Executive Director, Online Education

Summary: The Executive Director will provide the strategic and operational leadership that is needed to optimize the future direction of online education at Wake Forest University. With the crafting of a new strategic framework for the university under development (in which technology-assisted learning and teaching are critical to our future educational efforts), this leadership role will have significant impact on our mission. The Executive Director will collaborate closely with deans and other university leaders to ensure that an integrated strategy is guiding online education initiatives and will lead the Office of Online Education to provide high quality services to academic units delivering online programs and courses to their students. This role will lead the coordination of efforts between the Provost’s office and other university units for the planning, development, and delivery of online programs and the introduction of online courses in residential/hybrid programs to further our excellence in teaching, which is widely recognized by US News & World and other national rankings. The Executive Director will facilitate the alignment of internal and external resources to provide exceptional online education support services to academic units and impactful professional education to their faculty and staff. Also, they will guide the development of best practice derived frameworks and policies to support excellence across the online offerings of the university.

Essential Functions:

Major Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for organizing an inclusive process for continuously refining the online education vision and strategy for the university in collaboration with all academic units and relevant university offices, and for promoting such vision to university stakeholders.
• Leads the Office of Online Education (OOE) to serve as a center of coordination for the online education-related assets across the university (including those provided by information systems, instructional technologists, the library, student services, and other offices), and as a key source of best practices and professional development programs for all faculty engaged in online education.
• Ensures that shared online program services that are housed in OOE (such as instructional design, compliance services, OPM contract management, etc.) are aligned with the needs of the academic units and the university’s online strategy.  Leads dialogue with internal clients (faculty and staff in academic units) to advance the development of further shared services as program needs evolve.
• Coordinates efforts to strategically expand the Wake Forest brand, marketing reach, program portfolio, and overall impact in the delivery of online programs/courses utilizing the unique strengths and assets of the university.
• Explores and establishes external relationships with a wide variety of online learning support resources (OPM, vendors, consultants, etc.) to extend internal resources and capabilities. Formulates a framework for evaluating when and how to utilize third-party vendors through a collaborative process with key internal stakeholders.
• Collaborates closely with the Center of Advancement of Teaching to offer comprehensive support and development to faculty in an integrated manner (across the spectrum of online and in-person teaching modalities).
• Pursues an evidence-based approach to manage budgetary and other OOE resources using defined metrics (key performance indicators) to achieve efficiency, continuous improvement, and alignment with the university’s mission. 
• In collaboration with academic units, formulates appropriate program assessment and other frameworks and policies to support excellence and transparency across the online initiatives of the university, and contributes needed expertise to enhance the online education governance structure.
• Contributes to the development of student support services to optimize online learning.
• Provides advice and support to academic units to enable methodical assessment of new program ideas in alignment with the university vision and strategy.
• Maintains current knowledge of the higher education marketplace and online education related trends to provide insight and guidance on how to best position online programs and related initiatives for success.

Required Education, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Graduate degree and five years of experience leading teams in a university or business setting related to online program management, instructional design, learning technologies, online program marketing, or related fields.
• Ability to nurture client-centered, inclusive, high performance team cultures.
• Evidence-based decision-making abilities combined with strategic visioning and analytical skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills that easily translate for academic and community audiences.
• Deep knowledge of online learning delivery systems/platforms, learning management systems, and learning analytics software.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

• Earned doctorate or terminal graduate degree in a relevant field.
• Knowledge of learning theories, adolescent/adult education, instructional design, outcomes-based assessment in online higher education, and best practices in online program design and delivery.
• Knowledge of laws, regulations, codes, and/or accreditation standards for online programs.

Accountabilities:

• The Executive Director will be responsible for their own work as well as overseeing the staff of the Online Education Office.

Additional Job Description: 

In an effort to protect the health and safety of the campus community, all faculty and staff positions, excluding staff who perform duties exclusively at Graylyn Conference Center, are required to be fully vaccinated with an FDA approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccine prior to their hire date. Once hired, faculty and staff must maintain full COVID-19 vaccination status throughout their employment at Wake Forest University. Faculty and staff with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs that preclude vaccination should contact Human Resources to request a reasonable accommodation