https://www.sparkfun.com/jobs/46
Ever dreamed that someone would pay you to sit down with the SparkFun catalog, build engaging and fun curricula, and then head out into the world to spread that glorious knowledge? We are looking to add another Education Outreach Coordinator to our team.
Here’s a breakdown of the general responsibilities of an Education Outreach Coordinator:
- Develop curricula
- Teach
- Travel
- Coordinate workshops
- Train internal supportive staff
- Maintain hardware, tools and space associated with workshops
- Organize community outreach efforts
- Document, document, document
As an Education Outreach Coordinator at SparkFun you will be responsible for educational content development and coordinating workshops and events to teach our curricula to students and educators. You will work with other members of our department and community to develop formal educational curricula with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards in mind. Additionally, you will be responsible for documentation of projects, writing tutorials for the website, and occasionally writing blog posts for our home page. You will be collaborating with various other departments at SparkFun as well as our partners in the education community. As such, you will be required to maintain communication with these external sources while you usher projects through our system from conception to launch.
We find that our greatest success occurs when we can interact with our audience, so dust off that carry-on as you will be traveling to the various conferences, events, and workshops that we host and attend. Your fellow outreach coordinators travel throughout the country and meet amazing people. Did we mention that we have a close collaborator in Hawaii? We also recently purchased the SparkFun RV for traveling the states in style.
The ideal candidate would have extensive classroom experience as well as a good portfolio of interesting projects with solid documentation and/or curricula. Our definition of a classroom goes well beyond the public or private school room. In addition to the formal setting, we spend much of our time in informal learning spaces like libraries, science centers, museums, and hackerspaces. In the past year the number of libraries that are interested in working with SparkFun to add technology-based programs has grown exponentially. We are looking for someone has a keen interest in working with libraries to help their staff implement these new programs.
Read this next bit carefully – you don’t necessarily have to hold an EE degree, but you must possess a solid understanding of electronics and programming. We’re looking for a friendly educator that can seamlessly navigate between beginner and advanced audiences with patience and professionalism. Passion for education reform and exciting students of all ages is a must. Creativity and scrappy tendencies are highly encouraged, as is a keen attention to detail.
Expectations:
- Classroom/Teaching experience
- Familiarity with Common Core / Next Generation Science Standards
- Arduino / C(++)
Advantages: * Processing * GitHub * Eagle * Java/Android * Comfortable with being on camera / being filmed
Salary commensurate with experience.
Official Benefits
- Health Insurance
- 401k matching up to 5%
- Eco pass
- 2 weeks paid vacation to start, 3 weeks after 1 full year of employment
- Yearly continuing education/professional development fund
Work Environment and Unofficial Benefits
- Generally relaxed. No dress code.
- Broad access to tools, parts, and education to tinker with electronics and physical computing
- Dogs are welcome at work (with some rules to keep the place clean and safe)
- Frequent parties and outings
- Frequent special guest presentations and educational field trips
Please submit your answers to the following questions in the cover page field of your application.
What is your fondest memory of a hands-on classroom experience and why?
How would you go about improving participation and engagement in science and technology for underrepresented populations?
Do you think the “A” in S.T.E.A.M. is important? Why / Why not?
If you did not have to adhere to the current models of assessment (teacher or student), what would your classroom look like and what would you teach?
Please upload your resume and project/curricula portfolio along with your application.
