This Jobs Board is intended for employment opportunities related to educational makerspaces around the world. Please make sure to include job title, location, contact email and link to full job description. Click to submit a job.
Innovation Lab Director/Teacher
Posted
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
Position Overview:
Seven Hills Middle School seeks an inspiring, high-energy, and passionate teacher to serve as Director for our signature Innovation Lab. Housed in a specially designed makerspace in our new, state-of-the-art Middle School building, the Innovation Lab program engages students in a series of sequenced projects designed to foster design thinking skills. In an empathy-based approach, students consider the needs or challenges faced by others as they work in project teams to conceptualize, design, prototype, test, fail, iterate, and, in many cases, present their fabrications to authentic audiences.
In preparation for these projects, students learn a series of fabrication and design skills. Sixth-grade students develop basic skills as they work with hand, power, and digital tools on projects that include designing for others. Seventh-grade students dive more deeply into the engineering design process. They explore and develop spatial reasoning, empathy, and creative thinking skills as they take on a series of challenges. An eighth-grade Computer Science elective course teaches students to use loops, variables, functions and conditionals to build efficient and adaptable computer programs. Students also design, build, and program robotic devices. In addition to teaching courses, the Innovation Lab Director supports student-driven projects each day during lunch. All student projects increase in scope, complexity, and sophistication as they acquire new skills, but the basic formula is to help students learn to understand and empathize with challenges faced by others and to use their creativity and imagination to design effective solutions.
The position involves delivering an engaging design-thinking curriculum to students in grades 6-8, including:
- Implementing the current suite of projects and, eventually, adapting or refining them as needed,
- Differentiating instruction for a range of abilities and interest levels in order to provide a student-centered, hands-on approach to learning,
- Inventorying and ordering equipment and materials required for successful projects,
- Ensuring a safe, orderly environment, with all the necessary protocols to protect students, equipment, materials, and facilities,
- Assessing and documenting the accomplishments of students on a regular basis and providing progress reports as required,
- Collaborating with the Upper School Computer Design and Engineering teachers to teach the skills necessary for future design or computer programming courses.
Skills Sought
- Experience working with Middle School students, preferably in a makerspace environment.
- Bachelor’s degree.
- Comfort with (or aptitude for) design, working with power tools, basic circuitry, and rudimentary computer programming.
- Ability to inspire and nurture students’ imagination and creativity.
Candidates should send applications to Andi Guess, Administrative Assistant to Head of School, The Seven Hills School, 5400 Red Bank Road, Cincinnati, OH 45227 or andi.guess@7hills.org . Full applications should include a cover letter, resume, transcripts and letters of recommendation.
Director of the Schupf Family IdeaLab
Posted
Location: Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.A.
Skidmore College, a highly selective liberal arts college located in Saratoga Springs, New York, invites applications for the inaugural Director of the Schupf Family IdeaLab. We are particularly interested in applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups, identities, and peoples, as well as those who have taken unconventional paths to this moment in their careers.
The Schupf Family IdeaLab is a community hub where all are welcome to (imagine and) fashion something new—to take risks, to play, to collaborate, to disrupt existing paradigms, to fail without fear, and to explore the limits of possibility.” More specifically, the IdeaLab is a physical space where teams of students, staff, and faculty can gather to program, prototype, model, and even market their ideas. It is appointed with state-of-the-art tools, a lab manager who oversees the space’s equipment, and a small staff of students. The IdeaLab is also a curricular home for innovative pedagogy. The Schupf Family IdeaLab is a hub of activity for the entire college and a nexus for experimentation, innovation, failure, and triumph. It is a model of collaboration and creativity, both in the classroom and outside of it.
As imagined, the inaugural Director’s charge is threefold: amplifying creativity at Skidmore, especially through making, fostering innovative pedagogy across campus, and overseeing the IdeaLab makerspace and its innumerable possibilities. The position is unique in many ways, including the ability of the inaugural holder to shape it in their image.
The Director of the Schupf Family IdeaLab will report to the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs and be a member of the VPAA Senior Staff. Job responsibilities are described in detail on the Skidmore website here: (link to additional information): https://www.skidmore.edu/idealab/idealab-director-job-description.php
https://eodq.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX/job/464/?utm_medium=jobshare
Design & Fabrication Hub Coordinator
Posted
Location: Pasadena, California, USA
Part-time position (16 hrs/week, 10-month), starting August, 2021
Sequoyah School, an independent school founded in Pasadena, California in 1958, opened an innovative high school program in September of 2016. As an extension of our K-8 program, students are guided through the deep intellectual exploration of content following a student-centered, project-based pedagogy that offers relevant contexts for exploration and opportunities for application. Furthermore, the high school program builds upon the changemaking work practiced in the K-8 program by offering a Social Innovation Program (SIP). Sequoyah faculty help facilitate student teams that explore issues in the community via a design thinking process that encourages teachers and students to get off campus and spend time interacting with community members and organizations.
We are seeking a playful and imaginative educator with an expansive definition of “making” to help build a high school community that values design and fabrication as a vehicle for addressing the important social and environmental issues of our time. Reporting to the Director of Social Innovation, the Design & Fabrication Coordinator will collaborate with students, faculty, and administrators from a variety of disciplines to establish the new Design & Fabrication (D.Fab) Hub. The D.Fab Coordinator will help students become socially-engaged makers by giving them the prototyping skills necessary to realize their own long term, community-based initiatives. A successful coordinator will be someone who has experience teaching and is ready to conceive of a variety of learning opportunities that are exciting and accessible to both students who are inexperienced and curious about design and fabrication, as well as students who are experienced and ready to grow their skillset.
Position responsibilities include:
- Instruction – provide lunch time and after school instruction, including drop-in seminars as well as week-long or month-long workshop series; advise students through hi-fi and lo-fi prototyping phases of their SIP work; provide opportunities for faculty professional development.
- Program Design – design inclusive, differentiated pathways for student learning and engagement; create advisory board; design skill building scope and sequence; explore precedents at other institutions and organizations.
- Program Management – manage skill badge program; create opportunities for peer mentoring and teaching; facilitate opportunities for student sharing and critique; promote opportunities for students to engage with design and fabrication beyond our campus.
- Space Management – grow our library of tools, equipment, and materials; establish safety protocols.
We are seeking candidates who have:
- A commitment to equity and inclusion
- An entrepreneurial approach to program development
- Teaching experience
- A community-engaged approach to design and fabrication
- A varied skill set as a maker, designer, technologist, and/or artist
- A consistent curiosity about new ways of designing and fabricating
- Well-developed professional communication and interpersonal skills
- The ability to work independently
- A demonstrated history of collaborative work on diverse teams
To apply, interested candidates should send a résumé, cover letter, and links to work (optional) to hsrecruitment@sequoyahschool.org.
Makerspace Technician
Posted
Location: Westminster, MD, USA
Exploration Commons at 50 East at the Westminster Library/Carroll County Public Library
Overview:
Are you enthusiastic about learning new things and teaching others? Join our team and help “make” the future of library services at Carroll County Public Library!
Carroll County Public Library’s newest location, Exploration Commons at 50 East (https://explorationcommons.carr.org) opening in fall 2021, offers a makerspace focused on digital design and fabrication, a commercial teaching kitchen, and meeting rooms to engage the community in a variety of learning and workforce development opportunities. We are seeking a full-time and part-time Experience Design Specialist/Makerspace Technician to support daily makerspace operations and provide training and programs using equipment and resources in the makerspace at Exploration Commons. You will also support the Exploration Commons team in other areas, including the teaching kitchen and meeting rooms.
Successful candidates will be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as with a team focused on providing superior customer service, and able to learn and share new technologies and skills.
You bring experience in at least two of the disciplines below:
- CAD/CAM processes
- Additive and subtractive fabrication (3D printers, laser cutters, CNC, )
- Audio/Video equipment and software
- Augmented and Virtual Reality
- Graphic Design
- Coding
- Maker and/or technology instruction, including leading workshops and hands-on projects
- AND a passion for outreach and establishing connections between making and the organization’s vision, mission, and strategic priorities.
Required Qualifications:
- High School diploma/G.E.D. and 1 – 2 years directly related experience; Associate degree or college coursework in a related field preferred;
- Instructional experience preferred;
- Proficiency with design software (Adobe Creative Cloud and Autodesk);
- Familiarity with the makerspace and/or kitchen equipment;
- Highly effective communicator via email, telephone, and in person;
- Or equivalent technical training, education, and experience.
Position 1 Position 2
Full-time Part-time
37.5 hours per week 20 hours per week
$43,875 annually plus benefits $23,400 annually plus benefits
Must be able to work day, evening and weekend hours, including Sunday.
How to Apply:
Applications must be received by 11:59 pm on Friday, August 20, 2021. Applications must be submitted online at https://library.carr.org/careers/careers.aspx.
The Carroll County Public Library is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. The Library’s policy is to treat all employees and applicants equally and without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, status as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam Era. This policy is applicable to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training and promotions. Carroll County Public Library is a drug free/smoke free workplace.
Innovation Program Director
Posted
Innovation Center Program Director
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs Director Job Description
TXRX Labs is a community non-profit dedicated to driving physical innovation within the Houston Ecosystem. We operate Houston’s largest makerspace, focused on prototyping, high tech job training, stem youth development, and innovation skills training through tool access, classes, contract engineering, fabrication, and ideation. We are also currently expanding to operate a satellite location in the heart of Houston’s innovation corridor near the world’s largest medical center and Rice University one of the nation’s leading institutions of higher education.
The Programs Director is responsible for the conception, development and ongoing execution of TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center. Developing and supervising a staff of 8 full time and part time Program Technicians, the Programs Director ensures that TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center provides innovation capabilities to the growing Innovation Corridor. Working closely with TXRX ‘s Main Facility Team, the Programs Director determines the array of programs offered to fulfill TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center’s mission, taking care to create financially sustainable, innovative, equitable, effective programs that build internal capacity while serving innovators and the surrounding community. With programs ranging from skills training for available equipment to innovation, prototyping, and fabrication services to corporate events to internship programs with local Universities, the Programs Director expresses a wide range of skills within the innovation landscape.
40+ hours/week
10 federal holidays plus 10 days/year PTO, rising to 15 days/year after 2 years, Includes Employer Sponsored Health, Vision, Dental
$70,000-85,000 commensurate with experience
Work schedule to include occasional weekend and holiday coverage
Duties:
- Determine content for programs provided by TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center facilitated by technicians and volunteers.
- Maintain and refine current programming, safety protocols, partnerships, and content.
- Develop proposals, pitch decks, overviews, trainings, and similar documents for internal use and publication.
- Hire and train technicians to deliver in various program formats and curricula. Monitor ongoing work efforts and coach towards improvements.
- Create and maintain operational systems to provide excellent facilitation of all TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center programs, including fabrication, ideation, training, classes, and prototyping at TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center and offsite. Sub for technicians as needed.
- Analyze current programs and systems for weaknesses and opportunities, including integrating feedback from staff and clients, and implement changes to improve those programs and services.
- Document programs and conduct evaluations of program quality and impact.
- Research, propose, develop, and implement new financially sustainable programs that keep TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center at the forefront of innovation and development.
- Supervise the maintenance of tools, equipment, facilities, and materials.
- Coordinate with Director-level staff, board members, and consultants to create short term and long strategic plans.
- Represent TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center in online and in-person professional and public maker/innovator communities and forums.
- Establish new partnerships and sustain existing partnerships with organizations and key individuals in the innovation and prototyping ecosystem that open productive pathways for program development and implementation, including sustainable funding mechanisms.
- Research regional and national trends and best practices in innovation, prototyping, and makerspaces.
- Contribute to special projects at TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center and offsite.
- Other duties as assigned.
Required Skills and Experience:
- Excellent independence and time management skills.
- Experience in strategic planning and organizational management.
- Experience in engineering, fabrication, and prototyping environments.
- Capacity to gain new skills.
- Ability to identify and build partner relationships.
- Ability to speak publicly on behalf of TXRX’s Innovation Corridor Center.
- Experience supervising productive work teams of technicians.
- Ability to lift 25 lbs.
Preferred Skills and Experience:
- CAD/CAM Skills, tool knowledge, and makerspace experience.
- Experience working with corporate or institutional innovation programs.
- 3d printing, Machining, and Electrical Engineering Experience.
- Facility with digital document creation, including text, photo, video, and social media.
- Knowledge of accounting, funding strategies, and program development.
- Hands on and practical capabilities
Reports to:
Executive Director
Direct reports:
Supervises Technicians and Volunteers, shared with Executive Director
To apply, please email a cover letter and resume to apply@txrxlabs.org
If you think you could excel in this position but do not meet all of the qualifications, we encourage you to apply. TXRX Labs is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and dedicated to reflecting the communities we serve. TXRX Labs works to meet our commitment to diversity and to build an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of historically underrepresented communities to apply for this position, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.