Digital Learning Officer

Job Description

About the Project

The Partnership for Education of Health Professionals (PEP) is a multi-country initiative aimed at strengthening institutional capacity for education on cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) across East Africa. Implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, the programme equips health training institutions with the systems, tools, and competencies needed to develop a health workforce skilled in CMD prevention and care.

In Ethiopia, the project supports CMD integration into pre-service and in-service education for nurses, health officers, and medical doctors; strengthens faculty and preceptor capacity; promotes digital, blended, and simulation-based learning; and supports educational research. The initiative is implemented over 36 months in collaboration with government institutions, universities, and professional associations, with particular attention to primary health care needs.

Job Purpose

The Digital Learning Officer provides practical technical and implementation support to design, deliver, and improve online and blended learning within the PEP project. The Officer works with partner institutions, faculty, preceptors, and subject matter experts to translate priority CMD competencies into accessible, engaging learning experiences that connect online study with classroom teaching, simulation, and supervised clinical practice.

Working under the Project and Digital Health Lead and closely with the Health Professional Education Specialist, the Officer supports course development, learning management system (LMS) administration, faculty coaching, learner support, learning analytics, and the responsible adoption of AI and innovative digital learning solutions. The role helps partner institutions establish sustainable arrangements for digital learning delivery and quality assurance.

Position Summary

The position plays a central role in:

• Developing and implementing online and blended CMD learning activities.

• Supporting LMS course administration and faculty and learner access.

• Building faculty capacity in digital pedagogy, content development, and online facilitation.

• Improving learning quality, accessibility, and engagement through evidence and feedback.

• Piloting AI and innovative digital learning solutions that address identified teaching and learning needs.

• Documenting reusable resources and strengthening institutional ownership.

Key Responsibilities

Programme Implementation and Coordination

• Support institutional online and blended learning readiness assessments, including faculty skills, learner access, connectivity, platforms, and support arrangements; translate findings into practical action plans.
• Implement assigned activities under the project digital learning roadmap and approved workplans; maintain schedules, deliverable trackers, and issue logs, and escalate delays or resource gaps.
• Coordinate course development and delivery with partner universities, Centres of Excellence, affiliated institutions, and project staff; support activity planning and procurement specifications as assigned.

Course Design and Content Development

• Work with the Health Professional Education Specialist and subject matter experts to map learning outcomes, activities, and assessments to CMD competencies and existing curricula.
• Develop course outlines, storyboards, interactive modules, clinical cases, quizzes, videos, and facilitator guides using appropriate authoring tools; adapt materials for mobile devices and limited bandwidth.
• Design blended learning sequences linking self-paced study and facilitated discussions with face-to-face teaching, simulation, skills practice, and supervised clinical learning.
• Coordinate subject matter review and approval before publication; maintain source references, permissions, version records, and review dates for digital learning materials.

Learning Platform Administration and User Support

• Administer assigned LMS functions, including course setup, enrolment, user roles, learning activities, assessments, completion tracking, and reports, within approved access permissions.
• Test courses on commonly used devices and low-bandwidth connections; resolve routine access and course issues and escalate infrastructure, security, and software issues to designated ICT teams or vendors.
• Provide learner orientation, user guides, and timely first-line support; maintain support logs and communicate recurring issues and solutions.
• Coordinate with institutional ICT teams on platform availability, backups, updates, and technical handover; maintain course inventories and agreed operating procedures.

Training and Capacity Building

• Assess faculty support needs and deliver practical training on digital pedagogy, LMS use, content authoring, online facilitation, assessment, and learner feedback.
• Coach faculty and preceptors to develop and facilitate their own blended courses, moderate discussions, and support learners who are falling behind.
• Support institutional digital learning focal persons and peer mentors through follow-up sessions, troubleshooting clinics, and communities of practice.

Education Quality Improvement

• Apply agreed course quality criteria covering alignment, accuracy, usability, accessibility, assessment, and learner support; pilot courses and document improvements before wider delivery.
• Use learner and faculty feedback, course data, and assessment results to improve materials and delivery; ensure that online completion is distinguished from demonstrated practical competence.

AI and Innovative Digital Learning Solutions

• Identify and assess emerging digital learning methods against institutional needs, educational value, accessibility, cost, and sustainability; recommend feasible solutions for PEP partner institutions.
• Co-design and pilot AI-assisted learning applications with faculty and subject matter experts, including virtual tutors, simulated patients, clinical communication scenarios, and formative feedback for CMD education.
• Support faculty to use approved AI tools to develop and adapt case studies, quizzes, multimedia content, and learning resources, with expert validation of clinical accuracy, contextual relevance, and instructional quality.
• Develop and test interactive digital cases, gamified activities, microlearning, and virtual simulations; explore augmented or virtual reality where resources and learning objectives justify their use.
• Support mobile, offline, and low-bandwidth learning solutions and assess their integration with existing LMS platforms and institutional workflows in collaboration with ICT teams and vendors.
• Use learning analytics and, where appropriate, approved adaptive learning tools to identify learning gaps and suggest targeted resources, practice activities, and faculty-led support.
• Coordinate small-scale pilots with clear learning objectives and evaluation criteria; assess usability, learning outcomes, equity, costs, and faculty workload, and document recommendations for improvement, scale-up, or discontinuation.
• Build faculty and learner capacity in responsible AI use, including checking outputs, recognizing bias, protecting personal information, respecting copyright, and maintaining academic integrity; ensure human oversight of feedback and assessment decisions.

Research and Knowledge Management

• Support approved educational research and evaluations of online and blended learning with the project research and monitoring teams, including tool development and appropriate data collection.
• Document lessons, implementation challenges, and effective practices; contribute to learning briefs, technical reports, and dissemination events.
• Organize reusable course assets and teaching resources in agreed repositories, with clear metadata, permissions, and version control; support exchange across PEP country teams.

Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships

• Maintain effective working relationships with institutional academic and ICT teams, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, professional associations, and other relevant partners.
• Contribute technical inputs to coordination meetings and working groups; align delivery with institutional arrangements and applicable national education and CPD requirements.
• Support institutional ownership through documented responsibilities, staff coaching, and course and platform handover arrangements.

Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting

• Work with the monitoring, evaluation, and learning team to track course development, faculty support, enrolment, engagement, completion, assessment results, and learner satisfaction against agreed indicators.
• Prepare accurate progress updates and learning dashboards; analyse participation and completion gaps by sex, institution, and other agreed characteristics where appropriate and feasible.
• Use findings to identify learners needing support and recommend improvements. Apply agreed consent, access, retention, and data protection procedures when handling learner records.

Gender and Inclusion

• Integrate gender-responsive and inclusive approaches into course design, facilitation, and learner support, including respectful content and accessible participation arrangements.
• Provide captions, transcripts, readable layouts, and downloadable or offline alternatives where feasible; consider disability, language, device availability, and connectivity barriers.
• Promote safe online learning environments and follow organizational safeguarding procedures for concerns arising through learning activities or platforms.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Health Informatics, Computer Science, computer/electrical engineering, or a related field, with relevant digital learning experience.
• A master’s degree or relevant certification in online learning, instructional design, health professions education, or a related area is an advantage.
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience supporting online or blended learning, including hands-on course development, LMS administration, and user support.
• Demonstrated ability to develop digital courses and assessments using an LMS such as Moodle and authoring tools such as H5P, Articulate, or equivalent applications.
• Experience facilitating faculty or trainer development and providing practical coaching; familiarity with adult learning and competency-based education.
• Experience adapting content for mobile and low-bandwidth environments and using learning data to improve delivery.
• Experience working with universities, health training institutions, government systems, or health workforce programmes is an advantage.
• Strong written and spoken English and Amharic; additional Ethiopian languages are an advantage.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted content tools, interactive simulations, mobile learning, or other innovative digital learning solutions is an advantage; ability to assess their educational value and limitations is essential.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Instructional design: Aligns learning outcomes, digital activities, and assessment with learner and programme needs.
• Digital delivery: Uses LMS and content authoring tools confidently and resolves routine technical problems.
• Innovation and responsible AI: Tests new learning approaches, evaluates their usefulness, and applies human review, privacy, inclusion, and academic integrity principles.
• Planning and organization: Manages concurrent course development and delivery tasks to agreed deadlines.
• Communication and facilitation: Explain technical concepts clearly and supports users with different levels of digital confidence.
• Collaboration: Works effectively with faculty, subject matter experts, ICT teams, and project partners.
• Analysis and improvement: Uses learning data and feedback to identify practical improvements.
• Accountability and integrity: Protects learner information, respects intellectual property, and follows quality and safeguarding requirements.
• Adaptability and inclusion: Responds constructively to changing priorities and resource constraints while addressing learner access needs.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Based in Addis Ababa, with regular travel to partner institutions and project locations.
• Combines office-based course development, remote learner support, and on-site training and coaching.
• Works with multiple institutional teams in a programme environment requiring flexibility, initiative, and timely delivery.

Additional Information

Your application should include a cover letter detailing why you are the best fit for this position and your CV with relevant skills and experience. Closing date will be on Tuesday, 17 November 2026. 

Amref Health Africa does not charge applicants any fees at any stage of the recruitment and selection process and has not appointed any agent to facilitate recruitment on its behalf. While vacancies may occasionally be advertised on external job boards, all legitimate opportunities are published on our official website and social media channels. Please note that official Amref communications will come from an @amref.org email address. If you are asked to make a payment in connection with an Amref recruitment process, please treat the request as fraudulent.

Amref Health Africa is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Amref Health Africa is dedicated to diversity and is an equal-opportunity employer with a non-smoking environment policy.