Design Educator Dialogues is a symposium to highlight local knowledge and expertise while exploring the opportunities and challenges of teaching in Upstate New York. This is an opportunity for area educators to get to know each other and our area schools. We encourage educators at all levels (K-12, Undergraduate, and Graduate) to participate. The day has been designed to emphasize dialogue and creative problem solving and will focus on topics raised by our educator community.

Schedule:

• 10:00am Check-in (Coffee/tea)
  
  
• 10:30am Introductions
  
  
• 10:45am Design as Engineering Technology (Kathleen Mahoney, SUNY Canton)
  At SUNY Canton, the Graphic and Multimedia Design department is housed in the Canino School of Engineering Technology. Similarities between the skillsets required for interactive design and engineering will be explored in this session to launch a discussion shifting instutional focus from STEM to STEAM.
  
  
• 11:30am But I'm Scared: Teaching Graphic Design Students How Not to Fear HTML + CSS (Nancy Bernardo, RIT)
  The demands of the job market are pushing Graphic Design students to understand HTML + CSS and it is our responsibility to help them grasp that understanding. This session will encourage participants to share ideas and resources that will allow desing educators to explore the many possibilities in teaching the tricky terrain of interactive design.
  
  
• 12:15pm Lunch
  
  
• 1:00pm  Class Critiques (Cindy Buckley Koren, PrattMWP)
  This session will encourage sharing techniques on how to engage design students in meaningful dialog and constructive criticism while guiding them away from “I like it” or “it’s cool” and strategies to avoid issues with overly sensitive or defensive designers.
  
  
• 1:45pm   Teaching Agency (Mitch Goldstein, RIT)
  Teaching our students to develop agency is both critically important and very difficult to develop curricula around. This roundtable will discuss tactics and strategies for teaching our students to develop a sense of self and a sense of context within graphic design. Projects, assignments, and critical frameworks will be examined and discussed.
  
  
• 2:30pm   Open Discussion & Wrap-Up

Details:
Directions and Parking

Call for Proposals:
Design educators at all levels (K-12 and Higher Ed) are invited to submit proposals for roundtable discussions on topics relevant to the design education community in Upstate New York. Educators whose proposals are accepted will be asked to frame the conversation in a 10 minute presentation and to moderate a 20 min discussion/activity. Proposals should be no longer than 300 words and should include an overview of the subject, why it is important to Upstate New York and how the moderator will engage attendees and what the expected outcomes of the session will be. Propose a session by March 26, 2016.

Session Requests:
Design educators at all levels (K-12, and Higher Ed) are invited to request sessions as follow up to our September 2015 Design Educator Dialogues event or a specific issue or topic that will help them in the work that they do. Topics that are requested will be considered for inclusion in the program. Request a session by March 26, 2016.