Graduate Research Assistant - Online Learning Innovation and User Experience

Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS, United States of America

Job Posting Title

Graduate Research Assistant - Online Learning Innovation and User Experience

----

Hiring Department

School of Nursing

Position Open To

All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled Hours

20

FLSA Status

Exempt from FLSA

Earliest Start Date

Immediately

Position Duration

Expected to Continue Until Aug 31, 2027

Location

UT MAIN CAMPUS

Job Details

Purpose

The School of Nursing seeks a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative online course materials. The GRA will collaborate with faculty, instructional designers, and technology staff to improve the usability, accessibility, visual consistency, and learner experience of online courses.

The ideal candidate will combine an interest in education and technology with strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills. This position offers experience in instructional innovation, user-centered design, educational technology, and the evaluation of online learning approaches.

This is a 20-hour-per-week graduate research assistantship for Spring and Summer 2027. The position will be supervised by Jacki Hecht, MSN. Appointment and compensation will follow university policies and are contingent upon eligibility, satisfactory academic progress, and extended appointment contingent on availability of funding.

Responsibilities

Online Course Development and User Experience

Collaborate with faculty to translate course content and learning objectives into effective online learning experiences.

Review online courses and recommend improvements to navigation, organization, visual presentation, and overall user experience.

Build and revise course pages, modules, assignments, assessments, discussion activities, and multimedia resources within the learning management system.

Apply consistent design standards across courses to make materials intuitive, engaging, and easy to use.

Incorporate active-learning strategies, simulations, case studies, interactive exercises, and other technology-enhanced learning approaches.

Assist with evaluating the usability, accessibility, effectiveness, and student outcomes associated with redesigned course materials.

Ensure that course materials follow accessibility standards, copyright requirements, university policies, and best practices for inclusive online education.

Create templates, guides, and other resources that faculty can use to develop and maintain online course content.

Document design decisions, implementation processes, evaluation findings, and recommendations for continued improvement.

Contribute to presentations, reports, manuscripts, conference abstracts, and other scholarly products arising from the project.

Newsletter Development and Digital Communications

Develop and produce the center’s quarterly electronic newsletters in collaboration with center leadership and faculty.

Identify and organize content related to center activities, research accomplishments, faculty and student highlights, upcoming events, funding opportunities, and community partnerships.

Draft, edit, proofread, and format newsletter content for accuracy, clarity, consistency, and audience engagement.

Create visually engaging newsletter layouts that are consistent with university and center branding.

Maintain an editorial calendar and production schedule to support the timely distribution of newsletters and announcements.

Manage newsletter distribution lists and assist with electronic distribution.

Monitor newsletter engagement metrics, such as open rates and link activity, and recommend strategies to improve audience reach and engagement.

Ensure that newsletters meet applicable accessibility, privacy, branding, and copyright requirements.

Center Website Maintenance

Maintain and regularly update the center’s website with current and accurate information.

Post news items, research highlights, events, publications, faculty and affiliate profiles, funding opportunities, and other center-related content.

Review website pages for outdated information, broken links, inconsistent formatting, and usability concerns.

Improve website navigation, organization, readability, accessibility, and visual consistency.

Collaborate with center leadership and university communications or information technology staff on substantive website changes.

Optimize web content for clarity, accessibility, and appropriate search-engine visibility.

Monitor basic website analytics and prepare summaries of visitor activity, frequently accessed content, and opportunities for improvement.

Maintain organized digital files, images, permissions, and source materials used on the website.

Follow university policies and standards related to web accessibility, branding, privacy, security, and content management.

Required Qualifications

Enrollment in a graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin.

Strong interest in online education, instructional design, educational technology, user experience, or digital innovation.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with faculty, staff, and students.

Ability to learn new technologies and troubleshoot routine technical issues.

Experience using learning management systems or comparable digital platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

Graduate study in nursing, education, instructional design, information science, learning technologies, computer science, communication, or a related field.

Experience developing or revising online courses in Canvas or another learning management system.

Experience maintaining websites using WordPress or another content-management system.

Experience creating electronic newsletters using platforms such as Mailchimp, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Constant Contact, or comp