Learning Design and Technology Faculty Named Recipient of Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Awards
March 23, 2026
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Lisa Giacumo, associate professor in the Learning Design and Technology Program within the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at George Mason University, was recently presented with two awards conferred by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) during the organization’s international convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada in late October 2025. One of these honors, the “AECT 2025 Culture, Learning, and Technology Division Outstanding Publication Award: Book,” recognized her contributions in co-authoring the book titled Instructional Design for Organizational Justice—A Guide to Equitable Learning, Training, and Performance in Professional Education and Workforce Settings. Giacumo was also honored with the “AECT 2025 Division of Distance Learning Book Chapter Award” for her work in co-authoring one of the book’s chapters titled “An Introduction to Culturally Relevant and Equitable Instruction.”
As described on the publisher’s website, the objective of the book is to prepare instructional designers to use culturally relevant, performance-based learning materials and practices that will improve organizational and workplace learning experiences within diverse, globalized contexts. The concepts and strategies discussed in the book are intended for instructional designers working in business, government, military, non-profit, non-governmental, and higher education settings.
The book chapter for which Giacumo received the AECT Division of Distance Learning award introduces concepts aligned with her long-standing research on the relationship between instructional design, organizational justice, culturally responsive practices, and learning technologies within the context of distance and in-person workplace learning. The chapter frames instructional designers as learning architects for the learning and development interventions and ecologies they help to create. This includes a discussion of how these professionals make decisions in complex systems—decisions that affect access, equity, learner agency, and performance outcomes across diverse and often global learning environments.
Giacumo shared her thoughts on being honored by AECT for her work on the book and the chapter, emphasizing that this recognition was deeply meaningful to her on both a personal and professional level. “This honor,” she stated, “affirms a body of work that has been shaped over decades by listening carefully—to learners, practitioners, communities, and colleagues—especially those whose voices have not always been heard, in learning and organizational systems.”
She continued, “The AECT book award feels like an acknowledgment of the long, sometimes invisible labor involved in bridging theory and practice in ways that are both rigorous and humane. This book emerged from years of teaching, mentoring, consulting, and learning alongside practitioners who were trying to do ‘the right thing’ in complex organizational contexts, often without adequate models or language to guide justice-oriented decision-making. Seeing this work recognized by a community I respect so deeply reinforces my belief that instructional design can—and should—play a more active role in advancing equity, dignity, and belonging in professional learning environments.”
Giacumo acknowledged the collective wisdom of her co-authors, students, clients, and community partners who helped shape the ideas, cases, and practices presented throughout the book. “Many of these insights,” she explained, “were born in real projects with real constraints, where questions of culture, power, and fairness were not abstract concepts but lived realities. Having this work recognized by the AECT Culture, Learning, and Technology Division signals that these grounded, practitioner-informed perspectives matter to the field.”
Giacumo then elaborated on the concepts contained in the award-winning book chapter, including the idea that instructional designers are learning systems architects, a principle emphasized in her research and scholarship. “This perspective,” she stated, “reflects my research examining how inclusive design, design justice, and organizational justice theories can be operationalized—not just discussed abstractly—within real instructional design processes. The chapter’s emphasis on expanded collaboration, co-production, and culturally responsive decision-making mirrors my broader research agenda focused on moving the field beyond compliance-driven approaches toward learning designs that genuinely support diverse learners in in-person, online, hybrid, and distributed environments.”
“Importantly,” Giacumo continued, “the chapter situates these ideas squarely within distance learning and in-person professional education and training contexts, where instructional decisions are often mediated by technology, constrained by organizational systems, and removed from learners’ lived realities. My research has consistently shown that these conditions heighten the risk of unintended exclusion while simultaneously increasing the potential for inclusive, scalable impact when justice-oriented design principles are applied intentionally. The book chapter reflects this dual reality by integrating performance-based learning, inclusive design, and systems thinking into a single, practical framing that is especially relevant for workplace learning practitioners.”
Giacumo added that the chapter functions as both a conceptual foundation and a research-informed call to action—one that aligns closely with her ongoing work to support instructional designers, learning experience designers, and faculty in making more equitable, ethical, and effective decisions in in-person and technology-mediated learning environments.
Giacumo concluded her remarks affirming her continued commitment to scholarship in the instructional design discipline. “The awards presented by AECT feel like encouragement to continue the work—to keep pushing our field to ask harder questions about whose needs are centered, whose expertise is valued, and how learning design decisions ripple outward to influence organizational climates and individual lives,” she stated. “I see this recognition not as a culmination, but as a reminder of responsibility: to keep mentoring emerging designers, to keep translating research into usable guidance, and to keep advocating for learning and development interventions that are not only effective, but just.”
The book may be ordered by visiting the publisher website, or through online booksellers, including Amazon.