Joe Schwartz - 12/31/2020
So, we're going to try and start the new decade off with a fresh perspective - upbeat, positive, forward-thinking. Who could have known a year ago what 2020 would have turned out like? I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit fatigued with what I've had to deal with this year - and I've been the lucky one! I've had close friends and relatives get ill from COVID, but no fatalities; I know people whose income was severely affected by a loss of work and as a teacher, and I was not affected; but the constant flow of bad news from the media, the struggles of trying to be the best teacher and professor I can in an online space and trying to deal with personal issues of quarantine are wearing me down.
In the past few weeks, I've seen and heard a few things related to design that have stirred my interests in taking a new tack with DESIGN-ED. We've done an excellent job of promoting the efforts of other groups that are adequate content providers; we've gathered people together into spaces where they can discuss their progress and goals; and we've fostered a community of design thinkers who have spread out across the globe to seed design education in their own backyards.
Now, it is time for DESIGN-ED to produce some original work, to start our own conversations, to toot our own horns as well as those horns that can be heard elsewhere. Our goal for 2021 is to produce this blog as a regular installment, and also start a podcast that highlights design educators and their efforts, no matter what corner of education they might inhabit. Think of it as a "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" for Design Education.
It's time...