Career Center

The Harvard University Division of Continuing Education (DCE) seeks a talented, energetic, and technically-capable person who is passionate about working with Harvard faculty to create innovative, highly engaging, and effective asynchronous learning experiences that model for the world what online education can be.

The Online Course Developer reports to the Manager of Asynchronous Course Development within the Department of Teaching and Learning. The responsibilities of the asynchronous course development team are:

• to work closely with instructors teaching asynchronous courses and other courses using asynchronous content and activities;
• to design and develop courses and/or specific course elements that effectively support a worldwide audience of adult part-time students with widely varying academic preparation, significant time constraints, and demanding learning goals;
• to use the advantages of the online environment to offer course material and support in ways that cannot be done in a brick-and-mortar classroom;
• and to develop a social and academic community for DCE students to enrich their experience and connection to Harvard and each other.

The course design team is supported by talented video production and software development teams, visionary leadership, and outstanding Harvard faculty and their teaching assistants.

Responsibilities Include:

• Collaborating with faculty and teaching fellows to:
  • design and develop engaging learning experiences from inception to completion, including the application of instructional design principles and learning theories,
  • utilize Canvas features, LTI tools, multimedia, and simulation technologies to support active learning,
  • devise interaction plans to build and support course community among the teaching staff and students as well as peer-to-peer interaction,
  • design and implement attractive, well organized, and easily navigable course websites,
  • design engaging and high-quality activities for optional live online sessions, and
  • provide documentation to support the delivery of each course for successful handoff to instructors and instructional technologists.
• Project managing multiple concurrent courses in development, including writing and implementing project charters and timelines, coordinating with video and multimedia production staff, and liaising with other teams within the Department of Teaching and Learning.
• Designing individualized interventions for courses in need of remediation to meet DCE quality standards.
• Making recommendations for best practices in online education and identifying content and technology resources for online teaching and learning.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will not provide visa sponsorship for this position.

In order to be considered for this role, a resume and cover letter must be submitted with application.

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) comprises several entities serving about 30,000 students annually. The Harvard Extension School, the Harvard Summer School, the Harvard Professional Development Programs and the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement allow Harvard to serve the learning needs of students across their life. For more than a century, Harvard Extension School has made Harvard faculty and teaching accessible to a diverse community of local, national, and international students. Harvard Extension School enrolls approximately 17,000 students per year in approximately 46 graduate and undergraduate liberal arts and professional fields. More than 1,500 open enrollment courses are offered year-round with over 600 available online are offered at affordable prices to our communities across the world. Harvard Summer School offers approximately 450 courses on the Harvard Campus to 11,000 secondary school, college and adult learners and more than 30 international study abroad programs for up to 600 students each summer. The Division also includes the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement with approximately 550 active members and Harvard Professional Development Programs offering nearly 130 short noncredit programs to more than 3,200 participants annually.

All formal offers will be made by FAS Human Resources.

Harvard offers an outstanding benefits package including:
Time Off: 3 - 4 weeks paid vacation, paid holiday break, 12 paid sick days, 11.5 paid holidays, and 3 paid personal days per year; prorated for part-time employees
Medical/Dental/Vision: We offer a variety of excellent medical plans, dental & vision plans, all coverage begins as of your start date.
Retirement: University-funded retirement plan with full vesting after 3 years of service.
Tuition Assistance Program: Competitive tuition assistance program, $40 per class at the Harvard Extension School and discounted options through participating Harvard grad schools.
Transportation: Harvard offers a 50% discounted MBTA pass as well as additional options to assist employees in their daily commute.
Wellness options: Harvard offers programs and classes at little or no cost, including stress management, massages, nutrition, meditation and complimentary health services.
Harvard access to athletic facilities, libraries, campus events and many discounts throughout metro Boston.

• Bachelor's degree required with 3 plus years of work experience in a related field.
• Demonstrated strong project management skills with several examples of projects managed from start to conclusion.
• Experience teaching in an online environment (K12 or Higher Ed)
• Canvas or other modern LMS experience.

• Masters degree or work experience in one of the following: online course development, instructional design, instructional technology, project management, preferred.
• Experience with online instruction as a TA or primary instructor.
• Strong technical skills/fluency. You need not be a programmer, but you should be a tinkerer who feels comfortable exploring software and web environments and getting the most out of them.
• Background/education in instructional design and/or UI/UX design is a big plus.
• Strong analytic skills. Ability to creatively problem-solve and think outside the box. Ability to work well with others.