From Online Learner to Course Designer: U-M Grad Student Comes Full Circle

Wide range of online learning opportunities provides a bridge to a new career path for former teacher

After teaching English in China for eight years, Jianjun (Larry) Zhu needed a change. 

A graduate program felt like the natural way to move his career forward, so he started to explore a variety of education-related master’s programs. That initial search led Jianjun to the University of Michigan as a graduate student, an opportunity to become an open online course learner, and even a Student Fellowship opportunity at the Center for Academic Innovation.

Master’s Program and Learning Experience Design Certificate

Jianjun did not explore graduate programs in the educational field for long before realizing how much he wanted to learn more about educational technologies. After teaching in the traditional education sector, incorporating technology into his practice felt natural, potentially even transformational. 

“It seemed like a good direction for the future,” he said. “I needed to learn more about technology and how technologies could be used to support both teaching and learning.” 

He found such a program at the Marsal Family School of Education at U-M, where he decided to pursue a master’s degree in educational studies with a concentration in design and technologies for learning across cultures and contexts.

Shortly after being admitted to the Master of Arts program and before moving to Ann Arbor, Jianjun dug deeper into the opportunities offered and discovered a certificate program in learning experience design. The program offered an even deeper focus on education, technology, design, and learning theory. 

The learning experience design program offered an exciting new way to consider teaching and learning, and led to 150 hours of residency work with the center. While at the center, Jianjun learned from and supported the professional learning experience designers who work, create, and improve online learning experiences. 

“That was my starting point with the Center for Academic Innovation,” Jianjun said. “I saw what they were doing, all kinds of online courses for learners all over the world, and I said to myself, ‘Yeah, I definitely need to get involved.’ It was such a great opportunity to work with professionals.” 

Jianjun shared some of his experiences with incoming students during the fall 2023 new student orientation to the master’s program and talked with students about what it is like to be a graduate student at U-M. 

“I really enjoyed the conversations,” he said. “Sharing experiences helps me feel good.”

Online Learner

To build on what he was learning in his master’s and learning experience design programs, Jianjun also wanted to experience technology as a learner. He took his first massive open online course, “Programming for Everybody: Getting Started with Python,” on Michigan Online partly out of personal interest and partly because it seemed useful for his own coursework and research. 

“It was easy to take the online course and work at my own pace even though I was also taking classes,” Jianjun said. 

The professor kept the learners engaged, and Jianjun could do the work when he had time rather than meeting during specific class times. It was great to experience the course from a learner’s perspective while also soaking up learning theory and design from an educator’s or designer’s point of view, Jianjun said. 

He continued with additional courses in the “Python for Everybody” course series. Though he has not yet finished all five courses, the knowledge and skills gained have already informed additional coursework, supporting his graduate-level learning in statistics and data visualization work, he said. Learning with MOOCs was so convenient that he also completed an introduction to psychology course and the Michigan Online course, “Emotional Intelligence: Cultivating Immensely Human Interactions,” to complement his studies.

A Student Fellow

After completing his master’s program, Jianjun’s impressive work with the center’s learning experience design team led to further opportunities as a Student Fellow at the center. During his fellowship, he focused on the “Rocket Science 101” project, a series of three courses taught by Aaron Ridley, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering. 

Jianjun enjoyed creating storyboards, slides, and historic timelines while helping build the series. Additionally, he beta-tested various courses for quality assurance, analyzed learner data to better understand what kinds of learners are drawn to courses, and reviewed older courses to suggest possible revisions in future iterations. 

While he loved learning and designing learning experiences for others, Jianjun also never lost his love of teaching. Delivering workshops for others helped satisfy that craving. Collaborating with other student fellows, he helped to co-design and co-deliver professional development workshops for center staff. An H5P training session helped learning experience designers become familiar with the H5P plugin tool to run interactive videos within learning management systems. Another collaborative session introduced an online data visualization software called Everviz. A third workshop, titled “Communication and Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace,” focused on why communication is such an important skill, helping participants think about their own emotional intelligence, and applying those skills in a group setting.

Bridge to the Future

Jianjun graduated from his master’s program in December 2023 and began his doctoral program in Educational Studies focused on teacher education in August 2024. During the gap months, he harnessed his learning experience design skills and continued his role as a program assistant at EdHub, a position he started while still working as a fellow at the center, helping to improve a hybrid course in transformative teaching that supports both online and traditional students. 

Additionally, Jianjun served as a graduate student instructor for three semesters into his doctoral program, refining his discussion facilitation skills while appreciating the varied teaching experiences that feed his passion for helping others. This semester, he is working on a Belonging-Centered Instruction project with a group of diverse research team members to implement virtual coaching intervention. He is leading the data analysis team.

Jianjun has three more semesters until he reaches the candidacy, followed by the doctoral research project, and ongoing experiences continue to shape how he sees his future.

“My core interest is still in teaching, but that could involve work as faculty, mentor, or researcher,” Jianjun said. “It could include finding ways to improve teaching, either through technology or by helping new teachers feel supported. There are just so many possibilities.”