Graduate Research Assistant - Online Learning Innovation and User Experience

University of Texas at Austin; United States; On-site; USD 54,000 - 66,000; Part time

Job summary

The University of Texas at Austin is seeking a Graduate Research Assistant in the School of Nursing to support online learning innovation and user experience. This role collaborates with faculty, instructional designers, and technology staff to enhance usability, accessibility, and learner experience of online courses.

Posting supports 20 hours per week for Spring and Summer 2027, supervised by Jacki Hecht, MSN. Appointment and pay follow university rules, contingent on funding and progress.

Qualifications

• Enrollment in a graduate program at UT 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 learn new technologies and troubleshoot routine technical issues.
• Experience using learning management systems or comparable digital platforms.

Responsibilities

• Translate course content and learning objectives into online experiences.
• Review courses and improve navigation, layout, and user experience.
• Build and revise course pages, modules, assignments, and assessments.
• Create templates and guides for faculty to maintain content.
• Develop quarterly newsletters and manage distribution lists.
• Maintain and update the center website with current information.

Skills

Organization

Communication

Independent work

Problem solving

Learning management systems

Digital collaboration

Education

Graduate study (UT Austin)

Preferred: Nursing/education/information science

Canvas or LMS experience

Tools

Canvas

WordPress

Mailchimp/Marketing Cloud

Job description

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 comparable software.
• Familiarity with user-interface and user-experience design principles.
• Experience with multimedia, interactive-content, web-design, or graphic-design tools.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and universal design for learning.
• Experience conducting usability testing, surveys, interviews, focus groups, or qualitative or quantitative data analysis.
• Familiarity with artificial intelligence tools and their responsible application in teaching and learning.
• Experience supporting faculty or learners in higher
  education.

Salary Range

$60,000 annual (prorated to academic calendar work dates and hours per week)

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure THAT ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questionspresented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

Employment Eligibility:

Please confirm your eligibility for this position here: http://www.utexas.edu/hr/student/student_acad_employment.html

Retirement Plan Eligibility:

Students in this position may choose to enroll in the UTSaver voluntary retirement programs.

Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish)[PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English)[PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish)[PDF]

Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.