10th Academics and Practitioners Roundtable
2025 Information Architecture Conference in Philadelphia, PA, USA
Tuesday April 29, 2025, 9:00 - 5:00
The pioneers of UX as a craft were trained and skilled in diverse arenas–library science, psychology, computer science, graphic design, marketing, human factors. Some came from academia, the majority from industry.
Degree programs in user experience-related fields began emerging in the late 1980s-early 2000s, following the development of practice. Thus academic programming at an institution appears to reflect the antecedents of its founders.
Undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate degrees can now be obtained in UX and IA at higher education institutions worldwide. But what comprises a great education in these fields? Past IA Roundtable participants have observed significant gaps between "okay" and "excellent" learning experiences.
At the 10th IA Roundtable, participants will engage in a lively and highly participatory exploration into how UX and IA are taught around the world. The immediate objective is to outline a framework for a research effort exploring key standing questions. The overarching goal is to improve 1) the quality and effectiveness of UX and IA education to career and real-world outcomes; and 2) the quality and relevance of academic UX and IA research.
Andrea Resmini
Halmstad University
Stacy Merrill Surla
University of Maryland / Stellar UX
Dan Klyn
The Understanding Group / University of Michigan
Dan Zollman
Independent Consultant, Dialogue for Design
This Roundtable is designed for people interested in improving the teaching of IA, UX and related disciplines at the university level, who are keen to be part of developing a vision and a plan for improving UX education and outcomes.
The goal is for the teaching of UX to be better, so that graduates do their work better and get better jobs, or do better research.
Specific outputs of this year's Roundtable include:
As in previous years, the Roundtable is organized as a workshop with facilitated discussion and lively debate, incorporating activities to produce the intended outputs. It will begin with a series of lightning talks, followed by co-design activities. The outline for the day is as follows:
Interested practitioners and academics from UX and other fields are welcome to join us.
Participants can choose to submit a talk, or can join as auditors. All participants are expected to engage with the presentations, contribute to the discussion, and be fully included in the co-design sessions.
Attendees are required to register for the IA and UX in Education Roundtable through the IA Conference. A fee of $49 will be charged to cover the costs of the workshop.
Participants often carry out additional activities following the Roundtable. For practitioners, this could involve posting their lightning talk, writing an article, or presenting at a conference to share their insights with other practitioners. Academics might write a paper or a chapter for a book. Participants might also be interested in taking part in the planned UX in Education research effort that will follow.
Most Roundtable attendees attend the IA Summit, but you are not required to register for the conference.
Mar 31 - Abstracts for lightning talks due
Apr 10 - Authors notified
April 22 - Draft presentations and updated abstracts prepared
Apr 29 - Roundtable workshop
May 1 - Roundtable poster presentation at the IA Conference
Roundtable participants are invited to submit a brief abstract for a lightning talk. These 5 minute summaries will set the stage for workshop activities by introducing topics on UX in education, and will provide structure for rounds of moderated conversations among participants.
You can also attend the roundtable without giving a lightning talk. Everyone is invited and expected to participate in the activities of the day and contribute to the conversations.
