Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning

Online learning can be so dull—or not!

Enter Jenae Cohn and Michael Greer, experienced authors and teachers, who decided it was time to take on the challenge of making online learning more interesting and compelling for students. So, they met in a Zoom call, contacted Rosenfeld Media, and wrote this book, Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning (many Zoom calls later).

The book is structured to teach online learning in such a way that anyone can follow its practices and create a dynamic educational presentation. Chapters cover everything from learning about your learners and setting learning goals to building connections with learners and giving them feedback. In addition, the authors dive into the nitty-gritty details of creating online courses, including takeaways at the end of each chapter and easy-to-follow examples throughout.

“I particularly appreciate how thoughtful Jenae and Michael are about considering the experience from the learner’s point of view and the emphasis they put on learner agency.”
—Julie Dirksen, Author, Design for How People Learn

Together, Jenae Cohn and Michael Greer have years of experience designing and producing online courses for students. They wanted the tone of their book to be friendly, supportive, engaging, empathetic, and thoughtful. With that in mind, they chose examples that reflected what an ordinary user might encounter on a day-to-day basis, highlighting everything from complex skills (accessibility) to the most minute details, such as:

• Writing compelling content and instructional text
• Designing interesting text and visuals
• Planning and producing videos
• Recording sound and voice-overs
• Creating and facilitating live website presentations
• Designing surveys for class feedback
• Rating whether your presentation was successful

Who This Book Is For

• Teachers, learning development professionals, and anyone tasked with designing an online course or a one-off workshop
• Content creators, instructional designers, user experience designers, and others who care about the experience of online learning

Whether you’re a novice or experienced online instructional designer, this book will show you how to apply industry best practices, and provide how-to examples, powerful templates, and activities to craft compelling instructional content—whether text, audio, or video.

Best of all—your course will never be called dull again.

Dr. Jenae Cohn writes and speaks about online teaching and learning for international audiences. She currently works as the Executive Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at University of California, Berkeley, and has held prior roles at California State University, Sacramento, Stanford University, and University of California, Davis. She has designed resources for teachers, facilitators, and coaches on ways to improve learner engagement online and is a frequent contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Faculty Focus, and other trade publications dedicated to teaching and learning. She is the author of the book, Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital Reading (West Virginia University Press, 2021). Learn more about Jenae at jenaecohn.net, on Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Michael Greer is an independent writer and editor based in Boulder, Colorado. Michael has taught online courses in writing, editing, and multimedia and served as founding editor of the journal Research in Online Literacy Education. Michael is co-author of the celebrated The Little, Brown Handbook and co-author of the forthcoming Multimedia with a Purpose (Stylus Press). He writes about user-centered design, interactive media, and digital publishing.