IDEC Virtual Fall Symposium 1

Due to COVID-19, the Interior Design Educators Council [IDEC], is pivoting. Instead of in-person Regional Conferences, all five Regional Chairs are collaborating to offer three virtual symposia, which will offer educators an opportunity to share and grow from their experiences.

IDEC Virtual Fall Symposium 1:

TEACH TO REACH: STRATEGIES FOR THE NEW REALITY

Online education is synonymous with teaching remotely. On its face, it refers to the use of teleconferencing platforms to work with students at distant locations; that is, being physically remote. However, when we speak of individuals as remote, it’s not a compliment. It means they are distant, unengaged, and hard-to-reach.

When a professor presents material to a class, what aspects of students’ reactions may be harder to perceive and address online? Is there a loss of feedback in the online environment? Are students more likely to ask questions in person? Are they more likely to express emotional reactions in person? Or does the distance of virtual learning help (some) students to communicate the ideas and feelings that the educator needs to know about in order to teach effectively?

The student-to-student dynamic also changes when students no longer share a physical space. Again, our pedagogical question is how the educator can harness the new dynamic to teach more effectively. For example, how do students’ contacts with each other on social media compare to their in-person contacts before, during, and after an in-person class? Should those who teach adjust their methods to reflect the new reality?

Long before the introduction of online learning, there was a tradition of leaving the classroom on a fine spring day, to conduct class on a campus lawn. That experience, for both teachers and students, suggests some of the effects of our immediate surroundings on our teaching and learning process. We still need to consider the experiential aspects of education, even when the surroundings are intangible.

About IDEC

The mission of The Interior Design Educators Council, Inc. is the advancement of interior design education, scholarship, and service. IDEC, the professionally recognized association for interior design educators in North America, was conceived in 1962 and was named and formalized at its first conference in 1963. As described in its first Constitution, the stated purpose of the organization was to be “dedicated to the development and improvement of interior design education,” to establish and strengthen ‘lines of communication between individuals, educational institutions and organizations concerned with interior design,” and to strive “to improve teaching of interior design, and through it the professional level of interior design.” This broad purpose enabled IDEC’s founders to lay the foundation for a long and significant history, one that has had a major impact on the interior design profession.