Instructional Designer Exempt

Instructional Designer (Full-Time, 12-Month, Exempt)

Join to apply for the Instructional Designer (Full-Time, 12-Month, Exempt) role at Southwestern University
.

Located in Georgetown, Texas, Southwestern University is an independent, four‑year undergraduate institution that offers a top‑ranked integrated arts and sciences curriculum incorporating the humanities, fine arts, social sciences, and natural sciences. We are committed to fostering an environment where every individual feels respected, valued, and empowered.

Southwestern University has an immediate opening for an Instructional Designer. This full‑time exempt position reports to the Dean of the Faculty and plays a central role in supporting faculty in the design and delivery of high‑quality, inclusive, and effective teaching and learning. The incumbent supports the university’s commitment to innovative teaching within a liberal arts context. On‑campus presence is preferred, but a hybrid schedule is also acceptable.

• Collaborate with faculty to design and develop courses—primarily face‑to‑face, but also hybrid and online—grounded in evidence‑based teaching strategies, backward design, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.
• Provide one‑on‑one consultations on course design, inclusive pedagogy, learning objectives alignment, assessment strategies, and active learning techniques.
• Assist faculty in constructing learning experiences that include analysis of the audience, environment, objectives, content, and pedagogical approaches appropriate for undergraduate liberal arts education, advising on considerations for content design, readability, learner engagement, reflection opportunities, and alignment with course outcomes.
• Design effective and meaningful instruction based on specified pedagogical and conceptual frameworks, current trends in higher education, and diverse learning strategies, and support faculty in incorporating emerging pedagogical approaches—including generative AI tools—to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.

• Develop and lead group workshops and training sessions on instructional design best practices, inclusive pedagogy, active learning strategies, and course alignment, and create and maintain comprehensive resources, guides, and toolkits on instructional design, pedagogical innovation, and effective teaching practices.
• Partner with departments and programs to build faculty capacity in evidence‑based teaching and course design, providing user‑level support and training for the Learning Management System (currently Moodle, with potential migration to Canvas) and other digital learning tools.
• Remain aware of emerging instructional design best practices and pedagogical innovations, and make recommendations to continue to offer the best learning experience possible.

• Collaborate with directors of academic programs to support program‑wide course development and curricular initiatives, and provide consultation on educational approaches and pedagogical tools to support student learning and faculty teaching excellence.
• Support digital accessibility compliance in course design and instructional materials.
• Recommend changes to existing courses, including pedagogical methods and instructional approaches, to ensure courses align with Southwestern's academic quality standards.

• Maintain a Sponsored Programs website.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Dean of the Faculty.

• Master's degree in instructional design, educational technology, learning sciences, higher education, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3–5 years of experience in instructional design in a college or university setting.
• Experience designing courses for diverse learning modalities (face‑to‑face, hybrid, and online).
• Demonstrated expertise in instructional design frameworks (e.g., backward design, UDL, inclusive pedagogy).
• Strong project management, organizational, and problem‑solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate pedagogical…