Design in Educational Technology: Design Thinking, Design Process, and the Design Studio

​This book is the result of a research symposium sponsored by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology [AECT]. The fifteen chapters were developed by leaders in the field and represent the most updated and cutting edge methodology in the areas of instructional design and instructional technology. The broad concepts of design, design thinking, the design process, and the design studio, are identified and they form the framework of the book. This book advocates the conscious adoption of a mindset of design thinking, such as that evident in a range of divergent professions including business, government, and medicine. 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. Additionally, the book endeavors to develop a deep understanding of the design process in the reader. It is a critical skill, often drawing from other traditional design fields. An examination of the designprocess as practiced, of new models for design, and of ways to connect theory to the development of educational products are all fully explored with the goal of providing guidance for emerging instructional designers and deepening the practice of more advanced practitioners. Finally, as a large number of leading schools of instructional design have adopted the studio form of education for their professional programs, we include this emerging topic in the book as a practical and focused guide for readers at all levels.

This volume, representing the best papers presented at the 2012 AECT Summer Research Symposium, focuses on the conscious adoption of aspects of design thinking, evident in a range of divergent professions (including business, government, and medicine), extended to the field of education. Design thinking is future oriented, concerned with "the conception and realization of new things," and at its core is focused on "planning, inventing, making, and doing" (Cross, 1997, p.1), all of which are of value to the field of educational technology.

Chapters in the volume focus on design thinking, design process, and the design studio and were solicited from the general membership of the Association of Educational Communications and Technology and then evaluated by a panel of experts and the two symposium co-chairs. Examples and experiences from outside the traditional boundaries of instructional design and educational technology enriched and balanced the discussion. This dynamic and multidisciplinary structure forms the basis and the inspiration for the chapters of this book. From their own viewpoints, from their own academic venues, fifteen authors express their diverse experience and views of design in a process fashioned to elicit and develop their best ideas and explanations.

This is the ideal book for instructional designers, researchers in educational technology and instructional technology, and anyone interested in finding both new models of designing and new ways to connect theory to the development of a wide range of educational products.