I learned, this morning, that the Silver Lining for Learning team (the webinar series I co-host with Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, and Yong Zhao) won the 2022 AECT Distinguished Development Award. For a completely unfunded, passion project that started at the beginning of the pandemic and is going strong even today, this recognition means a lot. And… we are in some august company if you see the list of previous award winners.

Not a bad way to start the day! As the email said:

This award recognizes scholars who have made extraordinary design and development contributions to the interdisciplinary fields of educational technology research and development.  

In particular the webinar series was recognized for our “vision and effort for developing and continuing to engage communities in this rich portal with over a hundred episodes of timely and thought-provoking dialogues and resources since March 21, 2020. These episodes are widely watched informally as well as utilized in undergraduate and graduate courses in education in the past two years.”

As I have written before (when we aired our 100th episode):

It has truly been a privilege to have been a part of this series. It has broadened my horizons and knowledge about educational issues across the globe. It has also allowed me to meet and engage with some amazing, committed, passionate educators and educational innovators.

This series (and award) would not have been possible without these guests who we have had the privilege to speak with over the past two-and-a-half years. It is their creativity, humanity, courage and care for education that drives the show – so thank you to all of them.

Finally I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my co-hosts, the people who have shared this journey with me. Thank you Chris, Curt, and Zhao for this, and more. A special shout-out to Scott Mcleod and Shuangye Chen for being part of the initial team that kicked this series off.

There is a formal ceremony at the AECT 2020 convention on Tuesday October 25 in Las Vegas.