I’ve just returned from PIDT 2004 (Professors of Instructional Design and Technology). This annual meeting is held alternatively in Colorado and Virginia. This year was Virginia (Smith Mountain Lake) which is about a five hour drive from Greenville.
This was a very valuable experience, primarily because it is an opportunity to spend extended blocks of time discussing research and teaching in IDT in an informal setting. This year’s meeting was hosted by Virginia Tech. Curriculum and session planners were Barbara Lockee of Virginia Tech and Brendan Calandra of Georgia State U..
Attendance at the meeting was 99–25 graduate students and the rest faculty. 27 different IDT university programs were represented. Many of the prominent scholars in our field were present.
Sessions topics included:
Current research questions
Journals and publishing
A “new professionals” track
Concerns in the field
Balancing job roles
Curriculum sharing
Program development and quality standards
Technology and teacher education
Finding a job and interviewing
Defining the field
Internationalism in the field
Emerging tools and technologies
I attended as many sessions as possible, particularly those on defining the field, scholarship, and emerging technologies. I also got some technology tutoring from the patient David Wiley as I am learning XML, XHTML, CSS and some beginning web scripting with Python (a scripting language like Perl). Very handy for building online instructional tools and environments. Because most attendees are also AECT members, we also discussed many AECT issues, including the upcoming board meeting and strategic planning session in June in Chicago.
Next year’s meeting is again in Estes Park, Colorado. I think it is May 13-16, 2005. Next year the conference will be hosted by Brigham Young University, instead of the previous host, U. of Northern Colorado. Conference Planners are David Wiley of Utah State U., and Stephanie Allen of BYU.
