An Inside Look at the CodeHS Curriculum Team

An Inside Look at the CodeHS Curriculum Team

A day in the life of a Curriculum Developer at CodeHS and why it might be a good fit for you.

At CodeHS, we believe that coding is a foundational skill that provides limitless creative opportunities. We are passionate about continuously updating our curriculum and are always innovating current and new courses. The CodeHS curriculum team is dedicated to creating excellent coursework for computer science students at all levels.

We chatted with Ryan Hart, a Senior Curriculum Developer, and learned a bit more about what his day-to-day is like on the team.

Curriculum Team Spotlight: Ryan Hart

What is your background?

Prior to joining CodeHS, I taught high school physics and coached volleyball and soccer for a number of years, then was a data analyst for Penn State University. I joined CodeHS as a Customer Success Manager and loved spending my first year helping teachers set up and manage their classrooms. We work with such a dedicated group of educators! When a spot on the Curriculum Team opened up, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to curriculum development and take part in creating fun and engaging content!

What does a typical day or week look like in your role?

One of the aspects of being on the curriculum team I really enjoy is being able to work on creative projects. We typically work on longer-term projects that take anywhere from 1 to 6 months, like developing new courses for our catalog. This means that we get to plan our days on a week-to-week basis depending on what we need to get done. I most recently made a semester-long middle school game design course with JavaScript’s p5play library. It was super fun to dive into the library and be able to come up with creative projects for students to build.

Beyond longer-term projects, an average day will likely include a mix of developing student content or teacher resources, supporting other team members in their content development, responding to teacher questions and feedback related to our courses, and working on other side projects that come up.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?

I really enjoy creating interactive and engaging content for students.

“It’s a lot of fun coming up with ideas that will challenge students and hopefully spark an interest in what they’re learning.”

What is your favorite part of your role at CodeHS?

My colleagues are awesome. We have a fantastic and fun curriculum team, full of passionate educators and good people. I love working with them to co-create content and push ourselves to be better. It’s also pretty amazing that our lessons and resources reach hundreds of thousands of students and teachers every year. That’s a lot!

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a career in EdTech / at CodeHS?

It’s a great opportunity to be involved in education through a variety of different roles. I think it might be good to think about what is drawing you to the edtech space specifically, since there is so much other tech out there. If you have experience teaching or working at schools, that is definitely something to leverage as you are applying to openings. That experience and insight is super valuable as you develop content or work with teachers and administrators.

Any final thoughts about working at CodeHS or being on the curriculum team?

It’s fun! I’m surrounded by interesting and talented people and I believe that we are making a difference in many students’ and teachers’ lives.