to employees, including flexible working arrangements, paid maternity/shared parental leave, menopausal support, an active wellbeing programme, training and development opportunities and much more. All of our staff benefit from a generous pension contribution as well.

As part of King’s trial of hybrid working, all team members can work remotely for part of the week if they wish.

About the role

Learning Designers in King’s Digital work collaboratively with both academics and creative designers to develop effective and engaging online courses. It is their responsibility to ensure the content and activities reflect the academics’ educational aims and maximise student engagement and learning to support the development of students’ academic and professional abilities. 

We are looking for someone with a sound understanding of pedagogical theory and evidence, who is keen to apply their experience creating e-learning to substantial postgraduate programmes and innovative short courses for professionals.

The ideal candidate would be naturally curious and keen to use their analytical and creative skills in varied subjects, including STEM, healthcare, social sciences, humanities, law and business. Their primary responsibility will be to ensure the high pedagogical quality of King’s Digital programs, modules, and short courses.

The role holder will have the opportunity to work closely with academic leads, module teachers and King’s Digital project team members in a collaborative, consultative manner. They will support the development of effective learning outcomes and assist in adapting or creating content, activities, and assessments suitable for online learning. When designing online lessons and activities, they will also need to consider the features and limitations of the King’s Digital learning platform, preferred software, and accessibility requirements.

This is a full-time post, and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience: 

Essential criteria

1.        Undergraduate degree in any subject (minimum 2:2 and ideally 2:1 or above or international equivalent).

2.        Significant experience designing and/or developing asynchronous e-learning content and activities, including the creation of storyboards or similar visual planning tools.

3.        Experience supporting students and/or academics in Higher Education.

4.        Experience producing planned, project outputs to competing deadlines both autonomously and collaboratively as part of a dynamic team.

5.        Good understanding of the instructional design role and able to demonstrate how their experience is relevant to the role.

6.         Substantial understanding and application of learning/ instructional design frameworks, e-learning and distance learning pedagogy and principles, and/or pedagogical or adult learning theory and evidence

7.        High level ability to select information relevant to specified learners and to present complex ideas clearly and creatively in a logical, coherent way.

8.        Excellent English language skills and attention to detail: able to express themselves accurately and effectively in both written and verbal communication.

Desirable criteria

1.        Postgraduate degree or qualification in a relevant discipline e.g. Education, Instructional Design, with pedagogy and learning technologies as a substantial part; alternatively equivalent level of experience in HE e-Learning field.

2.        Familiarity with how virtual online learning environments, such as Moodle, FutureLearn or EdX, can be used to support active learning.

3.        Knowledge of how to design learning experiences to maximise inclusion of diverse learners’ needs.

4.        High level ability to negotiate and communicate well with others in a higher education environment, including good presentation and facilitation skills.

5.    Demonstrable commitment to creative innovation, constructive reflection and/or continuous improvement. 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. 

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King’s.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

There will be an information session where you will have the opportunity to familiarise yourself with our department and ask questions about the role, selection process, our work culture, current hybrid work policy, or simply listen to others’ questions. This will be an online call where participants will join anonymously and with their cameras off. This call will take place on the 10th of July from 4:00 to 5:00PM (UK time).  If you wish to attend, please email france.barth@kcl.ac.uk 

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held the week commencing the 5th of August.

We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.