Thank you to everyone who applied. We are no longer accepting applications but keep your eyes open for additional open positions in 2021. 

We're hiring! Backpack Interactive is a small but mighty strategy, UX and edTech design studio. We are committed to serving our educational and non-profit partners with products and interactive experiences that support teachers and students. We look to hire the very best design thinkers and problem solvers to join our award-winning team.

You’ll be responsible for creating beautiful, production-ready designs. You’ll work collaboratively with the Backpack and development teams to make sure products and experiences meet their educational goals while pushing design to the forefront.

If you’re an experienced designer who sees the big picture, revels in the small details, and is eager for the opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to great work in a low-ego, maker-centric environment, then we should talk.

Skills and qualities we look for:

• 2–3 years of professional design experience
• A well-organized and relevant portfolio that demonstrates your creative problem-solving abilities
• An understanding of the end-to-end interactive design process
• Experience using appropriate UX methods and design thinking to inform solutions
• Willingness to jump into a project at any point and support on any and all design needs (i.e. Research, UX, UI, and Production) 
• Attention to detail
• Strong typography skills
• Expertise using digital design tools (i.e. Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD)
• Familiarity with Zeplin and experience with prototyping tools (i.e. Marvel or InVision)
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication and presentation skills
• Confidence in your expertise and perspective, but eager to learn from others
• A passion for working collaboratively
• Big plus: experience designing for kids, education or games
• Bigger plus: classroom experience 
• Gigantic plus: any knowledge of programming i.e. HTML, CSS,  JS

To apply for this position, please email hello@backpackinteractive.com with your cover letter, resume and a link to your online portfolio. Applications without portfolios and cover letters will not be considered. The position is for full-time work.

At Backpack Interactive, we love teachers. In any user experience research (UXR) we conduct, teachers frequently provide the best insights about how edTech products work in real classrooms across the country.

After all, edTech tools are an extension of what happens in the classroom. That's why it's important to consider teachers' needs in all the learning tools we design—even ones meant primarily for student use.

When we thought about the most effective way to learn more about teachers and their unique needs, we immediately imagined a group of dedicated classroom instructors who could help better inform our UX design choices.

As part of our continued commitment to user-centered design, we created the Teacher Council, a space for increased dialogue with our educator users. The Teacher Council will help us deepen our understanding of the unique needs and pain points educators face in the classroom. With more informed UXR, we'll create better products for our clients, whether they're building a classroom tool for teachers or students.

Even though teachers are experts on user experience in edTech, we know they're often left out of design conversations. That's why we also wanted to amplify educators' voices and give them a platform to advocate for the needs of their students, colleagues, and school communities.

With visions of teachers dancing in our heads, we used our professional networks and reached out to teachers recommended by our design partners. Some teachers even contacted Backpack with their perspectives on edTech proactively, so we knew they'd be game.

The Teachers Helping Backpack Interactive with edTech UXR

After weeks of hard work, we're proud to introduce Backpack Interactive's very first Teacher Council. Every month, the members of our Teacher Council will discuss a specific topic, like remote learning. They'll also be available for in-house user testing, research, and qualitative interviews about requirements, priorities, and features.

Please welcome our newest partners in UXR:

Flora Gitsis has taught both upper elementary and special education and served as Special Education District Administrator for K-12 schools in the largest school district in Indiana. She recently purchased a Peloton bike to help her exercise and unwind.

Scott Meyer-Kukan has nearly two decades of experience in the field of education and taught fourth grade in New York City in 2006. When he's not working on his doctoral degree in central office administration, he serves as a part-time archivist and genealogist. Scott lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Cody Moran teaches American Sign Language at Huntington Beach High School, where he has taught for the past six years. When he's not teaching, he loves traveling, camping, and playing sports.

Daniel Nero is a fourth-year English teacher at a Title I high school in Las Vegas, Nevada. He's an Alaska-to-Nevada transplant who loves to hike and read books.

Rachel Pauta is a 2nd grade Dual Language (Spanish) teacher at Brooklyn Arbor Public School K414 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She can’t be away from the ocean for too long and has a love/hate relationship with sleep.

Alicia Quan has taught 7th-grade Life Science and digital media courses in the Southern California area for five years. Follow her on Twitter and Insta at @ux_edtech, or queue up her podcast, UX of EdTech, in your favorite listening device.

Kylie Reiman is beginning a new position as a 9th grade physics teacher in Camden, NJ after spending three years teaching 7th- and 8th-grade science in the School District of Philadelphia. As a science teacher, she strives to create citizen-students who think critically about the world around them.

Dannielle Rivera teaches 2nd grade in a public school in a suburb in Southern California. She's married to her college sweetheart and a foster mama to a sweet, one-year-old boy. (Go Lakers!)

Jessica Seiler has taught 4th grade in Fairfax, Virginia for the past eight years. She holds a master's degree in Learning Technologies in Schools and has been ziplining more than 10 times.

How Backpack Interactive's Teacher Council Will Make edTech UX Better for Everyone

The educators on our Teacher Council are deeply interested in the field of UX and improving user experience based on their first-hand knowledge of edTech products. They see the potential in many edTech solutions but also see where some products miss the mark. They're eager to clarify misunderstandings that lead to inadequate edTech solutions and help us build stronger products that work for real teachers in real classrooms.

In the future, we hope to conduct more extensive research to support our assumptions about teacher needs and pain points. This will inform our discovery process and help clients move to the user testing phase even more quickly.

We can't wait to work with our Teacher Council to make edTech user experiences better for everyone—together.

Do you know a teacher who would be interested in joining our Teacher Council? Are you that teacher? Get in touch!

This is part four of our ongoing series about edTech industry shifts in at-home learning. To check out the whole series, click here.

The effects of "Summer Slump,” learning loss that happens over the summer months, are often shocking. Without the routine and rigor of school and extracurricular activities, students fall behind and often struggle to catch up with their peers in the fall. This disparity is especially evident in underserved students.

Because of  COVID-19, many students have not set foot in a school since March. According to Education Week, students who normally lose between two weeks and two months of growth over the summer may now only retain about 70% of their literacy progress and 50% of their math skills. How can parents combat an unprecedented loss of learning this summer? Tackle it head on. 

Here are three simple ways to introduce structure into your summer and support your child’s educational growth. 

Start your day with a meeting.

The morning is a great time to chat through what your child might want to focus on and what they can expect from you during the day or week. The length of the meeting depends on you and your child, but 10 to 15 minutes is best practice. Here are a few formats to consider:

• Make it official.
  Ring a bell, do a quick dance, or sing a song to signal the beginning of your day.
• Establish a routine.
  Discuss the weather, your schedule, or meal times. Whatever your opening routine is, try to make it as consistent as possible. Make sure differences in the schedule are communicated to your child at the start of the day.
• Address academic work.
  Discuss what book your child plans on reading, what they're excited to accomplish or learn, and which devices they may need to use.
• Plan a group activity.
  Family walks, art projects, or book clubs will bring you closer together (see below!).

Encourage your child to read and write for pleasure. 

Reading doesn’t need to be a chore. Even 15 minutes of reading a day can support your child’s developing literacy skills.  

• Sign up for a “Reading Challenge.” Our partners, Scholastic and Learning Ally, host summer reading experiences where children can access digital books, track their reading progress, and can even win prizes! You will also find additional literacy resources like book lists and activities. 
• • • Scholastic Summer Read-a-palooza  
    • Learning Ally Summer Reading Together 
• Start a Family Book Club. Choose an age-appropriate book as a family and decide on a day and time to discuss the book together. Younger children may do better if they have time before the conversation to consider their favorite characters or whether they liked the book.
• Set reading goals and track your family’s progress. Set a reading goal, i.e. 3.5 hours a week or 2 grade-level books a week, and track your goals with a simple log or calendar.
• Keep a journal.
  Journaling can be a fun way for your child to practice their writing skills and reflect on what they’re doing and feeling this summer. Not sure what to write about? Support them with some writing prompts! Ask them leading questions or have them write about their favorite thing they did that day.

Explore educational sites and games.

Screen time isn’t always our enemy. It’s all about setting time limits and finding quality edTech experiences that are age-appropriate and easy to navigate. Make sure you decide on when, what, and how often children are exploring sites and games during your morning meeting.

Feeling guilty about your child spending more time online? Pivot the experience by joining in or asking your child to show you how to play. Here are a few sites we recommend: 

• PBS Kids
• GoNoodle
• Scholastic 
• Lego
• DIY
• Smithsonian
• SuperDville

If you need additional ideas about helping your child succeed academically from home, check out my other article on how to weather the storm of at-home learning. With your support and care, "Summer Slump" doesn’t stand a chance.

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Milagros comes to Backpack Interactive with almost a decade of teaching and administrative experience. She holds an M.S.in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College and was a former columnist for Scholastic Teacher Magazine. A native New Yorker, Milagros enjoys a good Broadway soundtrack and a strong cup of coffee.