Program Assistant Online Learning

About Durham College

Durham College (DC) is leading the way as a post-secondary institution, offering an innovative and transformative student experience and hands-on learning opportunities. With this focus top of mind for our students and our employees, DC is proud to be one of the fastest-growing colleges in the province and annually ranked as one of the GTA’s Top 100 employers.

The college offers a wide range of market-driven programs across multiple disciplines, including culinary management, farming and horticulture, business, IT, construction and trades, science and technology, health care, engineering, social and community services, justice, media, art and design.

With a focus on experiential learning, DC graduates are known for having the skills and knowledge employers need. More than 104,000 alumni represent the college, both locally and around the world.

Serving the Durham Region and Northumberland County communities for over 50 years, with campuses in Oshawa and Whitby, the college offers over 12,500 full-time post-secondary and apprenticeship students access to more than 145 full-time post-secondary programs – including four honours bachelor degrees and nine apprenticeship programs. Led by over 1,860 full- and part-time staff, DC has an estimated annual economic impact of more than $913 million on Durham Region.

Duties And Responsibilities

This position provides specialized technical and operational support within Professional and Part-time Learning (PPL), to the delivery of online courses using the DC Connect and OntarioLearn (OL) platforms.

Principle areas of responsibility include administering OntarioLearn schedules and deadlines including handling of reports, course shells, textbooks, course outlines, and co-ordination of exam proctoring services to students. This operational role is pivotal to the online activity that takes place in PPL as it serves as a resource for PPL team members managing courses in an online environment. The incumbent works very closely with OntarioLearn as the representative for Durham College and advocates to ensure DC student success. OntarioLearn is a consortium of 24 Ontario colleges (of which Durham is the largest hosting college). The incumbent must ensure adherence to OL’s deadlines, policies and procedures along with those of the PPL department and the college. Durham College hosts (i.e. owns, develops and delivers courses, and hires the facilitators) for more than 150 courses with 14,000 students from Ontario colleges annually. The incumbent liaises with and provides support to Managers to help ensure the efficient delivery of all PPL programs and courses, regardless of the delivery modality.

Administrative/Clerical

• Ensure confidentiality and secure access to OL platform;
• Co-ordinate PPL online courses per semester to meet college and student needs in compliance with college, ministry or association guidelines;
• Ensure course outlines are accessible to students in MyDC;
• Schedule the creation and deletion of online course shells for each semester and monthly intake;
• Provide ad hoc OL data reports to the Dean, as requested.
• Conduct review of student issues and provide assistance and issues resolution to support student success;
• Provide administrative support and backup support to other Program Assistant functions when required.
• Continually monitor OL inventory of courses and apprise Dean and Managers of new courses, or programs that lead to credentials at other partner colleges that could be adopted by Durham College.
• Provide a list of post-secondary course outlines to determine equivalencies to Durham courses;
• Ensure the effective implementation of all OL policies, procedures and deadlines;
• Administer e-campus content on a semesterly basis.
• Ensure adherence to OntarioLearn’s Claiming Courses Policy and Withdrawals and Refunds Policy. Provide financial summary reports to Finance Department for review and approval.
• Advocate for students in student success related matters and resolve issues with OL counterparts;
• Input and maintain accuracy of Durham’s course information on OL website and portal (OL’s database);
• Monitor textbook changes from other Colleges and advise Managers and Program Assistants of pending changes, additions and deletions.
• Check OL administrative area and OL email daily for information updates, technical issues, student and instructor concerns and respond accordingly;
• Oversee and review, on a weekly basis, the OL Schedule Plan to ensure compliance with registration deadline dates, withdrawal deadlines, final exam deadlines, gradebook backup, and posting grades. Identify risks with non-compliance to Managers and team members with recommendations for corrective action;
• Prepare student name submissions for semester and monthly intake cycles to OL, ensuring a high degree of accuracy. Issue start-up emails to students.
• Manipulate data to create various operational reports related to enrolments, course replications, course pick-ups, missing grades, and other statistical data as required;
• Oversee all day-to-day operational processes and procedures related to OntarioLearn;
• Co-ordinate the seamless integration of new e-learning services into different LMS platforms to support students e.g. Examity online exam proctoring services
• Provide support to customers through email, phone and live chat to answer questions, solve problems, and troubleshoot.
• Monitor OL site for cancelled and capped courses, changes, and prepare Course Notification Form (CNF), to notify staff, Enrolment Services and HR that a course has been cancelled;
• At the direction of the Dean/designate, claim new courses for Durham to develop and host through the portal, following OL’s rules and procedures;
• Implement and prepare course replications for semester and monthly intake cycles;

Additional Responsibilities

• Project work or analysis requests e.g. updating PPL Program Listing.
• Some evening and weekend duties required including evening office coverage as well as assistance with events as such Open House, Program Information Nights, convocation, orientation etc. In addition, during peak periods, evening office coverage may be required.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Qualifications

• Resourceful in assessing and solving problems in a pro-active, self-directed manner with tact and diplomacy.
• Exceptional attention to detail, and excellent organizational skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work well under pressure in a busy and high-volume environment.
• Adaptability and flexibility.
• Familiarity with e-learning platforms and online courses.
• A minimum of a two (2) year diploma in Business.
• A minimum of three (3) years work experience in an academic office, particularly an online educational department.
• Knowledge of program areas offered by PPL is an asset – Business and Computers, Health and Community, and Education.
• Must be proficient in the use of Banner as well as MS Office Suite including Word and Excel.

Required Skills

Hourly Rate: $26.47 - $30.69

Required Experience

Hours: 35 hours per week (1) one-hour lunch; Mon – Fri (8:30 am – 4:30 pm), some evenings and weekends required.

Please apply below by submitting your cover letter and resume to the online portal. Job Competition closes on July 4, 2023. Competition number SS23-82.