From Michigan Online to UMSI: How Online XR Courses Sparked a Career in UX Design

For Dhruvi Jagani, the path to a career in extended reality and accessible design didn’t begin in a lab or a classroom. Instead, her journey began with an online course – taken out of pure curiosity about how the subject could enhance her learning. Dhruvi had never been shy about trying something new, but that moment put Dhruvi on a path that led her from Mumbai to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and, she hopes, a career in accessible design.

Every Journey Starts with a Spark

While her program at the University of Mumbai provided a rigorous, high-quality education, Dhruvi felt like her computer engineering degree wasn’t allowing her to express all parts of herself.

Dhruvi is an animated, soon-to-be graduate of the University of Michigan, upbeat with eyes that sparkle when she speaks, drawn to the world of art and design, but with a focus in technology. “Ever since I was little, I liked to paint and draw. During college, I found myself gravitating towards clubs and orgs where I could be more creative.” She chuckled a bit, talking about critiquing posters she noticed around campus in her head, drafting more appealing layouts for the fliers posted in common areas.

While she knew her computer engineering degree would provide her with the opportunity for a successful career, she wanted to specialize in an area that felt meaningful to her. She reached out to her current network - friends, mentors, professors - who encouraged her to explore fields like user experience design and more advanced coding practice online. “A lot of my friends were learning new coding skills in online courses,” she said. That provided the extra nudge she needed to explore more creative parts of tech. “That’s when I came across Coursera.”

She took a few courses related to her degree here and there, finding them helpful for building her LinkedIn profile for potential employers. Her exploration eventually led her to Extended Reality for Everybody, a course series from Michigan Online that surveyed the world of virtual reality, designed XR experiences, and used these technologies to enhance learning in the classroom and beyond.

Instantly, Dhruvi felt connected to the topic. She was impressed by the breadth of the course series’ material and by Associate Professor Michael Nebeling's accessible lecture style. She appreciated Nebeling’s ability to make difficult concepts seem easy, and how XR, as a discipline, seemed so user-centric. There were moments during each of the courses in the series that she could picture herself creating immersive experiences for people that felt tangible and accessible.

Before finding the course series, she knew that she wanted to pursue a graduate degree, but life after a master's felt uncertain. Extended Reality for Everybody started to bring a career pathway into view. “I had no clue what I wanted to do in undergrad. I just thought finding your career was just something that grown-ups do,” she said. “The course made a career in extended reality sound like something I could really do.”

Transitioning from Computer Programming to UX Design

“The plan was always that I’d go for my master's abroad,” she explained. When considering master's degree programs, Dhruvi initially had her sights set on an Ivy League school. But once she was introduced to Extended Reality for Everybody, her focus shifted.

The ability to step into an industry that, at the time, was just beginning to boom, and study under one of the leading professors in the field was just too good an opportunity to pass up. While still pursuing those Ivies she initially desired, she decided the University of Michigan was her first choice and submitted her application to the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UMSI).

She was home alone when the acceptance letter hit her inbox. “I usually would wait for everyone to get home to open the email,” she said. But her growing anticipation got the best of her. She just couldn’t wait.

We’re excited for you to join the Leaders & the Best this Fall.

She called her father immediately to share the news.

His response?

“You know how dads are,” Dhruvi said with a laugh. “He was like, ‘Good job, kid. Congratulations.” While his words were straightforward, Dhruvi knew from his tone how excited and proud he was. They all came together that night for an impromptu celebratory dinner.

A few months later, Dhruvi, ever the explorer, kept seeking out new experiences. Life in a new country, a new campus to learn, and a fresh new field of study to master. “I'm a person who loves to try new things. If I’m confronted with the feeling of ‘wow, I don't know much about this,’ my immediate response is, well, I want to try it.” She would go on to explore residential courses across user experience design, extended reality, and even entrepreneurship to broaden her horizons.

She’d eventually find her way back to that same professor who sparked her interest in extended reality, gaining the opportunity to work directly with Professor Michael Nebeling on a variety of projects involving cutting-edge technologies like the Meta Quest Pro and the Apple Vision Pro. Each project held a unique significance for Dhruvi, providing her with new perspectives on her work. “They were all good opportunities for me,” she said. “So much of my portfolio was built here at the University of Michigan.”

Despite beginning her college career in computer science, her knack for exploration allowed her the opportunity to dive deeper and deeper into the world of extended reality, helping spearhead projects within UMSI alongside top leaders in the field. Her time in the program would even take her and her classmates to the Augmented World Expo in Los Angeles. “Just yesterday I didn't know anything about XR, and suddenly I’m at the world's biggest XR conference.”

Focusing on an Accessible Future

Dhruvi's ambitions are still pushing her forward.

“I was just kind of aiming for having impactful courses on my profile,” Dhruvi reflected, as she thought about her original pursuit for education online. In 2022, Dhruvi discovered the XR for Everybody course series, which added unique skills to her LinkedIn profile. Now, in 2026, she’s looking toward a new endeavor as she finishes her master's degree in information: accessibility.

As an accessibility project manager for the university’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, she oversees a team of students and user experience designers to ensure that websites across departments adhere to accessibility standards and develop aesthetically pleasing interfaces.

“I want accessibility to be the system. It should not be an option or an extra addition.”

When thinking of the version of herself just two years ago, taking online courses to boost her skills and uncertain of the future, she said, “I would have been impressed by myself that, oh my god, things are really working out. I'm happy things panned out really well overall. It felt like a far-fetched dream for me. But I did it.”