Regional – Experience: Redesign of the Education Landscape

Science suggests that we have explored only five to seven percent of the ocean floor and less than one-half percent of its entirety. Much like the ocean, the future landscape of education is unexplored and an intriguing unknown. The opportunity for us as educators, designers, and researchers is to embrace the role of an explorer and create change through our work in order to shape, rather than adapt to, the shifting educational landscape. We must explore this opportunity through innovation in research, evolution in design, and transformation in pedagogy, specifically focused on the aesthetic qualities of the learner experience. In this presentation I will share the design and research evolution of three contemporary projects that have impacted more than 25 million learners and educators around the world. These projects range from a seven-continent expedition focused on the intersection of education and sustainability, an e-assessment environment for world language learning, and a platform designed to afford students and teachers with a global voice for reflection and discussion. Ultimately, it is my hope that these narratives will stimulate discussion about our roles as designers, educators, and researchers in the fields of instructional design, learning sciences, and interaction design. #TCCReEd

Dr. Charles Miller is an Associate Professor of Learning Technologies and Co-Director of the LT Media Lab in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Miller’s research explores opportunities to transform education through design, bridging the gap between aesthetic learning experiences and contemporary interaction design. With nearly two decades of new media design, development, and research experience, Miller has received awards from organizations such as Yahoo!, AIGA, USA Today, The Washington Post, American Scientist, IBM, Adobe, SITE, and AECT for his work on projects ranging from environmental expeditions and political campaigns to information visualization platforms and mobile education initiatives. Miller has published more than one hundred journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings on the role of design in education; has received more than ten million dollars in federal grant, foundation, and corporate funding; and has given hundreds of talks on design in education around the globe.