iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jenae Cohn, PhD

Jon Becker @jonbecker.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The rough (and perhaps ironic?) part of this is that these conversations did happen, rather loudly, decades ago, through what was then known as the "open education" movement. Those of us in those spaces started a whole "domain of ones own" movement. We were mostly laughed at by administration.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The way I CACKLED reading this comment. If ONLY there were a place that could help reimagine teaching work to make conditions better for faculty and instructional staff, HMMMM

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

This is all to say that if we imagined faculty labor differently and recognized that course design IS labor that should be accessible, we would solve this problem w/out losing access for students who benefit from mobile course access. (But, again, separate issue from LMS corps being problematic).

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

AND a lack of capacity to imagine who will do the work of making the LMS a usable course portal has put the burden on students to take on the real cognitive load of poor UX design. There's a reason that, in most industries that involve user interface design, there are designers who do that work.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

This is a separate issue from the fact that higher ed has completely outsourced critical IT infrastructure/labor to an extremely problematic corporation. But I think beyond that, this sheds light on the massive ballooning faculty job and the real lack of support/imagination to repair that problem

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

This thread (and @lecagle.bsky.social's thoughtful start) has me thinking about under-appreciation (and underutilization) of instructional designers in higher education (and uneven access to IDs, particularly for contingent faculty). Instructors really don't need to reinvent usable course design!

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Wow, this looks like it was a great keynote!! Thanks for sharing your live notes and mentioning the references to _Skim, Dive, Surface._ Kind of feeling like that book's going to require a second edition to respond to really thoughtful responses like this...

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Yay, thank you for reading it!! I so appreciate your endorsement and recommendation!

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

In 2025, I listened more than I spoke. And since my blog is kind of in a frozen state because I need to overhaul it completely, I used LinkedIn (yuck, I know) to reflect on some things I liked reading and listening to this year: www.linkedin.com/pulse/some-t...

linkedin.com

Some Things that Made Me Think in 2025

In 2025, I listened more than I spoke. That's partially because I still don't really know how to balance being a present parent for a toddler, a leader for my team, a thoughtful contributor to public ...

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

We are only going to get through this with greater collaboration. The siloes between instructors who teach in the classrooms and the staff who make technology decisions are far too wide and gaping. The chickens have come to roost. (7/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

These are my gut reaction thoughts, but I think one action item instructors really should consider taking is form greater partnership with instructional staff, from CTLs to IT units to accessibility divisions. I know I'm biased since my career is as academic staff, BUT (6/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Seeing the institutional abdication of respect for instructor agency, the selection of design tools that undermine authentic personalization, makes me queasy. Students are going to have even more homogenized instructional experiences online. That will make online edu worse on the whole. (5/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

And this universal integration of AI functionality is just going to accelerate the flattening (the "enshittification," per Cory Doctorow, if you will) of online educational experiences in particular. I'm a big enthusiast for online learning (I've written two books about it!!), but... (4/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

The Canvas monopoly is troubling b/c I see how fundamentally it has reshaped instruction. So many courses are cookie-cutter. While many of Canvas's design decisions are effective (chunking content into modules, e.g.), many are hierarchical at best, destructive to student agency at worst. (3/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

My academic tech career has meant often encouraging usage of the LMS for a number of obvious reasons: it's free, secure, and accessible to students. Yet the LMS market has shrunk considerably in my 10+ years in higher ed. I can only think of a handful of institutions that don't use Canvas. (2/7)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Ted's thread brings up so many tremendous points about the erosion of instructor agency as the LMS perniciously adopts a bunch of AI. The LMS is a fascinating piece of edtech. It's simultaneously so mediocre and yet so powerful for organizing instructional logic. Essential, but inadequate. (1/7)

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Reposted by Jenae Cohn, PhD

Nuala Bishari @nuala.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Introducing COYOTE Media Collective!! The Bay Area’s first journalist-owned newsroom — modeled after the smart, sassy, fun alt-weeklies of yore — is launching later this summer. Help us get this rad project off the ground! @coyotemedia.org givebutter.com/coyotemedia

givebutter.com

Launch Coyote Media Collective

A new alt-weekly-style publication is hitting the Bay Area

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

#NoKings El Cerrito!! Probably 300-500 people here at least in our small East Bay suburb. 💛

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Rhet & comp pals: I'm trying to find a free online resource w/ foundational advice abt giving students feedback, but was finding a lot of things are feeling very dated (I used to rely on WAC Clearinghouse). What are the resources you're liking most for advice on response to student writing?

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Worried about getting students to do the reading this semester? I've curated some resources for the UVA Teaching Hub just in time for the start of Spring. Gratitude to @derekbruff.bsky.social for curating these excellent collections!

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

3. What does it look like to resist the linguistic homogenization that LLM usage may reinforce? (5/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

2. How do we discourage the surveillance logic inherent in requiring proof of seeing drafts? (e.g. I'm noticing that many instructors are asking for proof of drafting in the form of submitting evidence of writing logs and revisions in Google Docs, which is fairly invasive!) (4/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

1. What does it look like to shift perspectives on writing across the curriculum to help educators of all disciplines recognize what it means to design writing assignments that go beyond "the transactional?" (3/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

This fire rhetoric courtesy of @rcmeg.bsky.social, Jennifer Sano-Franchini, and Maggie Fernandes. Anyone who thinks about writing instruction (whether you're in the field of writing studies or not) should absolutely read this! This essay had me thinking of several follow-up questions... (2/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

"We must recognize the harms that will result when writing is primarily treated as a tool to transcribe answers, including its implications for critical thinking, democratic decision-making, and linguistic variation and expression.” 🔥 refusinggenai.wordpress.com (1/5)

refusinggenai.wordpress.com

Refusing Generative AI in Writing Studies

Visit the post for more.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Anyway, LOTS more to say here and many more questions to explore, but I was grateful for the ways that these articles tackled my increasing discomfort at celebrations over AI "solutions" that don't appear to be solving real "problems," but are, instead, undermining pedagogical expertise. (8/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Example: AI is touted as a solution for instructional "efficiency" (something both Beck and Warner speak to). "Tedious" tasks like grading are cited most frequently. But is the problem with grading that it's "tedious?" Or is the problem that grading is tedious when it's poorly designed? (7/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

If instructors don't have clear articulations of teaching challenges they're trying to solve AND if administrators are out of touch with teaching challenges, then there's a perfect vacuum for edtech solutions to swoop in and respond to ghosts of problems (6/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

The question university administrators & instructors alike should ask when considering ANY edtech adoption (and this feels particularly acute with AI) is: "what teaching problem are we trying to solve? So much edtech is a solution in search of a problem. (5/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Something I've long seen as a problem with how universities talk about edtech is that it's often in significantly binarized and instrumentalist terms. So much edtech integration is focused on the wrong questions of "what does the technology do?" That's almost always the wrong question (4/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I enjoyed reading these pieces together since they brought up a few core lingering questions for me. What *are* the core teaching values that we can agree we must preserve as core to the teaching mission? And how can those core values be communicated persuasively, clearly, and repeatedly? (3/8)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

2. @esteebeck.bsky.social's excellent & thoughtful piece on how NTT and graduate students can simultaneously resist extractive uses of GenAI while still leveraging digital platforms (and, yes, even chatbots!) to organize: cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/practic... (2/8)

cuny.manifoldapp.org

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I recommend reading these 2 articles side-by-side on how higher ed instructors can protect their value in the face of threats to substitute valuable teaching labor with AI: 1. @biblioracle.bsky.social's take on getting faculty ready for "botification" www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blog... and (1/8)

insidehighered.com

Great ready for faculty bot-ification

If we want there to be such a thing as college faculty, that is.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Delighted to chat with Joshua Kim about my chapter in "Recentering Learning!" I give a teaser on my chapter, reflect on the value of re-centering "joy" when you re-center learning at a research university, and tackle the big, bad "what about AI" question. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blog...

insidehighered.com

Three questions on "Beyond 'Zoom University'"

A conversation with Jenae Cohn on her chapter in Recentering Learning.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Delighted to receive my copy of "Recentering Learning!" My chapter, "Beyond Zoom University" makes the case that we need to think flexibly about the future of where and how learning happens with a nifty heuristic for designing digital pedagogy from a student-first perspective. #edusky

The book Recentering Learning has a blue cover with images of rippling water and is placed next to a coffee cup and a laptop on a table.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I've admittedly been mired in the world of endless learning as a new parent, but there's much to think about when it comes to the future of teaching and uplifting instructors. It really does feel like a coming home to see so many familiar ex-Twitter friends now here. 🐦 (5/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

My second book, co-authored with the late Michael Greer, is "Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning," which shows how principles from user experience research and design can and should inform effective online course development. rosenfeldmedia.com/books/design... (4/5)

rosenfeldmedia.com

Design for Learning | Rosenfeld Media

Online learning can be so dull. Enter Design for Learning. Whether you’re a novice or experienced online instructional designer, you’ll learn how to apply industry best practices, how-to examples, pow...

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

My first book, "Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital Reading" is abt how we support effective reading pedagogies w/ attention to the media of where/how/when we read. I wrote this in 2021 & need to revise this work in the AI age, but that's a work-in-progress! wvupressonline.com/node/865 (3/5)

wvupressonline.com

Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital Reading

Skim, Dive, Surface Jenae Cohn

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

But if we haven't really met, I write and think about digital pedagogy, metacognition, reading & writing practices, student/user experience in online learning design, and higher ed staff working culture. (2/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

👋🏻 Hi, new followers! I'm delighted you've found me here! I'm still slowly re-building my engagement with my beloved pedagogy network (partially due to Twitter migration, primarily due to being a new parent to an infant and figuring out where blogging fits into my professional praxis)! (1/5)

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Ahhh, thanks, Colin!! You have been instrumental in helping me build back my follower count! 😆

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

I'm feeling so sad that I'll be missing POD this year! I've got a 9 month old at home so work travel is just not on the docket until she is a little older. Have the best time in the windy city! ⭐

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 27/09/2024

Wonderful news!!! Congratulations! Can't wait to read it!

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

... With the caveat that some AI summaries of text can be unreliable, so students should get some coaching on how to develop their own skimming skills so that they don't rely upon AI generation to provide an inaccurate summary!

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

Honestly, the student use cases for skimming and finding summaries of readings described here all make perfect sense to me! If you are assigning reading simply as a content delivery mechanism, then it shouldn't matter if students take "shortcuts." www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

insidehighered.com

Students turn to AI to do their assigned readings for them

Students are turning to YouTube, podcasts and ChatGPT-crafted summaries rather than actually reading their assignments for class. Professors are unsure how to adapt.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

Anyway, I don't purport to have the answers; this podcast mostly focuses on K-12 contexts (which is outside my context in higher ed), but I still think it's worth considering that smartphones are increasingly becoming core parts of the academic experience and the context blurring is a problem.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

So, there's this funny tension between teachers who want to implement bans while also wanting to incorporate LMSs, online surveillance software, and other tools that make banning a smartphone nearly impossible. Acceptable use cases get fuzzy quickly when edtech is a core part of classrooms.

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Jenae Cohn, PhD @jenaecohn.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

... some of the paradoxes that are happening in school contexts here. Schools want to ban smartphones, but are also uncritically adopting mountains of edtech that rely critically on students' usage of smartphones. If a school adopts any kind of textbook courseware, you bet a mobile app is essential.

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