Education professor named Editor-in-Chief

Education Professor Saul Carliner has been named by the Professional Communication Society of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) as Editor-in-Chief of its peer-reviewed publication, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

And no, you’re not the only one wondering: how does a professor of educational technology become an editor of an engineering journal? According to Carliner, an education technologist and instructional designer, the connection isn’t as disconnected as it may seem.

“Among other things, instructional designers with ed tech backgrounds develop materials that not only help users apply technology in their lives and also allows experts to service and extend the technology,” he says. “It’s nearly the same thing we do with the journal.”

Carliner learned to decode often-confusing engineering specs for instruction manuals in his first jobs as a technical writer and instructional designer for IBM. He eventually earned graduate degrees in both fields, completing a PhD in Instructional Technology. His research, then and now, focuses on the design of learning and communication resources for the work place and the management of the groups that produce it.

“I believe that a relationship exists between the way professionals are managed and the quality of what they produce.” He’s published over 100 articles and seven books, some of which have received top awards.

His deductive expertise fits well with the Professional Communication Society’s core membership: academics and others involved in communicating engineering information. The society is a branch of the IEEE, the world’s largest professional society for electrical and electronic engineers. Carliner begins on Jan. 1, 2011.