About
Our Purpose
The purpose of the Communication Design Educators Network (CDEN) is to advance design education by sharing and cultivating best practice in scholarship, research and design practice. The CDEN seeks to promote and advocate for the value of tertiary design education, the social and cultural importance of design for society and the economy, and to connect design educators across Australia and internationally.
The CDEN respects the multiplicity of communication design practice with our intent to be an open and inclusive platform for connecting design educators at all stages of their careers.
History
The Communication Design Educators Network (CDEN) resulted from a conversation between Veronika Kelly (University of South Australia) and Robert Harland (Loughborough University, UK) at the Design Research Society Conference in 2016 regarding the positive impact of a graphic design education network in the UK and the potential benefit of a similar network for communication design education in Australia. Subsequently, design educators from tertiary institutions across the country were contacted to assess their interest in forming an Australian communication design education network. The support was overwhelmingly positive and seed funding was provided by ACUADS to host the inaugural forum and develop an online platform. In 2017, Laurene Vaughan (RMIT University) and Veronika Kelly co-convened a national cross-institutional forum that brought together senior communication design educators representing 15 tertiary institutions from across Australia. The forum kicked off with the provocation ‘what are university design degrees good for?’ as a means of foregrounding the challenges facing design education today and the opportunities into the future. There was strong agreement about the need to better promote and advocate for design education politically and industrially, and the importance of strengthening design research culture, profile, and impact beyond the immediate academic community.
Discussions also focused on what a sustainable ‘Australian Communication Design Educators Network’ might concern itself with and ways in which to build connection and engagement, knowledge sharing and critical debate. The forum and subsequent discussions with CDEN colleagues at ACUADS conferences (2017, 2019) and the online platform launched in 2019, have further facilitated conversations about design education futures, and are seeding opportunities for wider engagement with similar, established design education networks and associations globally.
This platform could not have come about without support from colleagues Myra Thiessen, Katrina Sandbach and Martina Budimir, and the Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS).
The inaugural forum and establishment of this online platform were supported by the Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS).
Website design: Martina Budimir. CDEN Logo: Katrina Sandbach. Website development: Myra Thiessen, Katrina Sandbach, Veronika Kelly.
Thanks to everyone
who contributed to
the inaugural forum
In 2017 correspondence was sent to design educators and program leaders from 25 tertiary institutions in Australia, inviting participation in the forum and responses to a series of questions. Contributions were received from 14 universities. This input helped set the agenda for the cross-institutional forum. The following individuals participated in the inaugural forum:
Dr Gene Bawden
Monash University
Dr Philip Ely
Curtin University
Mr Stuart Gluth
Charles Darwin University
Dr Jacqueline Gothe
University of Technology Sydney
Dr Raghavendra Gudur
University of Canberra
Dr Neal Haslem
RMIT University
Ms Sarah Jones
University of Tasmania
Dr Veronika Kelly
University of South Australia
Dr Mike McAuley
Griffith University
Assoc. Prof. Stuart Medley
Edith Cowan University
Assoc. Prof. Mark Roxburgh
University of Newcastle
Ms Katrina Sandbach
Western Sydney University
Dr Oksana Selenko
Queensland University of Technology
Ms Rita Siow
Ico-D
Ms Christine Smith
Federation University
Mr Matthew Smith
TAFESA
Dr Myra Thiessen
University of South Australia
Prof. Laurene Vaughan
RMIT University
Communication Design Educators Network Inaugural Forum | 16 March 2017 | University of South Australia