Ensuring the Future of Interaction Design
A field cannot be said to be flourishing if opportunities to learn the craft of that field are few and far between. Take Graphic Design, for example. Much like the field of Interaction Design, there was a time when Graphic Design didn’t exist. But arise it did in the late 19th century. And now it’s so widespread that I can’t Google “history of Graphic Design education” and get anything useful! My search results are littered with hundreds of options for degrees, certificates, and MOOCs all wanting to teach me Graphic Design.
Interaction Design, meanwhile, is still in its late 19th century.
The Interaction Design Education Summit is an event that will help bring the field into the 20th and 21st centuries. I know this because I’m one of the few people who have attended each and every one. Let me tell you the story…
In 2013, I came to the Education Summit with a ton of ideas around how to adapt the ancient practice of apprenticeship to Interaction Design education. I worked through these ideas with people at the Summit and these new revisions found their way into the first cohort of The Nerdery’s UX Apprenticeship program. In 2014 I returned to the Summit as an Instigator, facilitating a conversation about apprenticeship, newly armed with the experience of two cohorts under my belt. I took away at least as much as I gave from that conference, I’m sure (including an undying respect for the German apprenticeship model). Finally, I returned in 2015 as a speaker to talk about how at The Nerdery we’ve extended the infrastructure of apprenticeship to enable skill development at all levels of practice. There are now 11 new UX designers out there who in at least some way owe their careers to the Summit.
This is why I keep coming back every year.
I’m coming back in 2016 too, but this time Dave Malouf roped me in to be his co-chair. The experience has been amazing. Google hangouts across 10 time zones, managing submissions, and the heart-rending process of building the program… I feel honored to be involved with all of it.
In just the past three years, the educational landscape for Interaction Design has evolved substantially. The IxD Education Summit is an event at which passionate educators and practitioners can collaborate to keep that momentum going.
