• From the Chair
• SAVE THE DATE – 2021 Virtual Conference
• The Eddie – ISDDE Prize 2020
• Special award to Daniel Pead
• Educational Designer e-Journal
• Update your details
• Your ISDDE

From the Chair

Greetings from California!

What a year it has been! The impacts of the pandemic across our global societies have been severe, with educators, and indeed students and parents facing unprecedented educational challenges. I can’t speak to what’s happening in your countries, but on a positive note, in the United States we have observed some promising developments emerging from the chaos, related to the ways that COVID has enabled the normally slow-moving enterprise of education to break from the status quo. Freed from the rationale of “we always do it this way,” we have seen many school districts reconsidering priorities, and figuring out ways to be more strategic. As we moved from those first months of COVID, when just surviving remote teaching and learning was the goal, to early and courageous explorations of what could work better, we see a nation full of teachers, schools, and districts trying out different ways of moving forward. The path has been strewn with challenges —as most quests for innovation are—but there are glimmers of hope and even opportunity. 

The same is true for our need to innovate the ways we learn together in ISDDE. While we initially thought the decision to postpone the Fall 2020 in-person ISDDE conference in Nottingham, UK would result in a one-year conference hiatus, and we’d see each other in Fall 2021, it has seemed clear that we need to rethink our ways of engaging.

We are excited to announce an upcoming ISDDE Virtual Conference on Wednesday March 24, 2021. This conference, hosted by teams of ISDDE members from Australia, the UK, and the US, will involve three consecutive 3-hour phases of programming, each with its own flavor, all unfolding across a single day. At least two of the three conference phases will be easily accessible to you, whether you are living in the Far East, Europe/Africa, or the Americas. Depending on your interests and time zone, you may choose to attend just one of those 3-hour phases of the conference, or more. And there will be ways of catching up with content you wished you could attend but couldn’t make the times work. Make sure to read the article in this newsletter that describes the learning opportunities in this first-ever ISDDE Virtual Conference; and stay tuned for the regular updates.

Be sure to also not miss information in this newsletter about this year’s ISDDE prize for excellence in STEM design (“The Eddie”) as well as information about a pause in the yearly reconstitution of the membership of the ISDDE Executive Committee, in order to implement a plan to reach out to a broader diversity of individuals who can help shape ISDDE moving forward.

This is also the time for me to hand over the ISDDE mantle to Chair-Elect Chris Schunn. Thanks to all for your support!  I’ll still be in the mix for another year fulfilling my duties as Past-Chair. 

Here is wishing you a safe next few months. Looking forward to seeing folks at the March Virtual Conference.  Until then, stay healthy (and stay home)!

Jacquey

Jacqueline Barber, Chair 2019-20

SAVE THE DATE – Wednesday 24 March

ISDDE Virtual Conference 2021

The first online international day conference for ISDDE will be held on Wednesday March 24th, 2021. The conference will be hosted in three phases across 24 hours with three-hour components from Far East, Europe/Africa and Americas time zones.

The teams in each region are working separately and collectively to bring you a diverse and engaging program that will include plenaries, interviews, panels and discussions. Another exciting aspect will be a chance for participants to meet and hear from the winner of the 2020 ISDDE Prize – The Eddie – for excellence in design for education in mathematics, science or technology.

Some practical details include:

• The conference will use the Zoom platform
• Registration, which will be free, will open in mid-February
• Participants will be able to attend all three components as they wish (and are able to be awake!)
• Some pre-recorded video presentations will be available on the conference website  a week before the conference
• Recordings of sessions will be available through the ISDDE website after the conference.

The organising team will provide regular updates over the coming weeks through special notes distributed to readers of this newsletter. You can also check the ISDDE website for information.

Geoff Wake, Coordinator of ISDDE Virtual Conference 2021

The Eddie – ISDDE Prize 2020

The Prize Committee has decided on the winner of the 2020 ISDDE Prize and will make a formal announcement shortly. And you'll be able to hear from the winner at the March virtual conference (see above).

ISDDE has  two types of prize:

• The well established ISDDE Prize for well documented excellence in STEM design.
• The new Bell Burkhardt Daro Shell Centre Awards for early-career educational designers.

You can read about these awards, and about past winners of the ISDDE Prize here.

Geoff Wake, Chair of the ISDDE Prize Committee

Special award to Daniel Pead

From Hugh Burkhardt, Founder Executive Chair of ISDDE

I was delighted that the ISDDE Executive decided to give Daniel a

"Special Award for outstanding service to ISDDE, in recognition of his role as Design Editor of Educational Designer - in the establishment of the journal and its design and publication since 2008, especially by enabling the publication of illustrative multimedia examples”.

In early December I was happy to lurk down the road in Nottingham at the time of the surprise Zoom presentation ceremony so I could hand him, appropriately distanced of course, a framed certificate of a kind he had so often created.

To enlarge on the the citation, the form of everything you see in Educational Designer is down to Daniel. More than that, the realisation of the concept that we so blithely conceived at the 2006 Oxford Conference - of choosing an online format so that designs  could be fully illustrated through internal links - was a major creative challenge, splendidly realised by Daniel. The ultimate challenge, perhaps, was our recent joint paper on the design strategies and tactics that the Shelll Centre team developed - he remarked that it was as much work as 30 normal articles. Explore it and you will see why - the concept was mine but the richness of the realisation was Daniel’s.

More broadly, the same was true for ISDDE itself. In his role as Secretary from its formal foundation in 2005 until recently, he devised the essential processes for this 'light touch’ organisation of busy people - membership, elections, communications and much else. Critically, he kept an eye on the overall picture, often reminding me and subsequent chairs of things that might have otherwise slipped by - a role he still occasionally plays from the sidelines! Societies like ours depend on key individuals for their ongoing success. Among these Daniel Pead was outstanding.

Educational Designer e-Journal

Just a reminder that Issue 13 is now available. 

All information for submitting articles can be found under Guide to contributors on the website. Education Designer is peer reviewed. Please consider writing for the Journal and adding to the literature in the field of education design.

Kaye Stacey, Editor-in-Chief

Update your details

Have you changed jobs since becoming a Fellow or Member of ISDDE? Have you let ISDDE know about these changes and updated your contact details? ISDDE keeps records of email contact and  current professional affiliation or role for all Fellows and Members. These details are kept confidential and are primarily used by the Society to keep you informed of news, conferences, elections and other relevant information.
If you need check or update what information we hold about you, please contact the Secretary at secretary@isdde.org.

And remember, you can use the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the page if you no longer wish to receive  this Newsletter

Kristen Tripet, ISDDE Secretary

Your ISDDE

About ISDDE

ISSDE was formed to help those dedicated to raising the quality of design of educational processes and materials to work effectively as a coherent professional design and development community. The society's Background Paper provides information about the mission and activities of ISDDE.

Educational designers around the world are invited to consider becoming a member of ISDDE.

Executive Committee

Welcome Chris Schunn to the role of ISDDE Executive Chair for 2021-2022. We extend a big thank you to Jacquey Barber for all her work in the role of Executive Chair in 2019-2020.

The Executive Committee of ISDDE is responsible for running the Society and its activities. Currently, the committee consists of nine officers and six regular executive members.

Some of the current Executive will conclude their term on the committee at the end of 2021. Elections for these positions will occur later in the year. More information will be circulated prior to these elections.

The ISDDE Executive Committee does its work through several sub-committees. Please use the email links to the Chairs and those coordinating the sub-committees included if you have any matters you would like to raise for consideration at any time.

ISDDE Executive Committee

Chair: Chris Schunn (2021-22)

Immediate Past Chair: Jacquie Barber

Secretary and Treasurer: Kristen Tripet

Editor-in-Chief of the Journal: Kaye Stacey

Conference Coordinator 2021: Geoff Wake

Prize: Geoff Wake

Communications: Lucy Rycroft-Smith (Lead); Leslie Dietker (Website); Will Morony. (Newsletter).

Membership: Cornelia Connolly

Other members: Peter Boon, Phil Daro, Lynn McClure, Susan McKenney, Betty Phillips and David Webb.

The ISDDE Newsletter

The ISDDE newsletter is normally published three times each year.

We welcome any and all feedback to help improve the newsletter; we especially welcome contributions from members of the education design community around the world