Educational Designer

Design for Joy: Special Issue of Educational Designer

Call for Submissions

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Educational designers have advanced systematic approaches to developing materials that improve learning outcomes and reduce negative experiences. Yet in our current context of post-COVID learning challenges and widespread student disengagement , we argue for expanding our design goals: creating educational experiences that generate genuine joy in learning.

We call for new scholarship examining how to systematically design for disciplinary joy-building on established principles of rigorous development to understand what design approaches consistently create experiences where learners find genuine delight in thinking, knowing, and practicing within their disciplines.

This could involve work on:

• Design principles (which kinds of designs are more likely to produce joy in learners?)
• Design processes (which ways of designing and developing educational materials are more likely to result in designs that produce joy in learners?)
• Examination of particular designs that were produced
• Examination of constraints on designs or designers

This scholarship should contribute to the 'high-quality engineering' of educational materials by expanding our understanding of what constitutes systematic, research-based development to include learners' affective experiences.

Furthermore, it may involve a range of educational products, including classroom or informal context materials, educational technologies, assessments, or educator professional development. We are particularly interested in work that examines joy from learners' own perspectives and voices.

We invite contributions from educational designers and developers, the researchers who study learning, and the practitioners who implement designed materials, recognizing that progress requires communication and collaboration across the professiona community.

Key Dates

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• Structured abstracts: Aug 1, 2025
• Feedback: Sept 1, 2025
• Manuscript submission: Dec 1, 2025
• lst review decision: Feb 15, 2026
• Revisions: May 1, 2026
• Final review decisions: Jul 1, 2026
• Publication of issue: Sept 2026

Link for Submission

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Click here to submit

Download the flyer here - please share with your colleages.

Special Issue Editors

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• Christian Schunn, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
• TJ McKenna, PhD, Boston University
• Sarah Porcenaluk, PhD, University of Galway