INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DESIGNER 

General Description

The Instructional Systems Designer position, located in the Training Curriculum Division (TCD), is responsible for providing curriculum and program specific instructional design and editing expertise for the development and support of the Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA) sponsored courses. This position requires the Instructional Systems Designer to work closely with ATA's Visual Information Specialists (VIS), Technical Writers, and SMEs in order to develop and oversee the development of curriculum lesson plans, student materials and facilitator guides.

Professional Qualifications/Skills

• Must be a US citizen and possess a SECRET clearance;
• Must possess a Bachelor's degree with at least five years of experience, or equivalent combination of formal education and experience (i.e., at least seven years curriculum design and development with three years of experience in a training environment, preferably within any local, county, municipal, state or federal law enforcement organization), and appropriate professional training and/or certifications;
• Concentration in adult learning, education or curriculum development or ISO certification and related experience preferred;
• Must have at least seven years curriculum design and development experience with at least three years of experience in a training environment, preferably within any local, county, municipal, state or federal law enforcement institution or equivalent combination of skills and experience. International environment is highly desirable;
• Specialized knowledge or professional experience in several of the following: instructional systems design, education and adult learning principles, cooperative learning, programming and authoring tools, graphic arts and media design, and educational product evaluation;
• Must be familiar with standard concepts, practices and procedures within training and course development;
• Demonstrated experience designing test/certification course materials;
• Excellent writing, proofreading and solid layout skills to develop training course materials;
• Most possess excellent command of the English language in order to edit training documents;
• Must be proficient in the use of Microsoft applications (MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel);
• Maintains professional competence and specialized knowledge base by keeping abreast of emerging themes and best practices in adult education, individual capacity building, and training.

Major Duties

• Develops learning goals and objectives, using ISD principles for each planned ATA instructional activity beginning at a Curriculum Development Team kick-off meeting where a course outline and a scope of work are presented by the course development team;
• Advises his/her Curriculum Development teams and the ISD Section Chief on matters related to instructional design, training support materials, and instructional facilitator services requirements in preparing a Program of Instruction, which is an outcome of the course development kick-off meeting;
• Oversees the instructional design aspects of the curriculum development process in order to design and develop instructionally sound and technically accurate training material;
• Leads Curriculum Development Teams responsible for ensuring proper development of lesson materials to include development of course goals and objectives;
• Develops, or advises how to develop, group discussions, group breakouts, scenarios, role plays and other adult education tools;
• Develops, maintains and ensures adherence to a course development schedule and budget during the development cycle;
• Leads the Program of Instruction kick-off of course development and provides guidance to contract course developers, VISs, and SMEs;
• Responsible for, or may aid and instruct developers in, designing and developing supplemental materials, such as user guides, manuals, checklists and other training aids (e.g., facilitator and participant guides) as needed;
• Analyzes content and provides final quality control check on lessons and all supporting material, analyzing the effectiveness of a course and tailoring the course to improve effectiveness;
• Evaluates pilot courses to ensure they conform to ATA guidelines and adult education standards;
• Reviews work performed by instructors ensuring they adhere to TCD performance requirements ("Curriculum Development Guidelines") regarding current instructional methods, principles of adult learning, precepts of cross-cultural sensitivity, and a detailed continuum of administrative duties, surrounding his/her facilitation (the facilitator guide);
• Reviews resumes provided by vendors for course development support and report recommendations to the ISD Section Chief;
• Reviews drafts of content, exercises, breakouts and case studies provided by Independent Contactor Developers to ensure all training material meet ATA's training guidelines and objectives;
• Attends internal and external meetings as the ISD expert for instructional systems issues;
• Provides weekly updates of course and team activities to the ISD Section Chief;
• Assists in the development of all course material including planning documents, student and instructor materials, and course presentations.