Biography
Emily K. Johnson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of English (Technical Communication and Digital Humanities), graduate faculty in the Technical Communication MA program, and core faculty in the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program. She is co-author of Critical Making in the Age of AI (with Anastasia Salter, Amherst, 2025) and Playful Pedagogy in the Pandemic: Pivoting to Games-Based Learning (with Anastasia Salter, Routledge 2022). Johnson is currently Principal Investigator of a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education investigating the efficacy of five of her co-designed video games (computer and virtual reality) for language learning. Her work has been published in Communication Design Quarterly, Technical Communication Quarterly, Computers and Composition, Computers and Education, the Journal for Universal Computer Science, and more.
Research Interests
- digital humanities
- technical communication
- UX, UCD, human-centered design
- critical making
- educational technology
- learning games
- playful/gameful learning
- self-regulated learning
- embodied cognition
- VR, MR, AR, XR, etc.
- computer assisted language learning
Recent Research Activities
Links to some of my research projects:
- ELLE the EndLess Learner
- BeadED Adventures
- emPower through Play (UCF SEED funded project)
- And more!
Publications
Books
- Johnson, Emily K., and Anastasia Salter. Critical Making in the Age of AI. Amherst College Press, 2025. ISBN 978-1-943208-96-8 (Open Access). https://services.publishing.umich.edu/Books/C/Critical-Making-in-the-Age-of-AI3
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Johnson, Emily K., and Anastasia Salter. Playful Pedagogy in the Pandemic: Pivoting to Game-Based Learning. Taylor & Francis, 2022.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003281696/playful-pedagogy-pandemic-emily-johns...
Articles/Essays
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Johnson, Emily Kuzneski. "What Video Games Can Tell Us About Interactive Technical Communication." Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2025): https://doi.org/10.1177/00472816251371625
- Johnson, Emily K. “Teaching Liberatory Design.” Communication Design Quarterly Special Issue on UX Pedagogy, vol. 12, no. 3, 2024, pp. 59-70. DOI: 10.1145/3658422.3658427.
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Johnson, E.K. (2022). The Aural-Visual Rhetoric in Video Game Tutorials. Technical Communication Quarterly, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2021.2021452
- Johnson, Emily K., and Anastasia Salter. “Embracing Discord? The rhetorical consequences of gaming platforms as classrooms.” Computers and Composition 65 (2022): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2022.102729.
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Johnson, E.K., Giroux, A.L., Merritt, D., Vitanova, G., Sousa, S. (2020). Assessing the Impact of Game Modalities in Second Language Acquisition: ELLE the EndLess LEarner. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 26(8), 880-903.
Book Sections/Chapters
- Vitanova, G., Johnson, E.K., Sousa, S., Giroux, A., and Merritt, D. (2022). Gameful teaching: Exploring language teacher identity and agency through videogames. In H. Kayi-Aydar and J. Reinhardt (Eds.) Language Teacher Development in Digital Contexts. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Conference Papers/Presentations
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Kong, Yingzi*, and Emily
K. Johnson. “Work-in-Progress—Cozy Games for Learning: Vocabulary Practice
with Anim-ELLE Crossing.” 10th International Conference of the
Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), 2024,
https://doi.org/10.56198/U6C0WIZ5O.
*student co-author - Johnson, E.K. (2023). Supporting Self-Regulated Learning in a User-Centered Design Course. In Proceedings of the 41st ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1145/3615335.3623043
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Johnson, E.K. (2023). “It’s all the same words, but It’s not”: ChatGPT as TPC Assistant. Presented at 42nd ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC ’23) October 26, 2023.
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Johnson, E.K. and Vitanova, G. (2023).
“You have to play your homework!”: An analysis of student reflections on an
educational computer game” Presented at 42nd ACM International
Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC ’23) October 26, 2023.
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Johnson, E.K. (2021). Just @Me: Digitally-Mediated Team Communication in a Pandemic. In 39th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC ’21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY: 315-318. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3472714.3473658
Awards
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Award. University of Central Florida. 2025.
- College of Arts and Humanities Research Excellence Award. University of Central Florida, 2025.
- Research Incentive Award. University of Central Florida, 2024.
- Honorable Mention: Chuck
D. Dziuban Award for Excellence in Online Teaching, University of Central
Florida, 2023. One winner and one honorable mention selected university-wide.
2023
- Champion of Undergraduate Research: Rising Star Faculty Award, University of Central Florida, 2023. One of two honorees university-wide.
- International Research and Studies Program, US Department of Education. Exploring Language Learning with Educational Computer and VR Games. $295,582. Role: PI.
Courses
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 93220 | AML3614 | Topics in African American Lit | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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The goal of this course is to attempt to answer certain questions raised by the African-American presence in American life through its literature by addressing issues of identity and ethnicity; in other words, looking at the implications of what it means to be “African American” as explored through literature, tied to the larger construct of the relationship between race and art. How does the African-American or Black artist negotiate what Du Bois again concluded to be the “strangeness of being black in America?” At the end of this semester we may come to some understanding of the aesthetic as well as historical, and even political dimensions of African-American literature by examining how African American writers have used different artistic and narrative techniques to raise questions, explore, and even expand the relationship between history and art. |
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| 83349 | CRW3211 | Creative Nonfiction Workshop Ⅰ | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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This course will introduce students to an intensive writing and workshop class that will hopefully challenge their assumptions and their practices of this genre of creative nonfiction. It will focus on the different forms of the essay, examine the various category of works from across the genre, the broad and inclusive character of the genre; and questions of craft and technique. We will explore how more established writers of Creative Nonfiction have used language to stir or move us with their figurative use of language. In our own writing exercises, students will be encouraged to experiment with form; take risks with language and with subject, and challenge the limits of the form where possible and necessary. We will focus particularly on the variegated and multivalent nature of content—travel writing, science writing, sports, the place of self and memory, unique and significant encounters, etc.—that have given form and meaning to this evolving mode of Creative Writing. We will examine the boundaries of biography and autobiography; the uses and limits of the imagination in Creative Nonfiction; the texture of critical and literary journalism, and the differences between literalness and literariness in Creative Nonfiction. How does language, for instance, reveal subtler truths in Creative Non Fiction? How do images work in Creative Nonfiction? How, in short, does Creative Nonfiction, utilize the creative elements of the other modes in the genre to build itself. In other words, we will read both for content as well as to discover and understand the figurative uses of language; character development; setting, tension, pace, and the use of dialogue in nonfiction. I will encourage students to pay special attention to these because they will be important principles and mastery of them will be key in the process and evolution of our writing in this class. Writing and workshopping in this course will, needless to say, be intensive, the horizon, broad. Students will be required to read very closely and respond thoughtfully to each other’s nonfiction projects during workshops. |
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| 82487 | CRW4616 | Scriptwriting Workshop Ⅱ | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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This is an advanced-level scriptwriting workshop for English majors. It includes intensive writing practice in screenwriting, peer critique group discussion of original manuscripts, and research on the screenwriting industry. We will also view films and read the scripts of films to get a deeper understanding of formatting and story structure. In this course, we will discuss how to write scripts well and examine advanced scriptwriting techniques. We will also learn to read, analyze, and critique our own work and the work of our peers. |
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| 83538 | DIG3171 | Tools for Digital Humanities | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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This High-Impact Practice (HIP) Research Intensive (RI) course examines the digital humanities through the lens of critical making. A “High Quality Online” designated course, Tools for the Digital Humanities provides an introduction to digital humanities discourse, intentional design, multimodal development, and digital tools. Topics of study include a wide range of creation and analytic tools for the digital humanities. Students will create a research project using critical making methods and tools that can presented in the Amy Zeh High-Impact Practice Student Showcase at the end of the semester for extra credit. |
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| 83037 | ENC3241 | Writing for Technical Prof | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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Students will take on the role of professional technical communicators as they explore the purpose, audience, and genre conventions of technical documents across disciplines. Students will learn about the use of style, content organization, standard document formats, rhetoric, and ethics when preparing technical communication. Assignments may include writing effective correspondence, formal and informal reports, job application materials, and proposals. |
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| 83048 | ENC4293 | Doc and Project Management | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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Development of a book-length project from idea to final published product. Examples may include style manuals, policies and procedures, and training manuals. Students will develop collaboration skills gained in previous experience such as ENC 3241, other courses, or workplace experience. Students will apply these skills to develop a substantive technical communication product with a team. |
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| 83772 | ENC4293 | Doc and Project Management | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
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Students will collaborate in teams to write cohesive and clear chapters which will be collated into a book-length style guide from idea to final published product. Students will develop their project management, communication, teamwork, time management, organization, and technical writing skills, including audience awareness, purpose, document design, style, and content. |
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| 93743 | LIT4433 | Literature of Science and Tech | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable | |
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20227 | ENC3241 | Writing for Technical Prof | Web-Based (W) | 7:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Unavailable |
| 19610 | ENG6813 | Interdisciplinary Teaching | Mixed Mode 20% classroom (MR) | M 6:00 PM - 7:50 PM | Unavailable |