8 January: fyi -- editing, CA
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Quia produces Web-based workbooks in partnership with leading
educational publishers. These online workbooks engage students and
make the learning process more satisfying through interactive
exercises replete with vibrant color, sound, and images. Computer
grading saves time and gives students immediate feedback about their
performance.
Job Description:
Your job is to review online foreign-language workbooks that Quia's
development team has created. There are two aspects to this:
1. Proofreading.
You will compare Quia's online books to the pre-existing printed books
that they are based on, looking for typos and making sure that
bolding, italicizing, and other formatting match. This must be done
with 100% accuracy.
2. Instructional design.
You will determine whether Quia's developers have successfully adapted
printed workbook exercises to work well in an online environment. For
example, consider a Spanish workbook exercise that asks students to
identify pictures of various foods. The instructions read, ''Write
the name of each food, in Spanish, in the corresponding blank.'' The
first picture is of an apple, and the answer key reads ''la manzana.''
This works fine on paper, when there is a real person grading each
student's response. But in an online format, the computer is doing
the grading, and we have to be more thoughtful. For example, nothing
in the instructions makes it clear to students that they must enter
the definite article. Should we accept ''manzana'' as a correct
answer also, or should we change the instructions to tell students to
use the definite article ''la'' or ''el''? What about plurals? A
student might enter ''las manzanas'' instead of ''la manzana.'' Would
we want to accept ''las manzanas'' as a correct answer in this case?
Finally, we may want to change the instructions from ''Write the
name...'' to ''Type the name...'' since students are using a keyboard
rather than pencil and paper.
This is just an example, and we'll give you guidelines that cover
common situations. But our guidelines don't cover everything. You'll
need to think creatively and analytically about the various ways that
students and educators might use our products so that you can suggest
appropriate modifications.
We are looking for applicants with the following skills. The first
three are essential.
1. Strong proofreading skills. You must be able to proofread written
English text to identify typos and misspellings. Knowledge of English
at the native-speaker level is essential.
2. Copy editing experience and/or strong English grammar skills. You
will be writing instructions, in English, for workbook exercises.
Your instructions must be reliably well written and grammatically
correct.
3. Knowledge of Spanish, French, German, and/or Italian. Fluency is a
plus but is not absolutely necessary. You must at least have the
equivalent of 3 years university-level study and a particularly strong
knowledge of grammar. Experience with several languages is a big
plus.
4. An interest in education. You will need to mentally put yourself
in the place of both a teacher and a student in the course of
reviewing our products. A natural curiosity about the processes of
teaching and learning will therefore be an asset.
5. HTML skills. You won't need to write any HTML, but if you can look
at a Web page and have some sense of what goes on behind the scenes in
HTML to make it look that way, that will be helpful.
In addition, you must be detail-oriented, able to think analytically,
and able to quickly master unfamiliar computer software.
This is a project-based contract position. You must be able to commit
at least 10-20 hours per week for at least a month.
If interested, please send e-mail, including your resume, to
resume@quiacorp.com.
Address for Applications:
Attn: Product Director Tara Robenalt
839 Hinckley Road, Suite A
Burlingame, CA 94010
United States of America
Applications are due by 01-Mar-2003
Contact Information:
Product Director Tara Robenalt.
Email: resume@quiacorp.com
Tel: 650.259.4200
Website: http://www.quia.com
Index of January 2003 | Index of year: 2003 | Full index