Instructional Systems Specialist

Summary

This position is located in the National Fire Academy, Emmitsburg, Maryland. The ideal candidate is an experienced instructional systems professional with expert knowledge of adult learning theory, instructional design, curriculum development, and program evaluation.

Duties

• What will I do in this position if hired? In this position you will serve as the Instructional Systems Specialist. Typical assignments include: Serving as a senior technical specialist and subject matter expert in adult learning, instructional design, curriculum development, and instructional systems for the National Fire Academy. Leading and coordinating the design, development, pilot testing, evaluation, and revision of training courses, curricula, and educational programs delivered through traditional, blended, online, synchronous, and asynchronous formats. Providing technical oversight and quality assurance for instructional products to ensure educational materials are evidence-based, instructionally sound, and aligned with National Fire Academy, United States Fire Administration, and federal standards. Serving as a Contracting Officer's Representative for instructional design and course development contracts, including developing statements of work, monitoring contractor performance, reviewing deliverables, and tracking project deadlines, budgets, and communications. Researching, recommending, testing, and supporting implementation of current and emerging educational technologies, including learning management systems, learning content management systems, web-based collaboration tools, AR/VR devices, gamification models, and related learning technologies. What else do I need to know? At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

Qualifications

Individual Occupational Requirements Basic Requirements: Degree: that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours appropriate to the work of the position to be filled. The course work must have included study in at least four of the following five areas: Learning theory, psychology of learning, educational psychology: Study of learning theories as they relate to the systematic design, development, and validation of instructional material. Instructional design practices: Study of the principles and techniques used in designing training programs, developing design strategy and models, and applying design methods to the improvement of instructional effectiveness. Educational evaluation: Study of the techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional/educational programs, including developing written and performance tests and survey instruments, and determining reliability and validity of evaluation instruments. Instructional product development: Study of the techniques appropriate for developing training materials, including identifying learner characteristics, specifying objectives, applying training strategy, validating training materials, and evaluating training. Computers in education and training: Study of the application of computers in education and training, including selecting appropriate computer software. Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement. To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Designing, developing, evaluating, and revising complex instructional programs or curricula for adult learners using instructional systems design principles, learning objectives, assessment strategies, and multiple delivery modalities such as classroom, blended, online, synchronous, or asynchronous instruction; AND Providing technical oversight or project management for instructional design or curriculum development projects, including coordinating with subject matter experts or stakeholders, reviewing instructional deliverables, evaluating training effectiveness, and ensuring products meet organizational standards, contract requirements, or accepted instructional design practices. Transcripts required Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application: Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position. Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages. Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience. Are you qualifying based on your work experience? Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following inf…

Education

Positive Education Requirement: This position has a positive education requirement, as outlined in the "requirements" section. You must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts. Education substitution: This position permits applicants to qualify based on education (or a combination of education and experience), as outlined in the "requirements" section. If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. Visit the Department of Education's Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.