The 4th bi-annual Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Research Symposium is soliciting research-supported papers concerning design and educational technology.

 Theme

The symposium will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, July 18-20 in conjunction with the AECT Leadership Meetings. The symposium will bring together scholars, theorists, researchers, and other creative thinkers for an intimate conversation about design. The work of the symposium will be published in a book by Springer, publisher of ETR&D and TechTrends.

Design, from the Latin designare, to “mark out, point out, describe, design, contrive”, is a focus for many of the ideas and theories of contemporary educational technology.

Three components of the broader concept of design will form the framework of the symposium: design thinking, design process, and the design studio.

• The conscious adoption of aspects of design thinking is evident in a range of divergent professions including business, government, and medicine. Design thinking is future oriented; concerned with “the conception and realization of new things”. At its core is a focus on “planning, inventing, making, and doing.” (Cross, 1982), all of which are of value to the field of educational technology.
• For an instructional designer, an understanding of the design process is critical, often ‘drawing’ from other traditional design fields. Much of the curriculum in educational technology deals with application of models of instructional design. An examination of the design process as practiced, of new models for design, and of ways to connect theory to the development of educational products are potential topics for the symposium.
• Finally, number of leading schools of instructional design have adopted the studio form of education for their professional programs. Studio based education is intrinsic to design education in many fields, and is increasingly important within education. Research and praxis based observations will be critical to effective use, and will be examined as part of the symposium.

A balance of contributions will be solicited from the three areas; presentations will provide a rich and engaging opportunity for participants. Examples and experiences from outside the traditional boundaries of instructional design and educational technology will also enrich the discussion.

The scholarship presented will be critiqued, discussed, refined, and will ultimately culminate in an edited volume that will be published to advancing the design as it applies to education and instructional technology.

• Presentations will be in a discussion based format, with each topic beginning with a summary presentation followed by a discussion exploring the ideas presented; each symposium participant is expected to read the papers prior to the event.
• Two or three plenary speakers will address the core topics of design; design thinking, design process, and studio based education. Concurrent presentations will be integrated in to the schedule, encouraging dialog and collaboration.
• Social and recreation events will be developed to engage the participants more fully with the topic of design; non-electronic work periods will be used to examine design from a different view point; for example, a workshop on bookmaking could highlight physical aspects of studio based education. As seen at both the AECT conference and PIDT, these events are critical for building collegiality and connections within the field.

It is the intent of the symposium to not limit the presentations or presenters to a narrow definition of instructional technology, and to include a broader range of presenters to encourage an extended scope of discussion. Participants may also include architects, web designers, practitioners in social media and commerce, or those in related fields who are seeing to understand and examine design process and thinking.

In addition, this symposium is a unique learning opportunity for new and developing scholars. Non-participants are encouraged to bring a “plus one”; a graduate student or junior colleague where appropriate.

 Overview

It is the goal of the symposium to gather together a select group of scholars to share research for real dialogue and deep discussions about design, pedagogy, and studio format learning. The symposia will begin July 18, 2012 with a dinner and end on July 20, 2012 before noon. It will be held at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. As the symposium will be held in conjunction with the AECT Leadership Meeting, a favorable rate has been negotiated for the hotel of $105 per night. Conference fee (with included meals) is expected to run around $350.

 Format

Proposals/presentation abstracts will be accepted, through electronic submission via the AECT website, until January 31, 2012. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be sent by March 1, 2012. The initial form for proposals asks that interested presenters submit a short (minimum 750 words/maximum 1500 words) abstract communicating their conceptual ideas as well as how their thoughts will advance research and/or practice for new learning paradigms and technologies.

Proposals will be blind reviewed for fit with the symposium’s goals by a panel of members from the symposium advisory board. Please understand that proposals should be well developed; innovative and inspiring ideas that have yet to be fully-developed are also welcome.

Presentations at the symposium will be held in a discussion-centered environment. Each presenter will be asked to adhere to a strict 5-10 minute time-limit for formally presenting their ideas, followed by a 45-50 minute discussion period where exploration of their ideas with session attendees is expected. Note that presentations should not address single instances of design, but rather seek to find more far reaching, generalizable and valid ideas in how design is approached in the field of educational technology. Through a collaborative dialogue, this symposium is designed to push the limits of creative thinking about the transformational power of design in examining process, design thinking, and the studio based learning environments.

The general goal is for presenters to enter the symposium with a completed first draft paper, briefly present their ideas, engage in rigorous debate, and then revisit their papers to make adjustments based on the feedback from other attendees. This symposium may also open doors for scholarly collaboration opportunities as well. The expectation is that the discussion and collaboration fostered at the symposium may lead to papers that are different from the initial drafts. Should a proposal be selected and the presenter accepted, the presenter will be asked to commit to:

Strictly adhering to the presentation and discussion guidelines for the symposium.

Writing the initial proposal into a paper suitable for discussion and submitting the full paper to the symposium chairs by May 15, 2012. Failure to provide the formal paper by May 15, 2012 will result in a rescinding of the proposal acceptance and invitation to attend.

Commit to reading all papers from the other presenters prior to attending the symposium. Attendees with be given access to all of the presenters’ papers after May 15, 2012.

Attend the full symposium (including all sessions and workshops) and actively participate in all collaborative and/or group activities. Based on feedback and collaboration from symposium attendees, make adjustments to your initial paper and resubmit the final draft for publication in an upcoming Springer Press symposium book by November 1, 2012.

 Review Process/Criteria

The selection process will be designed to ensure a satisfactory mix of active participants who closely adhere to the theme of the symposium. The advisory committee will review and select proposals based on the following general criteria:

1. Relevance to topic
2. Uniqueness of perspective
3. Innovativeness
4. Research foundation
5. Strength of Argument
6. Active discussion/audience participation
7. Multidisciplinary approaches

Additional information will be distributed through TechTrends, and ETR&D and available on the AECT website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Brad Hokanson, University of Minnesota,
brad@umn.edu

Andrew S. Gibbons, Brigham Young University,
andy_gibbons@byu.edu