PORTLAND, Oregon – PacifiCorp and the Design and Development division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) are accepting submissions for the third annual PacifiCorp Design and Development Award competition.

Eligible graduate students in the field of instructional design from across the U.S. are invited to participate. The competition promotes collaboration among students, faculty and instructional design practitioners; recognizes innovative design and development approaches to adult learning and performance improvement; and can help to improve professional practices. The competition also provides opportunities for promising graduate students to work with mentors from among the academic and corporate leaders in the field of instructional design.

“We are pleased to help sponsor this innovative program that is really the first of its kind in the field of instructional design,” said PacifiCorp’s Dan Schuch, a member of the 2006 Award Committee. “Everyone involved benefits from the competition. Students get the chance to work on real-life problems with seasoned professionals; businesses are able to interact with future job candidates; and the exchange of ideas and information provides benefits for both universities and practitioners.”

Each year, participants form teams of two and propose solutions to a selected conceptual or practical problem relevant to the interests of the adult learning and performance improvement community. Up to six teams will be chosen to work with a faculty or practitioner mentor to develop a final proposal. Three teams of finalists will have the opportunity to present final papers at the Annual AECT Convention in October, which will take place this year in Dallas, Texas.

Award-winning papers will be considered for publication in AECT’s Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D) scholarly journal. All finalists will have their AECT Convention registration paid for, and the college or university of each finalist team will receive a $500 scholarship.

Graduate students who are members of AECT’s Design and Development division are eligible to enter the competition. Division membership is free and AECT membership is discounted for students. Preliminary papers must be submitted by May 1, 2006. For additional information, contact Dan Schuch at (503) 813-7193 or by e-mail atdan.schuch@pacificorp.com , or visit the competition Web site:http://www.aect-members.org/dd/blog/DesignCompetition/ .

About PacifiCorp

Approximately 1.6 million customers in six Western states look to PacifiCorp for safe, reliable electrical service. Operating as Pacific Power and Utah Power, PacifiCorp is one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States with a generation capacity of more than 8,400 megawatts of energy. For more information, visitwww.pacificorp.com .
###

Media inquiries:Newsdesk@PacifiCorp.com .