I stumbled across the ISTE (online at iste.org ^[1]) yesterday …

Where have I been? I’ve been into Ed Tech for a couple years now, yet somehow the ISTE kind of slipped right past me. These folks look like they’ve been doing the Ed Tech thing in a pretty major way since 1997. They claim to be the “premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving learning and teaching by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and higher education”.

I have come across the NETS (National Education Technology Standards) ^[2] often in my reading and learning about education technology, but I now understand that the ISTE is the organization responsible for these excellent guidelines. You may have come across diagrams based on these standards in your own work, such as the one below (this one is specific to teachers).

The ISTE web site is a rich source of materials, learning experiences, and more, but you need to be a member ($92 for standard educators membership, $59 for retired educators) to access many of the resources. Among other things, membership offers:

• Webinars from many of today’s top Ed Tech professionals
• A Career Center (find or post jobs)
• Access to Special Interest Groups
• Discounted Publications - Books, Periodicals, and more.
• Discounted attendance at their Annual Conference (the 2010 conference is June 27-30 in Denver).

I’m thinking of joining up. If any readers are members, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Has the membership fee been worth it? What members-only resources do you find must useful? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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Don’t forget to stop back next week for the continuation of our look into providing free online portfolios ^[3] to assist college students in their career success!

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