Jessica Henderson began as an Instructional Designer for the ASC Office of Distance Education in July 2021. Prior to her current role at OSU, she served as the Director of Finance and Education at the Columbus Council on World Affairs (CCWA) where she was primarily responsible for the creation and development of both in-person and online cultural competency curriculum for a three-year experiential learning program for high school students. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from John Carroll University and a Master of Arts in Italian Studies from Ohio State.

During her time at Ohio State, Jessica served as a Graduate Teaching Associate of Italian for six years, teaching beginner-level Italian language courses and serving as a GTA for several Italian film and literature courses. In her work as an Instructional Designer, Jessica continues to employ many of the pedagogical skills that she acquired as a language instructor to create educational experiences that are both accessible and inclusive for as many students as possible. In addition to her work developing several online language courses in the College of Arts and Sciences, she is particularly interested in areas of motivation, engagement, and user experience in online learning environments. Her design strategies focus especially on incorporating multimodal means of representation and engagement, gameful learning elements, interactivity, and scenario-based learning. In addition, her past work experience as a data analyst guides her constant desire to analyze the effectiveness of her course design strategies through frequent data capturing, as well as through both student and instructor feedback.