Jere Confrey seeks new team members at the College of Education at NCSU in Raleigh, NC, to address the challenge of providing teachers support in the implementation of Common Core Standards using innovative forms of mapping, and diagnostic assessment and progress reporting. These positions are available under the position numbers of:
- Learning Scientist/Math Educator 00104248
- Learning Scientist/ Math Educator 00104249
- Assessment Specialist/Psychometrician 00104250
- Project/ Outreach coordinator 00104257
- Project/ Outreach coordinator 00104258
(To be listed this week but search under the terms below. If interested, applicants can write to Jere Conferey at jconfre@ncsu.edu)
- Software engineer
- Data Visualization UX designer
These jobs can be accessed at https://jobs.ncsu.edu/hr. Best way is to use the position number to search. The Department is the STEM Dept and it is 131301. Short descriptions below. The positions start Oct 1 upon hire, recognizing the need for non-local people to move to the area.
This team will be implementing an Agile approach to prototyping new products for middle grades and high school. The positions can be filled anytime after Sept. 30. The salaries are competitive with both academic and corporate salaries.
Learning Scientist (1.5 positions)
The Learning Scientist/Math Educator demonstrates a deep understanding of Common Core Standards, research on learning trajectories or other cognitive progressions in mathematics, and/or knowledge of assessment. S/He demonstrates the ability to listen insightfully to students and represent their thinking. S/He designs assessment tasks to measure key conceptual clusters for secondary math. S/He conducts research on students as they learn key conceptual clusters and identify key behaviors, strategies, and explanations. S/He observes students working with the tasks, and revises and iterate on the designs as needed, conducts interviews and design studies, participates in the design and revision of software applets, and designs progress reports. S/He will plan, execute, analyze and write research papers and reports with the Project Investigator.
Work collaboratively with Principal Investigator on design approach and schedule
Review research on student learning on learning trajectories/progressions, mathematical big ideas, and conceptual knowledge and skills, assessments, and Common Core standards
Design digital tasks for eliciting student thinking about relational learning clusters
Create wireframes and work with UX designers on design of applets and design of a prototype system to conduct diagnostics and produce progress reports
Conduct research, analyze data and write reports
Psychometrician/Assessment Specialist (1 position)
The Psychometric/Assessment Specialist will have experience with adaptive learning systems and will collaborate with the PI and the Learning Scientist to design a measurement approach to capture relationships within and among the relational learning clusters (RLCs), and to design assessment system to collect relevant data to validly map student progress within and among the RLCs. The psychometrician will develop leading-edge measurement techniques to support diagnostic and differentiated assessment within the context of personalized learning; will identify and/or develop new psychometric models and methodologies for diagnosing student needs, measuring growth, and reporting on student progress. S/He will design, in collaboration with the software engineer, the underlying system that will collect and report data.
Collaborate with domain experts in developing/applying measurement models
Prototype measurement models for use with relational learning clusters
Review tasks to ensure collection of appropriate data
Observe design studies and conduct and analyze data and conduct validation studies
Collaborate with engineers/architects on design of data system
Lead the development of valid and useful progress reports
Write and deliver research reports and presentations that describe technical characteristics of assessments and results
Project/Outreach Coordinator (1.5 positions)
The Project/Outreach Coordinator will recruit and organize students for experimentation with diagnostic assessments, and will assist in data collection and storage. S/He will manage the project using agile methods of project development, including keeping a backlog and flow of work, updating records of student work, video-recordings, and project decisions. S/He will be responsible, with the PI and Learning Scientist, for preparation of project reports.
The project coordinator will be an active member of the research team and will be expected to gather and analyze data as directed by the Principal Investigator.
The project coordinator will also be responsible for:
Recruitment of students/teachers for reviews and research
Conducting workshops
Management of project work using Agile methods
Budget monitoring and updates
Preparation and update of team website
Annual report writing with other team members
Other work responsibilities
Interfacing with University offices
Other duties as assigned by group leader and project supervisor(s)
1. Software Engineer (1 position)
T The software engineer /programmer will be an experienced developer who can work effectively with both back- and front-end design development. S/He will build the overall system prototype, each of the assessment tasks, and the progress reporting system including revisions.
Duties and responsibilities
• Build prototypes of items
• Implement prototype of overall system
• Implement using agile methods (short iterative development cycles) for development of solutions for collecting and analyzing data collected from student work
• Work with domain specialists, assessment experts, and visual designers, to estimate and develop robust and scalable data analytics tools and dashboards (device- and cloud-based)
• Contribute to continuous improvement of software development, using best practices in the areas of coding tools, languages and APIs, as well as agile software design and development processes
• Maintain and share knowledge, in emerging technologies, with rest of team
• Other duties as assigned by group leader and project supervisor(s)
Visual Designer (1 position)
The Visual Designer is primarily responsible for inventing visual ways to assist learners in moving around in a conceptual space, making choices, and seeing progress within personalized learning contexts. S/He will be defining, together with the engineer, the information architecture and web interaction, and be primarily responsible for the polished user interface of our product across multiple devices and screen sizes. An advocate for user-centered design, this individual has a unique talent for inspiring the teams with cutting edge UI patterns and innovations. The ideal candidate will thrive in a highly collaborative environment, be eager to apply Agile and Lean UX techniques while working alongside software Engineers, assessment and domain specialists, to designing innovative solutions with rich visual elements.
2. Duties and responsibilities
• Act as the creative lead for the visual elements of the product
• Conduct user research to understand user needs & requirements, and to validate design decisions
• Work with stakeholders to help refine user requirements, create wireframes, and inform the visual design of web and mobile applications
• Create user interface implementation specs for the team (UI Specifications)
• Partner with engineers during development sprints to iterate on design
• Meet complex design challenges with interface solutions with other team members
• Work closely with back-end developers to ensure that products are being implemented to spec, and to find ways to push the limits of existing technologies
• Other duties as assigned by group leader and project supervisor(s)