Recruitment Pages

Lead Developer Position

We are a small edtech team developing new ways for children to learn to read online.

Right now we are preparing to rebuild our entire learner management system and our set of learn-to-read activities. We need a new lead developer to take on that task.

So, if you like to write code and would also like to have a controlling hand over the direction that code takes, this may be the job for you. In addition, you will be impacting children’s lives around the world. We are confident that we are the best at what we do, based on the success rate of our learners.

We are currently self-funded from our customer subscriptions, which gives us the freedom to develop in the direction we think is best.

Technical Requirements

You will need to have full stack development experience. We currently run a PHP/MYSQL learner management system sat on AWS servers. The activities for the children are mainly written in HTML5/Javascript. It is currently our intention to rebuild the management system in Drupal and move our activities into a more structured form, using a template such as xAPI/cmi5, H5P or SCORM. We might also link the Drupal user interface into a CRM such as SuiteCRM or civiCRM to bulk out the interaction processes and allow secure management of the personal data.

However, if you take this position you will be controlling what direction the project takes, of course.

Our lessons are currently desktop/laptop based, but we will aim for the new system to be comfortable to access on phones and tablets too.

Admin Side

We are based in Beaumont Street, central Oxford. The team has recently been 4-5 people, but we are currently doubling turnover every 9-12 months and we intend to fill this lead position plus an assistant developer position over the next few months.

Our hours are roughly 9-5 and we normally take 5 weeks of holiday. There is the option to do 4 days per week if preferred.

The salary is £40-60K depending on experience, plus a 3% contribution to a stakeholder pension.

You will be reporting directly to the CEO, David Morgan.

We have no deadline for recruitment. We will proceed as soon as the right person has made contact and is available.

Application Process

If you think this could be the job for you, please make contact with a CV and an A4 outline of the setup you think would be appropriate for the sort of LMS and lesson delivery we operate.

To give you an outline of that, we have parents and teachers creating accounts and then setting up individual courses for their children. The children are not able to read or write and so they are not direct users of the management system themselves.

Some of our course materials are free and some are paid for by monthly subscription. We usually run a free trial of the paid-for materials.

Each lesson is a series of activities, which are adaptive to the learner and are guided by the learner’s past performance. The lesson assembly logic also needs to draw information from the database on that learner and present an appropriate sequence of activities for the day. The activities are themselves standalone Javascript games held in a repository.

We have varying degrees of customer interaction, depending on the nature of the support being delivered. At the extreme end we are delivering materials and support online, over the phone and through the post.

With more detail you may want to adjust your suggestions, of course, but it would be interesting to hear your initial thoughts on this task.

Please email both documents to support@dm-ed.com

Kelly Thoresen Isselhardt

2021-12-24

recommends

As a parent working through the 20/21 school year in distance learning with 3 elementary kids, there were at least some positive upsides. For example, my daughter Laine’s (2nd grade, 8 years old at start) reading ability (when she is such a bright, exuberant, creative, SMART kid) kept me up at night. Something was not connecting. No amount of pressure or more reading was making up for the missing pieces in her ability to read. I was literally awake in the middle of the night, by chance watching Dr. Morgan’s Facebook ad and knew he was talking about my daughter. I started crying and felt I had been given such a gift. By morning in February 2021 she was signed up and on her way to decoding and cracking her reading struggles. It’s not been easy all the time, we have struggled through some lessons with tears and frustration. BUT today, Laine passed her 223 lesson, earned her helicopter (the code words/spy prizes have been a great motivator), and has gone from a 1.5 grade reading level to reading at a 5th grade level with limited assistance in only 10 months. I am so grateful for the Easyread program. Their attention to detail, one on one phone calls and Zoom meet ups, quick response time to questions, and consideration for my kid’s development has made us feel cared for each step of the way. If you have looked into the Easyread program and David’s description of your child’s reading journey hits home, run don’t walk to sign up. It has been one of our favorite blessings of this crazy year and I shout it’s praises to anyone who has a struggling reader.

Laura Stoker

2021-12-21

I was really skeptical about this for my 8 year old, how can 15 minutes a day and video, and games work? He struggled with blending and decoding. He know can use the trainer texts faster then I can figure out the word myself to see if he is correct. The system moves as he needs and the personal support is amazing.

Sara Cunningham-Neuff

What a fantastic programme! Our 8 yr old made such rapid progress I began to doubt myself whether she had had issues in the first place! When we looked at the video recording made at the beginning of the programme, her progress was remarkable within just a few weeks. She asks to do the session every day and complains if I don't have time - a massive difference from a child who used to invent the most incredible excuses to avoid reading before this. She now reads books in her own time and is even starting to get her head around spelling - all in less than 2 months. The personalised support from the Easyread facilitators is much better than I expected from an online course and the prizes are great too! Thank you Easyread!

Jared Amanda Stone

Our daughter has loved the Easyread program. She thinks she is just playing fun games on the computer but she's actually improving her reading and spelling skills. Her Spelling grades have improved from 50% to 90% in only a few months. Thank you Easyread for an amazing program! I would highly recommend your program for any children struggling to read and spell.

Carly Banks

2021-12-14

Wow, this program works! My 9-year old became a more fluent reader within weeks of starting, and she really enjoyed doing the assignments (structured like fun games) every day! She never complained about it once, even 2 months in she was excited to decode the words and play the games in Easyread. And she has so much more confidence now. Thank you Easyread!