What are the responsibilities and job description for the Digital Learning Specialist position at Harvard-Westlake School?
Role Overview
Harvard-Westlake School is seeking applications for the Digital Learning Specialist position. This is a full-time, exempt, 12-month staff position supporting faculty across grades 7–12.
Harvard-Westlake believes that great teaching is at the heart of student learning and that the right technology, used thoughtfully, can deepen it. The Digital Learning Specialist supports that work by partnering with faculty on Canvas implementation, instructional design, educational technology integration, and practical classroom-based coaching.
This is a highly relational role grounded in adult learning, faculty support, instructional design, and implementation. The ideal candidate brings strong technical fluency, sound instructional judgment, excellent communication skills, and the ability to build trust with teachers at all levels of comfort with technology. This position also plays an important role in helping faculty navigate AI in education in ways that are thoughtful, ethical, human-centered, and aligned with Harvard-Westlake’s educational values.
Classroom teaching experience is a strong differentiator, particularly experience designing lessons, supporting students, developing assessments, and understanding the daily rhythms of school life.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities
Canvas Support and Course Design
Harvard-Westlake School is seeking applications for the Digital Learning Specialist position. This is a full-time, exempt, 12-month staff position supporting faculty across grades 7–12.
Harvard-Westlake believes that great teaching is at the heart of student learning and that the right technology, used thoughtfully, can deepen it. The Digital Learning Specialist supports that work by partnering with faculty on Canvas implementation, instructional design, educational technology integration, and practical classroom-based coaching.
This is a highly relational role grounded in adult learning, faculty support, instructional design, and implementation. The ideal candidate brings strong technical fluency, sound instructional judgment, excellent communication skills, and the ability to build trust with teachers at all levels of comfort with technology. This position also plays an important role in helping faculty navigate AI in education in ways that are thoughtful, ethical, human-centered, and aligned with Harvard-Westlake’s educational values.
Classroom teaching experience is a strong differentiator, particularly experience designing lessons, supporting students, developing assessments, and understanding the daily rhythms of school life.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities
Canvas Support and Course Design
- Coach faculty individually and in small groups on Canvas course design, organization, communication tools, modules, and student-facing resources
- Support teachers in meeting school-established Canvas expectations and standardization requirements
- Partner with faculty to design Canvas pages that are clear, purposeful, accessible, and easy for students to navigate
- Create and maintain guides, templates, screencasts, video resources, and other practical tools for faculty
- Serve as a first point of contact for faculty Canvas questions, escalating technical or infrastructure issues to IT as appropriate
- Support faculty in integrating educational technology tools into instruction, assessment design, lesson planning, and professional workflows
- Help teachers identify practical and developmentally appropriate uses of AI that align with instructional goals and Harvard-Westlake’s educational values
- Stay current on AI developments relevant to K–12 education and share practical updates with faculty
- Promote thoughtful decision-making around when technology enhances learning and when analog approaches may be more appropriate
- Collaborate with faculty to connect technology choices to student learning, classroom practice, and sound instructional design
- Design and facilitate educational technology professional development in a variety of formats, including workshops, small-group sessions, one-on-one coaching, and asynchronous resources
- Develop training experiences grounded in classroom practice, adult learning principles, and clear instructional goals
- Gather and apply faculty feedback to improve training design, resources, and follow-up support
- Build faculty confidence by meeting teachers where they are and providing practical, responsive, and solutions-oriented support
- Maintain a visible and supportive presence in faculty spaces throughout the school year
- Travel regularly between Harvard-Westlake’s two campuses to provide faculty support and participate in school programming
- Participate in professional development days, faculty-facing trainings, and school events as needed
- Collaborate professionally with faculty, staff, administrators, and technology partners across both campuses
- Additional duties as assigned
- Experience in instructional technology, educational technology coaching, instructional design, learning design, technology integration, or a related role
- Strong working knowledge of Canvas LMS, Google Workspace, and classroom technology tools
- Demonstrated familiarity with AI tools and a thoughtful, values-grounded approach to their educational use
- Excellent facilitation, coaching, and communication skills, with the ability to differentiate support for adult learners
- Experience designing practical learning resources, guides, templates, trainings, or other materials for faculty or adult learners
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple concurrent projects, priorities, and relationships
- Secondary classroom teaching experience at the middle or high school level
- Experience designing lessons, assessments, or student-facing digital materials
- Bachelor’s degree in Education, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, or a related field; master’s degree preferred
- Experience in an independent school or comparable K–12 educational environment
- Familiarity with subject-specific educational technology platforms
- Experience designing and facilitating professional development for adult learners
- Familiarity with accessibility, inclusive design, and clear organization of digital learning materials