Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Office of Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the leading national higher education organization committed to improving the quality of undergraduate education, seeks a talented, self-motivated, and highly-organized individual for the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Office of Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation (OCPI). OCPI leads the Association’s work in many domains, including Open Educational Resources (OER). The successful candidate will report to the Associate Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Executive Director of Open Educational Resources and Digital Innovation, directly engaging in large scale research projects on the efficacy of OER in higher education settings.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Associate Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Executive Director of Open Educational Resources and Digital Innovation, the Postdoctoral Research Fellow will:

• Evaluate existing research approaches and methodologies and recommend improvements;
• Collaborate with researchers at AAC&U to design and implement educational research protocols, both quantitative and qualitative, to examine the impact and effectiveness of OER in terms of student success metrics in higher education;
• Support and mentor campuses engaging in the research protocols created at AAC&U. This includes significant project management activities, including
• Creating timelines for the completion of research activities and monitoring campus progress based upon these timelines,
• Providing interventions and assistance to ensure progress toward goals;
• Developing training materials and delivering workshops to ensure standardization of the implementation of research protocols across participating campuses; and
• Providing guidance to campuses as they navigate IRB processes;
• Monitor and collect emerging scholarship regarding OER;
• Engage in data analysis utilizing large data sets;
• Collaborate in the development of analytical reports and manuscripts as a result of this research;
• Present research at workshops and/or professional conferences when appropriate; and
• Prepare OER content for AAC&U’s web site.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

The required qualifications for the successful candidate for this Postdoctoral Research Fellow are:

• A PhD in educational research; assessment, testing, and measurement (psychometrics); educational psychology; instructional design and technology; or related field from the education domain;
• Collaborative project management experience and skills;
• Experience managing projects;
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to take direction, work independently, and work collaboratively on project-based work;
• The successful candidate will demonstrate strengths in conducting and managing research in the following areas:
• Proficiency in research design and data analysis, to include one or more of the following: multivariate statistics, survey methodologies, psychometric theory, and/or mixed methods designs;
• Experience designing, creating, combining, and/or managing large datasets;
• Demonstrated ability/experience to fully execute a research project, from conceptualization through reporting of results, including the completion of IRB processes; and
• A clear understanding of and commitment to how research intersects with the values and mission of AAC&U.

Preferred Qualifications and Experience:

• Deep knowledge of the literature and research on OER.
• Strong data visualization skills.
• Qualitative research skills.
• Experience collaborating with campus institutional research or financial aid offices on research projects.
• Experience with grant writing.
• Expertise in working with the SPSS statistical software platform.
• Experience with qualitative analysis, including platforms such as QSR or NVivo.

Additional Information

• This position is a two-year position that begins on October 1, 2023.
• Remote/Hybrid position
• Minimal conference and meeting travel

Application Instructions

Salary commensurate with experience; plus exceptional benefits. Please submit a résumé, a cover letter describing relevant work experience, and salary requirements to [email protected] or AAC&U, Attn: OCPI, 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. The application review process will remain ongoing through August 21, 2023.

AAC&U believes that a broadly diverse staff is critical to achieving excellence as a national higher education association. We seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. We are fully committed to equal employment opportunity and compliance with the full range of fair employment practices and non-discrimination laws.