Academic Technologist

Suffolk University is a private, urban university located in the heart of downtown Boston. Our college green is the Boston Common and we are steps from dozens of historic sites including the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, City Hall and the Massachusetts State House. We have no real boundaries to our campus—Boston and Suffolk blend together.

Suffolk has been committed to creating an exceptional learning experience since 1906. Our vision is to be recognized as a dynamic institution that fosters engaged learning, rigorous scholarship, innovative thinking, and community collaboration across disciplines. We will ensure that Suffolk graduates are versatile and prepared for modern society and the new world market. We will provide rich curricula, experiential learning opportunities and professional mentoring through increased collaboration with alumni and community partners. We will recruit, mentor, and support a diverse faculty of teacher-scholars who are passionately committed to preparing our students to be leaders in the global community. We will inspire investment in a Suffolk community that is built on ethical, forward-thinking leadership, teamwork, and cooperation.

We compete for the best talent. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse community. We are actively seeking applicants from groups that might be under-represented because of race/color, gender, religion, real or perceived disability, national origin or LGBTQ status. As part of our commitment we encourage you to complete the demographic portion of the application in addition to submitting your cover letter and resume/CV as it will assist us in targeting our recruitment efforts.

Please note that Suffolk University conducts background checks as a condition of employment.

We are also committed to the well-being of our employees. Our terrific benefits package for benefits-eligible positions include, but are not limited to:

• Generous paid time-off programs and commitment to work-life balance
• Tuition free course benefits in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Sawyer Business School for employees with additional tuition benefits for spouses, domestic partners, and children
• Top-notch well-being care available through Harvard Pilgrim Medical/Delta Dental and a Flexible Spending Account
• Pre-tax commuter benefit
• Employee Assistance Program that provides employees and their family members with initial assessment, referrals and short-term counseling for personal and work challenges
• Discounted home and auto insurance

Description

The Academic Technologist works collaboratively with the CTSE Learning Innovation with Technology (LIT) team and IT Service Desk to provide support for Suffolk’s teaching and learning application across the University. This includes (1) answering navigation and basic functionality questions; (2) fulfilling course, organization and user management tasks; (2) researching and testing issues or bugs; (3) developing and communicating workarounds to meet user needs; and (4) integrating approved supplemental learning technologies with Suffolk’s LMS (currently Blackboard).

Primary/Principal Responsibilities:


• Academic Technology Support (Actively assist faculty, staff and student use of Blackboard, Panopto, Poll Everywhere, Bb Ally, and Zoom, including navigation, basic functionality and how-to questions, research, test and find work arounds for issues, error messages and bugs, responsible for tracking and resolving service desk tickets assigned to CTSE via ServiceNow, setup and configure approved supplemental learning technologies in Blackboard via LTIs, direct users to appropriate self-help resources located on CTSE website, LinkedIn Learning, and product help/online forums)
• Course, Organization, and User Management (Create, edit, add, enroll, & delete users [non-credit students, TAs, additional instructors], create, edit, and delete non-credit, sandbox, and template course shells, parent/child courses, and organizations)
• In-person technological support (meet with individual faculty clients one-on-one to diagnose technology concerns, provide resources, analyze technology use, and provide additional services as needed)
• General Involvement in CTSE Activities (participate in CTSE team meetings and activities such as LIT workshops, webinars, and Symposium)


Requirements/Qualifications:


• Associate degree in Computer Science;
• 2-4 years of experience working in technical and customer support;
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and a sense of humor;
• Enthusiasm and empathy for those who struggle to learn technological skills;
• Demonstrated knowledge of multiple computer operating system environments, platforms and application systems;
• Experience with Learning management systems (Blackboard/Canvas/Moodle) and office productivity software (MS Office365)
• Experience with and success in collaborative environments;
• Ability to work well independently, willingness to multitask and assist on a variety of academic technology issues;
• Solid written, verbal, and interpersonal skills.


Skills Desired


• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Information Systems.
• Experience with third-party publisher LMS plug ins, video and multimedia production platforms, student response systems (web-based), course capture systems, web conferencing software, simulation environments, adaptive learning environments, Adobe suite, and other academic software applications.
Suffolk University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. The University is dedicated to the goal of building a diverse and inclusive faculty and staff that reflect the broad range of human experience who contribute to the robust exchange of ideas on campus, and who are committed to teaching and working in a diverse environment. We strongly encourage applications from groups historically marginalized or underrepresented because of race/color, gender, religious creed, disability, national origin, veteran status or LGBTQ status. Suffolk University is especially interested in candidates who, through their training, service and experience, will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the University community.