Materials Developer

Kids Survey Network (KSN) is a major educational research and development project that will pioneer a new model of web-based informal learning. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the KSN project brings together several organizations at the cutting edge of education and technology. TERC, the lead organization, seeks a highly qualified and committed materials development professional to play a central role in realizing the KSN vision as a robust and usable web facility used by thousands of young people nationwide.

 KSN’s educational mission is to promote data literacy, engaging young people in the power and interest of inquiry and reasoning with data, and preparing them for responsible and successful use of data in citizenship and work. More broadly, KSN represents a new kind of learning environment—an “apprenticeship network”—that aims for an improved synthesis of depth, rigor, and enjoyment in informal learning. Participating via local after-school and other informal education programs, teams of young people nationwide will develop survey studies on topics that matter to them, while building skills and understanding through online games, visual tools, community forums and expert mentoring. The Materials Developer is the learning professional at the center of KSN development. Other team members will contribute web-based tools and game modules, multimedia content, and website design. The Materials Developer gets all the pieces of KSN (activities, tools, games, online discussions, research mentors, facilitators) to work together as a coherent learning experience for participants. This position is 30% content development and 20% teaching/training.  Specifically, the materials developer will:

 •  Developing learning experiences that promote survey-based inquiry•  Leading KSN activities at pilot sites •  Developing training materials and implementing training for KSN facilitators and    research mentors•  Developing online guides for KSN facilitators and research mentors•  Develop rubrics for survey project assessment by kids and research mentors•  Contribute to the design of other KSN elements as requested (games, tutorial    simulations, website)

 

Requirements include:

•  Informal or formal classroom math/science teaching experience•  Experience designing learning experiences for kids in grades 5-8 and adults;  experience doing this in informal settings highly desirable•  High level of comfort with data analysis and statistics, some background using    surveys highly desirable •  2+ years of experience with Mac or PC computing environment required:  Mac    OSX experience preferred.•  Facility with basic print design and production concepts, and tools (e.g. MS Word,    InDesign, Adobe Acrobat.•  Facility with basic web environment design and production concepts and tools    (e.g. Dreamweaver, Photoshop, HTML, VSS/Subversion, Web server access).•  Comfort and familiarity with web-based collaboration tools such as a wiki.•  Ability to work during hours of informal programs (late afternoons/early evening    and Saturdays) on a regular basis•  Ability to travel to sites (local and long-distance) on a regular basis•  Strong communication and coordination skills.Please submit a resume and a statement of interest to Maya Lagu at maya_lagu@terc.edu.  (Job Reference #08-07)TERC is actively seeking to diversify its staff.  We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.