When I began researching different national and federal organizations that benefit children, there was a vast majority to choose from. Each organization had beneficial qualities that contributed to the health and well-being of children and families. I was really surprised so many were available.
The first one that interested me was the National Association of Young Children (NAEYC). Their center for applied research is dedicated to strengthening the connections between early childhood research, practice, and policy (NAEYC.org) One of their primary goals is to encourage and support those individuals working in the early childhood field to become critical consumers of research about early childhood development and education (NAEYC.org). My first priority as a professional is to teach at a community college or pursue my PhD so I could teach at a university as well. Their current job opportunities includes college level instructors, this would be my ideal profession, if possible as an online professor.
The second one that interested me is the Save The Children organization. As part of their mission, the Save the Children organization gives children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves- a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and care when disaster strikes. (savethechildren.org). They provide quality education and preschool programs books, supplies, and educational toys as well as health and nutrition programs that save children's lives and protect children from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence in all regions of the world (savethechildren.org). The job opening that interested me was a basic education learning specialist. The basic education learning research specialist will extend the Department of Education and Child Protection ability to provide technical support to country offices to expand access to quality learning opportunities (savethechildren.org). This opportunity focuses on learning outcomes across sponsorship and Save the Children International sites. He/she does this through the support for the implementation of the Literary Boost assessment component, including data analysis and evaluation (savethechildren.org) Master's degree required in education as well as 3 years applied research, experience with quantitative analysis methods and computer skills proficiency in Microsoft office. I will have a master's shortly, quantitative analysis experience from my career as a research chemist, and computer experience but no previous experience in applied research in education.
The third organization that interested me was the Committee for Children. Their vision is to invest in developing new ideas, initiatives, products, and services that provide social-emotional development, safety, and well being of children (cfchildren.org). Their job opportunity as an instructional designer is to design and develop e-learning courses through defined educational standards. In addition, they work with researchers and developers to ensure e-learning courses are accurate and reflect the content necessary for quality education (cfchildren.org). Qualifications include bachelor's degree in education, instructional design as well as 5-7 years of e-learning curriculum design and experience with e-learning development tools such as Storyline, Captivate, Articulate, Adobe Creative Suite, and Photoshop. I do not have any experience with the e-learning development tools but about 2 years ago I was asked to help design the e-learning curriculum for an online high school in science. It would have allowed me to put my past profession as a research chemist together with my new profession in early childhood but between opening a business and four children, and an online master's program, life was just too busy. I thought designing e-learning programs would always be interesting though and it was an opportunity I was sad I passed up.
References
Committee for Children. Retrieved from http://www.cfchildren.org
National Association of Young Children (NAEYC). Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org
Save the Children. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org
All these organizations sound great. I like that NAEYC can use research to inform policies that are developed and affect children. It was interesting to hear about the job opportunities that each organization provided. They are jobs that I would not have thought of on my own. They sound a little out of the box which makes them seem exciting to me.
ReplyDeleteKarina
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction to Committee for Children. I wasn't familiar with them until I read your post. I'm impressed with their vision of socio-emotional issues often associated with child development and learning. E-learning as we are discovering will continue to have a huge impact on learning from pre-k to higher education as the field of instructional technology continues to bloom.
Great resources. I like how the Committee for Children is designing social emotional curriculum for online learning. This falls in line with one of my dreams to design a social emotional curriculum that includes weekly/daily teacher lessons that coincide with the lessons they will teach to the children. This is similar to the model that is used in parts of the U.K. as social emotional curriculum is part of their teaching in all age and grade levels. Thank you for sharing this resource. This has made me research this further to understand ways this falls in line with my goals and dreams.
ReplyDeleteKelly
Hi Allyson, I am really interested in the part of your post where you talk about the position for the Committee for Children. I might have an opportunity to teach some online classes which will include designing the curriculum. It seems kind of daunting. But...I know I can learn! Do you think you might go this route after graduation?
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