Online Assessment Coordinator

Department: Office of the VP Teaching&Learning 

Job Type: Limited Term

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time (>=1249 hrs/year) 

Campus: Waterloo 

Reports to:  Manager, Teaching and Learning Systems and Solutions

Employee Group: WLUSA 

Application Deadline: October 13th 2025

Requisition ID: 10237 

Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading multi-campus university that excels at educating with purpose. Through its exceptional employees, students, researchers, leaders, and educators, Laurier has built a reputation as a world-class institution known for its rich student experience, academic excellence, and global impact. With a commitment to Indigenization and commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, Laurier’s thriving community has a place for everyone.

Laurier has more than 19,000 students and 2,100 faculty and staff across campuses in Waterloo and Brantford, as well locations in Kitchener and Milton. The university is committed to providing an inclusive workplace, a flexible work policy and employing a workforce that is reflective of local and national demographics. Our locations are situated on the traditional territories of the Neutral, Anishnawbe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. We recognize the unique heritages of Indigenous peoples and support their intentions to preserve and express their distinctive Indigenous cultures, histories, and knowledge through academic programming and co-curricular activities. Laurier’s Centre for Indigegogy is one example of how Laurier honours Indigenous knowledge.

Position Summary

As part of the eLearning team, this role will serve the institution by facilitating the online midterm exam support process from start to finish including data collection, scheduling, and the coordination and delivery of support for students and faculty. A significant volume of assessments are completed online either virtually or in person using devices and the need to provide support to faculty in preparing online assessment and students while completing tests, midterms and exams has increased accordingly.

Along with the shift to online assessment, students and instructors require additional support to reduce technical barriers to the online test taking experience. This role serves as the escalation point for issues from students and faculty with online midterms, test and exams. A in depth knowledge of the Brightspace Learning management system, the Respondus LockDown Browser technology, and all associated hardware and software which students and faculty may use to interact with these systems is necessary to manage the duties of the role. Live troubleshooting, proactive steps to ensure online tests are adequately constructed to limit technical challenges and documentation are important functions this role coordinates. This role will facilitate the needed support for these areas each term, by collecting and collating online test scheduling and delivery information, setting up online tests and exams and serving as the primary live support contact for students during test and final exam times. This role will be primarily responsible for the full spectrum of live support for online assessments including communication with instructors and students, troubleshooting and problem solving urgent issues in real time. In addition, this role will work in collaboration with other eLearning Team members to schedule additional support agents based on the timing, volume and modality of the online tests and exams.

This position has a university-wide mandate and is based at the Waterloo Campus. The incumbent provides subject matter expertise to all campuses, requiring regular interpersonal interactions and collaboration with departments at the Waterloo Campus, the Brantford Campus, the Toronto office and external partners. Special attention is given to ensure equitable service delivery across all locations.

Accountabilities

Information Gathering and Coordination

• Establish and maintain a process for collecting information from Faculties regarding their scheduled online assessments. This process may vary by faculty (e.g., spreadsheets or a survey, completed by individual instructors or facilitated by a central administrator) and typical yields inaccuracies which required detailed follow-up to ensure the correct information is being used to coordinate support scheduling.
• Understand complex assessment details provided by faculty members, or representatives from each Faculty and discern the relevant information; know when to probe for additional information 
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge of university rules and regulations relating to exams and assessments 
• Responsible for establishing priorities and deadlines for scheduling and set up of online assessments
• Coordinate with representatives from each faculty to identify their scheduled online assessments which will require centralized live support for students
• Verify online testing information with instructors, administrators and using available resources (e.g., syllabi, online schedules, etc.) to ensure accuracy

Scheduling of Support

• Synthesize information from all Faculties to coordinate a weekly master schedule for each term. This schedule identifies the times which need coverage both within regular working hours and outside including when overtime will be required in order optimize the usage of staff time across ICT and eLearning accordingly. The number of online assessments requiring support each term routinely exceeds 500, necessitating the need for more than 200 distinct support shifts to be scheduled and staffed.
• Identifying when more staffing is required to provide adequate service (e.g, for an entire shift, or just the beginning), this coordination is based on timing, volume of students and modality of assessment delivery
• Identify schedule, and coordinate the distinct support shifts which fall out of regular working hours to arrange a detailed schedule of support from up to 10 other team members in eLearning
• Using Outlook and excel, along with detailed knowledge of all online assessment details, communicate shift details to additional team members including course and instructor information, timing, method of delivery and numbers of students
• Maintaining accuracy in the schedule is critical to the operation and impacts students, faculty and other support team members, requires strong attention to detail 
• Ability to work with changing and competing deadlines (time pressure), in a fast paced environment
• Required to work outside of normal working hours
• This role will serve as liaison with the Final Exams office to manage the scheduling of support for finals exams (both regular and deferred) and ensure an appropriate level of support is available to serve the needs of students and faculty.

Provision of Support for Online Assessments

• Provide live email support to students and instructors during scheduled online assessments including midterms and final exams, ensuring timely and appropriate responses are sent that work toward resolving technical challenges so assessments can be completed as planned
• This role serves as the technical and administrative escalation point for issues related to accessing online midterms and final exams and is tasked with finding a solution to issues by working with the end-user. Only academic issues would be referred beyond this role (e.g., referring students to petition for a deferral).
• Investigate issues by probing for additional details from students and faculty, and/or looking into the various learning management system and remote proctoring system settings to diagnose the cause and rapidly implement a solution in real time. This requires in depth knowledge of both systems, and of the assessments themselves
• Liaise with course instructors to resolve issues, grant extended access or time where appropriate and mitigate the impact of technical problems on student performance in online assessment
• Perform rapid adjustments to live assessments when needed based on systemic or individual issues that may occur
• Engage directly with students who are encountering technical issues and may be upset, angry or anxious to attempt to resolve issues or possibly to advise that a deferral may be required

Communication and Documentation

• Communicate with instructors prior to scheduled dates to provide proactive advise and guidance for their upcoming online assessment to establish trust and collaboration between the support team and instructors
• During exam support shifts, clarifying needs and requests from faculty and students and providing detailed and appropriate responses.
• Communicate with students, faculty and on occasion, parents regarding support issues, where interactions can become heated and responses are not always well-received due to the impact of the issue (e.g., a student cannot complete their final exam and must petition to defer)
• Liaise with academic units to advise on issues which impact individuals or groups to the extent they are unable to complete an online assessment and require deferment or adjustment
• In consultation with eLearning team members, vendors and other colleagues, establish and maintain supporting documents for student and instructor audiences which encourage proactive measures to reduce potential challenges in completing online assessments
• Document problem trends and identify potential solutions to advise management as to possible systemic issues and/or training requirements
• Work with academic units to provide advice, support and information regarding students’ midterm and final exam attempts to inform petitions and appeals decisions 
• Supports the use of the LMS, including guiding Staff, Students, and Faculty on best usage and troubleshooting functionality issues associated with the LMS
• Provides support for Respondus LockDown issues, browser issues, publisher/textbook integration, Turnitin, and other issues related to teaching/learning technologies used at Laurier

Qualifications

• Minimum completion of a 2-3 year College program in information technology, information management, business administration or a related field
• Extensive and detailed knowledge and system administration experience with the Brightspace Learning Management System
• Extensive experience working with remote testing environments and tools. Experience with Respondus Lockdown Browser is an asset
• 1-2 years experience working in a post-secondary institution providing technical support for educational technologies
• Superior customer service skills including empathy, the ability to probe to understand complex situations, and drive to see issues through to resolution
• Demonstrated experience using the Microsoft Office suite of tools to manage information to produce detailed documentation to inform business processes
• Experience designing easy simple and precise support documentation for non-technical end users
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Tact and diplomacy when dealing with a wide array of audiences who may be agitated or difficult to communicate with in stressful situations
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to rapidly process situational information in order to judge the appropriate action
• Ability to work independently and in collaborative settings

This position has been deemed eligible for educational equivalencies.  Please refer to the attached link for details.

Compensation

Position Grade: Level D

Rate of pay: $38.34 - $40.53 per hour with an annual step progression on anniversary date up to $43.82 per hour. Considerations for new hire step placements include, qualifications and length/depth of required experience, relevant market rates for similar jobs, internal equity, and estimated learning curve in starting the job

Hours of Work:  This is a full time Limited term position with an anticipated end date of September 7th 2027. The normal hours of work are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.  Flexibility in hours will be required, including evening and/or weekend work due to periods of high volume.  When possible, the manager will adjust the work schedule so that no more than 35 hours are worked in a week.

Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier's Employee Success Factors.

Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier’s core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at careers.wlu.ca/content/How-to-apply/

Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit www.wlu.ca/careers for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form.