Academic Development Lead

Stadio Higher Education; Durbanville; On-site; ZAR 360,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

STADIO Higher Education is seeking an Academic Development Coordinator to design onboarding and continuous professional development for academic staff across both contact and distance delivery modes in South Africa. The role focuses on creating engaging learning experiences, coordinating SoTL initiatives, and supporting planning and budgeting for academic development.

You will collaborate with the Dean and heads of portfolios to strengthen teaching quality and student success, including online

Responsibilities

• Design and operationalise structured onboarding programmes for all academic roles, aligned to institutional expectations and teaching requirements.
• Design continuous professional development programmes for established academic staff, aligned to teaching, assessment, and student engagement priorities.
• Conduct regular needs analyses (formal and ad hoc) to identify academic staff development priorities across roles.
• Review, update, and improve onboarding and development programmes based on feedback, performance data, and emerging needs.
• Develop micro-credentials and short learning interventions for onboarding and continuous academic staff development.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts and heads of portfolios across the institution to source, curate, and structure relevant content for development initiatives.
• Design and develop online and blended learning materials on the LMS, in collaboration with the Head: Instructional Design.
• Package academic development content into coherent, accessible, and pedagogically sound learning experiences.
• Design and deliver training sessions for academic staff in a range of formats, including short updates, extended sessions, and full workshops.
• Facilitate learning in online (synchronous and asynchronous) and face-to-face environments.
• Apply sound principles of adult learning, facilitation, and pedagogy in all training interventions.
• Create inclusive and participatory learning environments that respect the expertise of academic staff.
• Evaluate training effectiveness through feedback and reflection, and refine delivery approaches accordingly.
• Coordinate and schedule onboarding and academic development activities.
• Manage enrolment, tracking, and record-keeping systems for all development initiatives.
• Track academic staff participation, progress, and completion, and report outstanding requirements to the relevant line managers and Heads of Portfolios through STADIO’s matrix structure.
• Compile and submit quarterly reports on academic staff development activities to the Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee (TLAC).
• Assist with the administration of the graduate attributes (STADIO stripes) project.
• Coordinate and manage the implementation of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) programme.
• Track participation, progress, and outputs related to SoTL activities.
• Promote and support academic staff participation in SoTL through guidance, encouragement, and development opportunities.
• Collaborate with the Dean: Research to align SoTL initiatives with broader research priorities.
• Collate and compile information on SoTL activities and outputs.
• Stay abreast of developments in teaching and learning, academic staff development, and the use of educational technologies.
• Contribute informed input to institutional initiatives and discussions related to teaching, learning, and academic development.
• Conduct and apply research in academic development to inform practice.
• Contribute to annual planning and prioritisation for the academic development portfolio, and report on delivery against plan.
• Provide input to budget planning for academic development, and monitor and report on expenditure against the budget held by the Dean.
• Agree, together with the Dean and the relevant portfolio, which academic development requirements are compulsory for academic staff.
• Draw on capacity within the wider team for specific initiatives, and provide guidance to colleagues contributing to academic development activities.

Job description

STADIO Higher Education is seeking an Academic Development Coordinator to design onboarding and continuous professional development for academic staff across both contact and distance delivery modes in South Africa. The role focuses on creating engaging learning experiences, coordinating SoTL initiatives, and supporting planning and budgeting for academic development.

You will collaborate with the Dean and heads of portfolios to strengthen teaching quality and student success, including online