Academic Technology Consultant na Towson University

Towson University (TU) is one of the nation’s top 100 public universities. Located north of Baltimore, TU currently enrolls more than 19,000 students and is the second-largest university in the prestigious University System of Maryland. Towson University fosters a climate that is grounded in respect and inclusion to cultivate the intellectual and personal growth of the entire university community.

The Academic Technology Consultant is responsible for the successful engagement of the Office of Technology Services with the academic community.  The Academic Technology Consultant will act as the liaison for their assigned college and serve as an advocate and consultant for assigned college’s technology related needs. With a strong customer service approach, they will provide support to faculty with classroom technology issues, promote best practices in technology-enhanced learning and teaching, increase classroom technology adoption, collaborate with others to provide individual and group workshops and consulting sessions for students and faculty in supported technologies and software, and evangelize available resources to enable faculty to maximize student success. 

Telework may be available for this position up to two days per week following the completion of 90 days of service in good standing.

OTS Liaison to College - As the Liaison to your assigned college(s), develop and manage constituent relationships with the academic leadership, faculty, and staff. Provide continuous guidance and leadership to college supporting the Academic and Student Success domain planning, including regularly scheduled conversations with the Dean, Associate Dean, Chairpersons, and Faculty and staff. Attend college level committee meetings, primarily any group responsible for technology within the college, assist with developing and maintaining their technology plan. Help faculty identify tools already available to meet instructional needs; connect faculty or staff with appropriate OTS departments as needed. Working with the other coordinators, facilitate connecting faculty between colleges and departments, to support interdisciplinary programs and shared resources. Bring ideas, needs, issues back to OTS to help set internal priorities.

College Account Management - Coordinate and plan meetings and interactions with and between assigned college and OTS departments and others on campus as required by college needs. Work with faculty and staff to plan for future technology needs, assist with needs assessments; research, investigate and assist with testing of technology to meet college needs. Assist with technology consultations through the Planning and Project Management Office regarding assigned college’s large technology and research initiatives. Apply preliminary accessibility and security review, determining if further review is needed; help find and review available resources, and facilitate conversations and coordination within OTS and 3rd party providers for solutions requiring specialized support such as maintaining compliance with University information technology and security policies and standards. Critical participant in TU academic technology planning. Assist other OTS units in aligning their efforts with the developing needs and challenges of the college communities.

Support Faculty and Staff in the use of technology for academic purposes - Demonstrate, train, and support instructional technology. Promote techniques and practices to enhance teaching using the technology already available on campus and engage learners. Provide ongoing support to faculty to ensure technology integration and adoption. Execute a communication and promotion plan to ensure faculty in your assigned college are aware of the "technology tools for success" available to them (hardware, software, services). Encourage the use of existing and available software and technologies, like Panopto, WebEx, Adobe Creative Suite, wireless projection, collaboration software, and others among students and faculty.

Classroom Technology Support - Address classroom problems and urgent issues, operational support tasks for classroom including in class guidance, first and second level engineering troubleshooting. Ensure issues are resolved in a timely manner, providing consistent reliability and proper functioning of classroom technology. Maintain, with Engineering, Projects and Services department, an AV system maintenance schedule, and statistics of equipment usage. Train and partner with local technology staff in assigned college, so they can assist with in-class problems and properly support their faculty and classrooms.

Manage Classroom Technology - Provide expert consultation services to assigned college to propose and design concepts for existing and new spaces that facilitate collaborative, experiential, and active learning, bringing together others from OTS, non-academic departments, and vendors when needed, to properly plan for implementation of designs. Manage classroom technology purchases, upgrades, and installations; includes planning regularly scheduled presentation equipment upgrades, classroom computer replacements and working with vendors and contractors to obtain quotes and schedule work. Coordinate and participate in testing completed installations and upgrades to ensure systems are functioning per TU standards and the agreed statement of work and ensuring records and data are updated for budget, planning, and support.

• Bachelor's Degree and two years of experience.
• Ability to provide just-in-time guidance and instruction to faculty using encouraging and positive approaches that engage the learner at their level, as well as conducting one-on-one and group training.
• Proven track record handling detailed work independently with minimal supervision, but with the ability to grasp the big picture and function well as a team player.
• Ability to handle stressful situations and be able to prioritize and handle multiple competing tasks and demands.
• Demonstrates experience working collaboratively with colleagues to resolve issues and develop solutions.
• High level knowledge of classroom technology, knowledge of other forms of technology used in academia.
• Ability to be able to self-learn and support a wide variety of technologies.
• Ability to assess situations, troubleshoot, and engage the right people, if needed, to quickly address problems quickly and accurately.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for working with both technical experts and non-technology experts.
• Strong organizational skills for managing multiple classrooms and the service and upgrades needed.
• Ability to plan systematically and create an independent work schedule that ensures routine, ongoing tasks are done in a structured manner--yet flexible enough to rapidly respond and accommodate surprises, unexpected situations, and problems.

Preferred:

• Experience in Higher Education.
• Academic credentials that include instructional design and development.
• Business credentials in process analysis.
• CAPM or PMP Certification.

Annual salary of $75,000 and full University benefits that include 22 days of annual leave, up to 15 holidays, personal and sick days; excellent health, life, and retirement plans; and tuition remission. To learn more about our benefits, click here. TU also offers a variety of great perks and discounts, which can be found here.

This position will be open for a minimum of 14 days. For consideration, please submit a cover letter and resume with your online application. 

The safety of our students, faculty, staff, and neighbors has been our top priority and the focus of every one of our decisions since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the University System of Maryland (USM) has strongly encouraged full COVID vaccination and up-to-date booster shots (when eligible) for all faculty, staff, and students at all schools in the USM as both a reasonable and necessary means of protecting our health and safety.