ABOUT ALU
ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.
They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now.
Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.
HOW WE WORK
As a high-growth start-up, the ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Professional Skills Immersion and Mission Capstone Manager’s primary role is to lead a team of coaches, facilitators, capstone supervisors, and other staff who will support and guide students in their skills development during the students’ skills immersion and mission capstone trimesters. The PSI and MC Manager will coordinate all internal and external processes associated with the Professional Skills Lab, Skills Immersion, Mission Capstone trimesters for both all ALU Rwanda programs and any future programs that may contain similar experiential modules.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibilities for Professional Skills Immersion
- Oversee the design and delivery of Skills Immersion and Professional Skills lab modules supporting both the Rwanda and Mauritius campuses. (For convenience, these complementary modules will be considered a single module for this Job Description.)
- Conduct regular qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the module and lead any module improvement efforts as appropriate.
- In collaboration with appropriate others, contribute to the development of a network of partners to ensure sufficient opportunities for meaningful internships for students.
- Develop detailed learning, application, and assessment strategies for the module, in line with the module descriptors and through collaboration with the LEDI team and degree programme managers.
- Hire, manage, and develop a team of coaches, facilitators, and other academic staff (faculty) associated with delivery of this module to ensure the quality and consistency of the learning experience. This includes providing mentorship and training to new, less experienced coaches. [By mid 2024, this team will be composed of 5 full-time employees and a variable set of part-time adjunct employees.]
- Prepare and/or validate all the required module documentation, such as the module handbook, ensuring they meet all QA standards.
- Map out all operational processes required for the successful delivery of the module in collaboration with the SPD team and ensure satisfactory implementation of all such processes.
- Establish scalable processes for the moderation of internship, immersive experiences, and the like associated with the Professional Skills Immersion trimesters.
- Monitor student progress throughout the module by leveraging information from the learning coaches, the SPD/EP&P team, and LMS and raise any issues with appropriate stakeholders if necessary.
- Manage the end-to-end student assessment cycle including setting assessment rubrics, student feedback, grading, moderation etc.
- Oversee all operational aspects of the position, liaising with other teams as appropriate.
- Directly engage in the delivery of the Professional Skills Immersion modules, as needed, including helping to resolve student issues, conducting interactive sessions with students, and grading or moderating the grading of student work.
Responsibilities for Mission Capstone and Mentorship
- Collaborate with ALU undergraduate program leads and the Learning Experience Design and Implementation team to develop policies, processes, and frameworks to support capstone projects aligned with ALU’s vision and mission.
- Curate resources to support ethical research for both final-year students and faculty.
- Oversee the implementation of capstone projects, ensuring adherence to guidelines and timelines.
- Provide logistical support to students and faculty throughout the capstone project lifecycle.
- Develop human and material capacity to facilitate workshops and provide accurate supervision to equip students with the necessary research, critical thinking, and collaboration skills to complete their capstone project successfully.
- Develop and implement a system for evaluating the effectiveness of capstone projects.
- Gather feedback and analyse data from students, faculty, and external stakeholders to continuously improve the capstone program.
- Identify best practices and recommend changes to enhance the learning experience and the capstone experience.
- Source human capacity for guidance and mentorship to students undertaking capstone projects by hiring internally or externally.
- Build and manage relationships with faculty across departments to foster collaboration and program alignment.
- Guide the ALU research and capstone consortium to support the capstone program effectively.
- Oversee ALU’s mentorship program.
REQUIREMENTS
Essential
- Masters Degree in education, leadership development, experiential education or similar and 5 plus years of related experience.
- Experience in module development and education at higher education level.
- Experience in designing and managing work-based learning and experiential learning in a higher education setting.
- Experience in online teaching and learning delivery.
- Hiring and people management experience.
- Pragmatic problem solving mindset and acumen.
Organizational Requirements
- Must be based or be willing to relocate to Kigali, Rwanda. Candidates based at ALC in Mauritius may be exempted from relocation.
- The role will report to the Associate Director, Academics, ALU Rwanda.
