Instructional Systems Technology doctoral student Victoria Abramenka-Lachheb and IST alumnus Ahmed Lachheb won first place in the AECT 2021 Research and Theory Inaugural Competition.

The award was given by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology at their recent conference. Both Abramenka-Lachheb and Lachheb said they were extremely happy, honored and humbled to receive the award: “We did not expect the first place knowing the competition was tough and we were competing with scholars and professors who we admire, and some of their papers were assigned readings in our IST classes. This award keeps us motivated to continue our scholarly efforts with rigor and ethically-driven processes, as our professors taught us.”

Their winning paper entry was a response to the competition prompt "What theories should Learning Design and Technology (LDT) researchers consider to provide context, explanation and critique to the field?” In their paper and presentation, they recommended that LDT researchers rely on broader descriptive design theory (such as the works of their mentor and professor Erik Stolterman and Professor Elizabeth Boling), and critical theory (such as the works of IST Alumni Deepak Subramony) to provide context, explanation and critique to the field. 

“Our argument is based on the premise that LDT is primarily concerned with the subject of design—process and outcomes, thus, LDT is a design discipline par excellence! We also made an argument in our paper and presentation that we, LDT researchers, need to step out of our intellectual comfort zone and rely on rigorous theoretical tools from other design disciplines and/or theories that are not originated in LDT but applicable to LDT, so our discipline continues to face the grand challenges we are facing in the post-COVID-19 world.”

As a part of the competition, Abramenka-Lachheb and Lachheb will be working on expanding their paper and presentation and turning it into a book chapter that will be published by AECT, along with the other five finalist presentations.