Over fifteen years, I have built learning experiences across health sciences, higher education, entrepreneurial training, and educational technology. That span of domains is uncommon in a single career — and it shapes how I approach every design challenge: with a systems perspective, an evidence base, and the technical range to build what I design.
At UNT Health at Fort Worth, I design online courses, conduct Quality Matters reviews, and lead development of non-credit microcredentials within the Division of Academic Innovation — a team recognized by TxDLA for Outstanding Commitment to Quality and Innovation in Digital Learning. The work demands both design precision and institutional fluency: aligning with CE accreditation standards, collaborating with clinical faculty, and delivering asynchronous learning that holds up under QM scrutiny.
Before this, I co-founded two ed-tech companies supported by the Knight Foundation and the AT&T Aspire Accelerator, taught applied design and game design at UNT Mayborn School of Journalism, and published peer-reviewed research on game-based learning and health literacy. My work has appeared in JMIR Serious Games and American Journalism; a book chapter on video games and Gen Z learning is published by Bloomsbury Academic.
The through-line: design grounded in evidence, built with technical capability, and centered on what adult learners actually need.
Online microcredentials and academic credit courses for UNT Health, backward-designed with clinical faculty.
Story Builder, Course Mapper, and other workflows that give instructional designers and faculty faster paths from idea to course.
Working through a self-created software engineering curriculum. Teaching myself to build the tools I've been designing on paper.
Four case studies — each shipped, each still running or still cited. Scroll the list for details; click a case for the full write-up.
A Canvas-native, case-based microcredential for nurses entering forensic practice — built within UNT Health at Fort Worth's Division of Academic Innovation. Designed backward from practice competencies, reviewed against QM standards, and delivered as a fully asynchronous credential-bearing program.
Women-owned-business incubator at Stoke — full curriculum redesign, mentor-network expansion, and multi-cohort coaching across three program years. Grew enrollment and satisfaction through iterative, feedback-driven program improvement.
A first-of-its-kind certificate at UNT Mayborn School of Journalism integrating applied design, game design, and digital media entrepreneurship. Developed curriculum, designed assessments, taught courses, and launched the school's first Journalism Hackathon.
Designed and ran the pipeline for the locally-funded pitch competition. From application and business vetting through a multi-cohort coaching program that took founders from accepted applicant to stage-ready. Coaching covered pitch-deck development, business-model refinement, and delivery preparation.
Field courses and field guides on instructional-design practice, alongside flagship serious games from prior work in journalism, advocacy, and public health.
An 18-minute field course on a prototype tool for mapping outcomes, modules, activities, and assessments — and the design thinking that shaped it. Built as both the artifact and the retrospective on its own scope choices.
An 8-minute field guide on why the build half of staff-led tool projects keeps getting cheaper, while the adoption half is what decides whether the work lands. Drawn from the Story Builder rebuild.
A simulation-based game teaching U.S. health-insurance literacy through an enrollment scenario. Pilot study (N=72) demonstrated measurable knowledge gains on premiums, deductibles, and network logic — published in a peer-reviewed journal.
A mobile narrative game authoring tool enabling journalists and educators to produce playable stories without writing code. Conceived, designed, and launched with Knight Foundation support; published by ETC Press at Carnegie Mellon.
A serious game on the struggles of post-9/11 veterans navigating the VA benefits system. Published with the Cronkite School's News21 project, used as a model for news-game design, and the demo game showcasing the Story Builder authoring prototype.
Nisbett, G. S., Paul, N., & James, J. — Communication Instruction in the Generation Z Classroom, ch. 8, pp. 103–114.
Champlin, S., & James, J. — JMIR Serious Games, 5(4), e22.
James, J., Hill, R., & Ingram-Goble, A. — ETC Press, Carnegie Mellon University.
James, J. — American Journalism, 34(3).
James, J., Hill, R., & Ingram-Goble, A. — ETC Press, Carnegie Mellon University.
Instructional Designer · Division of Academic Innovation
Lead Curriculum Developer · Contract
Adjunct Faculty, Speech Communication
Associate Director for Entrepreneur Education · Consulting
Senior Lecturer · Applied Design & Game Design
Senior Initiative Coordinator
Faculty Associate · Social & Behavioral Sciences
Broadcast Specialist
Consulting on curriculum design, microcredentials, QM alignment, and faculty development. Open for a conversation.