This special issue of the "Australasian Journal of Educational Technology" includes an introductory article by the guest editors and six papers that illustrate the potential of educational design research (EDR) to address important problems in higher education. In this final paper, reflections on the papers are made. Then the rationale for conducting EDR instead of media comparison studies is described with a concrete example. This paper concludes with a proposal for expanding educational design research through the establishment of consortia of collaborating researchers, practitioners, and funding agencies focused on the most salient challenges faced in education today.