Executive Director of eLearning

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Seattle Central College
March 1, 2021 to Present

The Executive Director, eLearning is responsible for working with faculty, staff, and instructional administrators to ensure operational effectiveness in distance learning service and support for faculty and students. The eLearning department is charged with promoting and facilitating a consistent, accessible, and comprehensive eLearning program while working with instructional staff to expand access and continued quality improvement of distance learning courses and programs at the Seattle Colleges. The Executive Director will function to increase instructor capacity and interconnectivity across areas of eLearning, instructional design, and professional development with the goal of increasing access and successful outcomes for eLearning students at Seattle Colleges. This position serves as the administrative head of the Seattle Colleges Online department serving the Seattle Colleges. 

This position supervises a team of administrative support staff, program assistants, Learning Management System (LMS) Administrators, Instructional Designers, Instructional Technologists, and eLearning Manager(s)

Essential Responsibilities

The Director of Distance and eLearning is a full-time, exempt position at Seattle Central College.  This position serves as the administrative head of the eLearning Department. Responsibilities include working with faculty, staff, and deans to ensure operational effectiveness in eLearning and to promote and facilitate a comprehensive eLearning program. The Director will function to increase instructor capacity and interconnectivity across areas of eLearning, instructional design, and professional development.

Responsible for the directing and managing the operation of Seattle Central College’s Distance & eLearning Department which comprises self-supported self-paced, seminar and state supported video courses as well as supporting online, hybrid and web-enhanced instruction housed in instructional divisions. Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Vision and Oversight

  • Develop the strategic plan and vision for online course delivery and support for the Seattle Colleges.
  • Foster collaboration among instructional administrators, faculty from multiple disciplines, and other non-instructional teams in order facilitate the development of new online educational degree and certificate programs based on market and student research.
  • Develop strategic partnerships with the Communication Offices and develop strategies for marketing the newly online programs.
  • Continuously audit the support tools and resources available to fully distant students and facilitate the updating of those resources to support efficient and effective access by students.
  • Work with campus and system stakeholders on issues related to contracts, agreements, procurement and policies that are associated with educational technologies.
  • Maintain current knowledge in new and emerging educational technologies and advise the colleges on how to respond strategically in these areas.
  • Serve as the liaison between Student Services and eLearning on issues relating to serving the needs of distant and online students.

Administrative Duties

  • Develop and implement organizational and governance structures to support the goal of providing accessible and equitable training, development opportunities, and support resources for students, faculty and staff at the Seattle Colleges.
  • Lead the development and refinement of external communications and student intake processes with the goal of increasing the numbers of students enrolled in eLearning courses at Seattle Colleges.  
  • Management and authority over developing and implementing the department’s self-sustaining budget; review and propose updates to the fee structure supporting the department’s budget; full authority over  resources so that personnel, production, programming, equipment, maintenance and other functions are appropriately leveraged in compliance with state and district mandates.
  • Supervision and hiring authority over recruiting, hiring, onboarding, developing staff, and resolving conflict of department staff; Supervise and evaluate administrative and support personnel.  
  • Authority and oversight of Department programs evaluations including staff, services, and technology.
  • Develop and maintain strategic partnerships within the Seattle Colleges college leadership District, State, & other external organizations, including representing the colleges at state-wide and national events.

Oversight of Instructional Design

  • Provide visionary executive leadership and strategic planning for the eLearning department teams; leverage the expertise of the teams to support student and faculty success; serve as a resource and coach to ensure each team’s success.
  • Supervise and support the Instructional Design team; set quality course/content design and accessibility standards; envision faculty development opportunities around technology tools, pedagogy, and accessibility.
  • Envision efficient and effective use of the colleges’ Learning Management System and make policy decisions that advocate and promote student success through quality instruction; supervise and support the Learning Management System Administrators responsible for implementing policy decisions.
  • Develop structures for evaluating, procuring, and implementing new technology tools and services; guide and supervise Instructional Technologists responsible for supporting faculty use of these tools and services.
  • Evaluate and update infrastructure for providing student and faculty support in ways that support effective and efficient access and resolution to problems relating to eLearning; supervise and support the Program Specialists responsible for implementing these support services.

Learning Management System (LMS) Administration & Technical Support

  • Oversee the management of the Learning Management System (Canvas) and other system-wide technology tools; provide leadership in the analysis and implementation of new technology tools.
  • Manage and supervise the development of effective support systems, structures, communication channels, and training materials for faculty and students specific to tools and processes aligned with the department.

Professional Development

  • Provide strategic direction and oversee collaboration with faculty, academic administrators, and professional development staff across the Seattle Colleges to identify and ensure faculty-focused professional development opportunities and instructional design support.
  • Stay current in the discipline by teaching an online or hybrid course periodically to maintain skills and experiment with innovative eLearning tools and pedagogies and/or engage in regular professional development opportunities.

Committees

  • Served on multiple hiring committees; chaired 5 committees.
  • Served as an Inclusion Advocate on over 30 hiring committees for executive, faculty, classified, and exempt positions, ensuring a fair and equitable process.
  • Chair the colleges’ district-wide Curriculum Development Grants Committee.
  • Chair the district-wide Distance Learning Committee (DDLC).
  • Served as Chair Elect, Chair, and Past Chair the State-wide eLearning Council (ELC).

Projects

  • Develop and supervise a Faculty Development Program that provided over 2,000 hours of training to 118 unique participants in its first year of implementation.
  • Led department Merge of three eLearning teams into one
    • Development Strategic Plan Document
  • Completed Six-Month Goals in Three Months (Merged eLearning Team into one Operation Unit)
    • Consolidated five budgets into one
    • Collapsed multiple student fees into one – saving a majority of students 50% ($60/quarter in fees).
    • Ticket System
  • Organizational Structure
    • Extended Hours and Support Opportunities by eLearning
    • Extended Hours: Now 8:30 am – 7:30 pm M-Th & 8:00 – 4:30 pm F
    • Collaborated with other units to provide Faculty & Student Canvas, Zoom, Starfish, ctcLink Training?
    • Merged Ticket System with IT for seamless access to support?
    • Consolidated Access Pathways (1 email address, 1 phone number)?
    • Added additional access modalities (Live Online Chat)?
    • Ability to Book an Appointment with an Instructional Designer or Technologist
  • Established and Clarified eLearning Advisory Structure
    • Updated DDLC Advisory Board Structure and Led the Development of the Operational Guide for DDLC
  • Led the development of college-specific eLearning Advisory Committee
    • Led the Development of Multiple Professional Development Opportunities
    • LEAD (eLearning Across the District) – (2 Completions)
    • 3 eLearning Communities (45 participants)
    • Comfy (Un)Conference (60 attendees)