Data Scientist - Learning Analytics

Data Scientist – Learning Analytics (Hybrid)

Position Overview:

Data Scientist – Learning Analytics, Open Learning (OL), to leverage experience with data-science tools and research on pedagogy and learning data to help faculty, course teams, and staff design and assess digital learning experiences.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions):

Extract meaningful and actionable insights from complex datasets about learners, courses, and their contexts in order to understand and optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs.

Responsibilities include

• Effectively collaborating with faculty, course teams, and colleagues on learning analytics, course design, and assessment;

• Designing and conducting experiments on pedagogy and course content;

• Building and analyzing statistical models pertaining to learning and content, and providing data-science, statistics, and application/dashboard support to stakeholders;

• Actively engaging faculty, course team, colleagues, and other stakeholders to drive innovation at Open Learning and across MIT in the use of data-driven learning analytics;

• Disseminating results to foster broader experimentation and adoption of successful strategies;

• Performing other duties as needed.

Reports to Open Learning’s director for digital learning in residential education.  Works closely with Assistant Director for Learning Sciences and Teaching, Project Manager for Educational Systems and Services and others in Open Learning and across MIT.

Supervision Received:

Director of Digital Learning in Residential Education

Supervision Exercised:

None other than occasional students

Qualifications & Skills:

MINIMUM REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

REQUIRED:

• Bachelor's degree in related field with research methods and statistical analysis required. Master's degree preferred

• Minimum 7 years of experience

• Highly skilled in Python (preferred) or R, has a working knowledge of SQL

• Proficiency with modern data science tools such as jupyter notebooks

• Ability to collect, process and analyze data from different sources, using relevant APIs and other methods

• Experience handling access, data, & billing in a major cloud provider (e.g., GCP, AWS, Azure)

• Demonstrated effectiveness consulting with stakeholders to assess learning analytics needs and recommending high-impact projects

• Demonstrated proficiency in applying learning sciences and learning analytics knowledge to the design and implementation of research-based teaching practices

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively both as part of a team and independently and to collaborate effectively with individuals with diverse skills at all levels of an organization

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Ability to work on multiple projects concurrently, producing initial results quickly then iterating; the flexibility necessary to work in a highly fluid organization

PREFERRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (e.g., Google BigQuery) is a plus;

• Familiarity with Canvas LMS and/or the edx/OpenEdx eco-system, and their data organization is a plus.

Employment is contingent upon the satisfactory results of a background check.

The salary range for this position is $110,000 - $125,000. Final salary is determined by MIT’s compensation team based on the skills and experience of selected candidate.

This is a hybrid position.  The Data Scientist - Learning Analytics is expected to work on campus in Cambridge, MA up to 4 days/month or more, depending on the needs of the team.