AUDIENCE
Working professionals in management, policy, or decision-making, or anyone interested in understanding the role of human behavior, risk, and decision-making in the real world.
DATE
Dec 15, 2024
SMEs
Kai Ruggeri
Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health
TASKS
PROBLEM STATEMENT
In today’s world, decisions made by individuals and organizations profoundly shape outcomes in health, education, governance, and business. Yet, despite the growing availability of data and technology, many policies and interventions still fail to account for how people actually think and behave. Traditional models often assume rational decision-making, overlooking the psychological, social, and contextual factors that drive human actions.
This gap between intended outcomes and real-world behavior has led to costly inefficiencies - whether in healthcare compliance, public policy adoption, employee engagement, or consumer decision-making. As a result, there is an urgent need for professionals who can understand, predict, and influence behavior using evidence-based approaches.
The Foundations of Behavioral Science course responds to this need by equipping learners with a scientific understanding of human behavior and practical tools for behavioral intervention and evaluation.
THE PROCESS
The Foundations of Behavioral Science course was developed in close collaboration with Dr. Kai Ruggeri, Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. As a world-renowned expert on behavioral science and analytics, Dr. Ruggeri provided the academic direction and research expertise that grounded the course in evidence-based theory and practice. As the Instructional Designer, I participated in the end-to-end design and development process following the ADDIE framework from conceptualization to post-production evaluation.
Analyze (Click to open)
Our team worked with Dr. Ruggeri to clarify learning goals and identify the target audience: professionals and students interested in applying behavioral insights across public policy, health, and management. I also conducted a gap analysis of existing behavioral science offerings to determine how this course could uniquely bridge theory and practice.
Design (Click to open)
I and my colleagues worked closely with Dr. Ruggeri to translate research and lecture materials into a cohesive course structure organized around three phases: foundations, applications, and implementation. We colloborated to designed module-level learning objectives, developed assessment strategies, and created storyboards that balanced conceptual rigor with learner accessibility.
Develop (Click to open)
I collaborated with the production team to script and film lectures, ensuring alignment between narrative flow, visuals, and pedagogical intent.
One of the aspects I’m most proud of in developing Foundations of Behavioral Science was designing the interactive learning activities that brought Dr. Ruggeri’s concepts to life. Behavioral science can be theory-heavy, so I wanted learners not only to understand principles like nudging, risk perception, and social norms, but also to experience how they work in real decision contexts. Working closely with Dr. Ruggeri, I transformed case studies and research findings into hands-on exercises—such as behavioral diagnosis simulations, “nudge design” challenges, and reflection prompts that ask learners to predict outcomes before seeing real-world data. These activities encouraged learners to think critically, test their assumptions, and apply behavioral frameworks to practical scenarios in healthcare, management, and policy. Seeing how these interactives made abstract concepts tangible—and how they helped learners connect theory to action—was one of the most rewarding parts of the design process.
Implement (Click to open)
I coordinated with editors and platform engineers to ensure the course met Columbia+ standards for accessibility, pacing, and user experience. This included QA testing and refining visuals, captions, and activity sequencing to support learner engagement.
Evaluate (Click to open)
I facilitated iterative feedback loops with Dr. Ruggeri, refining the videos and interactives based on learner experience principles and subject-matter accuracy. The course underwent internal reviews for clarity, diversity of examples, and behavioral validity before launch.
Through this collaborative process, I helped transform Dr. Ruggeri’s expertise into an engaging, research-driven learning experience that equips learners with both the scientific foundations and applied tools of behavioral science.
FINAL PRODUCT
The Foundations of Behavioral Science course launched successfully on Columbia+, reaching over 3,000 learners around the world across sectors such as healthcare, public policy, finance, and education.
