Who or what is ISTE? Why does COMPUTER EXPLORERS quote them all of the time?
The International Society for Technology in Education, (ISTE) is a large, amorphous organization composed of educators, techies, and futurists … all interested in how new technology can be adapted to/for better education.
If you want your children to compete in tomorrow’s marketplace, you need to be sure that they are well-trained in using technology – everything from basic computer applications to whatever is just coming over the horizon!
We reference the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) in a lot of our materials and on our Website. ISTE members from around the world collaborated to publish the standards which influence the teaching and use of technology in schools. (See the sidebar of this blog.) We at COMPUTER EXPLORERS constantly evaluate our curriculum and our staff training to be sure that we meet and/or exceed those standards. We also are part of the ISTE 100, a group of corporations who support the educational and technology goals of the organization. So ISTE is very important to us at COMPUTER EXPLORERS!
But ISTE isn’t all pedagogy. Yes, CE attends the ISTE conference to be sure that the students in our classes are using cutting edge technology in the present, and that they are prepared to use new technology in the future. But we also want to play with the toys!
I think of the ISTE Conference in three main segments:
· Keynote Speakers
· Sessions and Workshops
· Exhibits
The keynote speakers set the stage for inspirational “big-picture thinking”. The opening speaker, Jean-Francois Rischard is a world-renowned economist and will discuss how 21st Century global education systems can join forces to shape the future. (Now THAT’s a big picture!)
The sessions and workshops take the “big picture” into the real world of the classroom, covering everything from implementing 3-D online gaming and virtual worlds as instructional tools, to using Twitter to teach creative writing! (The latter workshop is one that might coax me back into the classroom!)
But the exhibit hall is the place to get your hands on the newest and most innovative teaching toys …er…tools! Last year I saw an interactive table and software originally designed for architects to collaborate, but adapted to help autistic children learn to relate to each other by putting puzzles together. Two children had to work together to move the puzzle pieces; the pieces were large enough so that the children did not have to come into physical contact with each other, but they had to talk to each other and cooperate to move the pieces. This year should provide an exciting forecast with iPad technology, interactive e-textbooks, and global workstations.
If you’re in Denver at the end of June, stop by the Convention Center! You will have a great time! If not, I’ll be blogging from the conference!
Cyndee Perkins
Director, Curricuum, and Program Development