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The premise behind this “Featured Gig” series is that the best way to understand the strategy and priorities of an organization is to look at the areas in which they are recruiting. Knowing Stanford’s commitment to academic innovation, I was so excited that Stanford is recruiting for a new learning experience designer. I reached out to Jenn Gardner, director of professional programs at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, to learn more about the role.
If you are recruiting for a role at the intersection of learning, technology and organizational change—and want that opportunity highlighted in this “Featured Gig” series—please get in touch.
Q: What is the university’s mandate behind this role? How does it help align with and advance the university’s strategic priorities?
A: With Jonathan Levin entering as Stanford’s new president this year, there has been even more discussion about the university’s social contract. As a university, we are here to serve the global community with regard to research and teaching. Combining this role with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s mission to create a more sustainable future, we can play a role in preparing students and professionals with the necessary skills to both help them advance their careers as well as the global solutions needed to protect the future of our planet and the human race.
Within the School of Sustainability, the External Education & Mobilization (EE&M) team is focused on this green skills gap as one of our core pillars. The learning experience designer will join the EE&M team to help us bring this goal to life by working with experts across Stanford and beyond to develop online courses focused on sustainability career skills.
Q: Where does the role sit within the university structure? How will the person in this role engage with other units and leaders across campus?
A: This role sits in the External Education & Mobilization team within the (only two-year-old) Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. What I love about this new school is that faculty from across Stanford are encouraged to join the school’s mission and integrate their field of expertise with sustainability in ways that they find interesting and relevant. So, the school’s faculty are very interdisciplinary and, in my experience, care deeply about our Earth, climate and society.
The LXD coming into this role will engage directly with faculty across the school and likely with industry experts as well to develop online courses focused on job skills across domains. This person will also engage with internal and external partners for media production and course hosting on various platforms.
Q: What would success look like in one year? Three years? Beyond?
A: One year from now, I hope that we will have at least four new courses launched or close to launch across a variety of platforms. We will also be seeing traction in terms of enrollments in those courses as well as other sustainability courses from other institutions worldwide. The sustainability mission is a global and collaborative one, not to be dominated by any given player. We are bringing a mindset of humility, inclusivity and positivity. No one organization can do this alone, and we seek to partner across institutions, industries and governments to bring greater consequence to the need for professionals worldwide to be curious about and gain skills to support the sustainability missions of their organizations and their communities.
In three years and beyond, we will have an engaging, relevant and applicable portfolio of online courses and educational assets to use across our various pillars in EE&M, all toward the mission of driving toward a more sustainable future for all.
Q: What kinds of future roles would someone who took this position be prepared for?
This is an Instructional Designer I position within Stanford. We have two more levels of IDs above this one, and there are several ID positions available right now across the university. If one is looking to stay within Stanford, I believe there will be opportunities for growth and new projects over time, both within the EE&M unit as well as broadly at the university, which is a massive place!
I also believe there will be a greater need for interdisciplinary educators and skills-focused designers as the green skills gap grows more critical to our collective future. So, I see this position being well prepared for roles across industry, K-12 and higher education broadly.
