2022 Education Symposium

At the 2022 International Design Conference, the Education Symposium convened in person for the first time since 2019.

The committee had grand ambitions for the symposium: to create a highly interactive experience to prototype a new modality, the World Café; to challenge what can happen on stage; and to solicit participant feedback throughout. For the World Café–style discussions, we set up four tables in the foyer of the Recital Hall with easels, paper, Post-its, and pens. Each author was given 15 minutes to bring a small group of participants (five to eight) up to speed on their research, have a short conversation, gather visual feedback, and/or run a brief activity. After 15 minutes, the participants moved to the next table, where each author repeated the same process with a new group of participants. We did this rotation four times on the first day and three times on the second. This arrangement gave the authors three to four brief interactive sessions in which they solicited feedback and had lively discussions, as opposed to presenting their paper once in a rapid-fire style set up on stage with a brief Q&A afterward. We created experiences around three foci: 

• Re-play: Providing programming inspired by stories and play, recovering and uncovering knowledge, and embracing and addressing shortcomings and historical blind spots. 
• Re-fuel: Providing invigorating and inspiring hands-on activities, including place-base activities. 
• Re-frame: Putting the spotlight on the future and where we should head as a community of practice. 

Education Chair – Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA
Co-emcee – Owen Foster, IDSA
Co-emcee – Louise Manfredi, PhD IDSA
Co-emcee – James Rudolph, IDSA