2020 Education Symposium

When the IDSA Education Council was exploring the theme for this year’s Education Symposium, little did we know what was to come our way. Once the initial shock of the pandemic subsided and we found some footing again (although still in disbelief that the pandemic was here to stay for a while), we were delighted to have received so many submissions despite the fact that everybody’s lives had been upended. Thanks to our experienced and dedicated reviewers—a mixed group of educators and researchers—a total of nine papers were selected, eight of which were presented and discussed during the Education Symposium as part of the 2020 International Design Conference. (For our tenure-seeking faculty, the acceptance rate was 34%.) 

The intent behind the theme of Design Exchange was to share knowledge and learn from each other by spanning the academic-practice divide. The symposium aimed to foster greater collaboration across fields of study as well as across academia and practice. It brought together educators, practitioners, and students from different disciplines with varying experiences and expertise. We invited participants to come together as a community of designers by trade and designers by heart. 

The papers presented covered a wide array of topics ranging from interdisciplinary problem-solving to the circular economy to using design fiction to teach ethics in design. We had an interaction designer moderate a panel discussion that included two occupational therapists, an industrial designer, and a hybrid engineer-designer, going well beyond our wildest dreams of crossing disciplines and professions. We learned how two designers at MIT explore design thinking in the realm of systems engineering and that going back to grad school after an already quite successful career can be very fulfilling. And we were inspired by two of our most passionate educators and designers talking about merging industry and education, encouraging us to take risks, break the rules, aim high- and not to follow the crowd—but to work together. 

Being in this virtual environment, as our panel moderator Keith Instone put it, allowed us to be more inclusive than ever. We had a freshly minted first-time mother with a newborn participate in the panel discussion, which made her my personal conference hero. Congrats again, Louise Manfredi! As emcee of the Education Symposium, I had the incredible luxury to have Aziza Cyamani by my side as my co-emcee, which probably would not have happened in person. And all the authors of the accepted papers were able to participate, which under previous circumstances might not have been the case for budget reasons. Although we missed out on the serendipitous run ins that occur during an in-person conference, we were thrilled to have reached so many people across the globe. We truly hope to have inspired and maybe even shaken up the design community with the curated content in the short talks, Q&As, panel discussions, the SMA West district winner, and a thought-provoking, inspirational, and encouraging keynote.

Education Chair – Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA
Co-emcee – Aziza Cyamani, IDSA