EDUC 630
Slide 2: One the of the most important requirements for teacher certification, is that teachers are asked to continue their own education. To fulfill this obligations, teachers have many resources available to them. Teachers can choose to physically attend graduate classes, professional conferences, or workshops. Other teachers do research to find journals and books that they can read to gain new insight on the education of children and how children learn. In the current age of technology, many teachers are now turning to the Internet, which provides online webinars (video) and podcasts (audio), professional learning networks, and professional writings such as educator blogs and journals.
Slide 3: Fredericksen (2016) explains the five benefits of joining professional associations. The first benefit is “credentialing and continuing education” which consists of providing educators with a chance to advance their own learning experiences. Professional associations can bring an educator “industry insight” by giving them a way to learn about what the newest ideas and trends within education. Another benefit is “talent acquisition” which will allow educators to connect with other educators for the purpose of collaboration and recruiting educators for specific jobs. A fourth benefit is that professional associations provides educators with a place where they can go to “demonstrate specialized expertise.” Educators can develop and present new strategies or resources to others. The last benefit mentioned by Fredericksen was “referrals.” Educators join professional communities to align themselves with that organization and to gain referrals for opportunities to advance themselves.
Slide 4: One of the many professional development opportunities provided by a membership to the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) is access to Professional Learning Networks. “All ISTE members have exclusive access to 20+ ISTE Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) that bring together educators from around the world with shared interests and job roles” (ISTE, 2021c, para. 1). The PLNs are created and designed by ISTE members who share a goal for creating a place where educators can share and grow in their chosen field. Teachers can learn bests practices form other educators and about the latest technologies that are available. These new strategies and technologies can be used to help students to reach their full potential. PLN’s with benefit several student populations including students with special needs and students participating in STEM activities. (ISTE, 2021c).
Slide 5: Other professional development opportunities provided by ISTE are the ISTE Blogs. The ISTE Blog provide teachers with access to the latest trends in education through numerous articles and videos about innovative ideas, resources, and new technologies to level the playing field of all students like applications that benefit children with special needs (ISTE, 2021b). One such article found on the ISTE blog was an article by Chris Frisella. Frisella discussed how educators are using technology “to level the playing field, better assess learning, and prepare children for the modern workplace” (Frisella, 2019). In his article, he cited specific applications for children with special needs, such as Apple Clips, Book Creator, and Pic Collage.
Slide 6: A third professional development resource offered by ISTE are their peer-reviewed journals. Teachers have access to current research in education and technology to find strategies and resources that have proven to be successful with all students. ISTE offers subscriptions for members and non-members to the Journal of Research on Technology in Education and the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. Both journals are “edited by experts in the field and published quarterly” (ISTE, 2021a, para. 1). They provide information on research and the application of technology in educational technology.
Slide 7: The International Society of Technology in Education hosts an educational conference each year to provide continuing education to its members. The 2020 conference was held virtually on November 29-December 5. The sessions provided continuing education under 37 topics. Some of the topics covered were: “Digital citizenship, media literacy, and social-emotional learning, just to name a few (ISTE, 2021)
Slide 8: The 2020 conference featured more than sixteen speakers, including Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, who is the Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. He is also the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He has written many books and was named in the Time magazine’s 2020s Most Influential People in the World. Another speaker was Angela Maiers who is the founder of Choose2Matter. She has worked in 60,000 classrooms across 100 countries.
Slide 9: One of the sessions at ISTE Live 2020 was “Follow the yellow brick road to personalized learning” (Frauenhoffer, 2020). The purpose of this session was to introduce participants to personalized learning and its applications for the classroom. This conference session looks like it would have been an awesome experience. Karen Fraunhoffer presented ways to incorporate student’s individuality and choice into lesson activities.
Slide 10: Another session at ISTE Live 2020 was “Accessibility Tools Smackdown” (Fillhart & Oropeza, 2020). This session was an interactive lecture that set out to help educators to find and adapt resources that can be accommodated to fit the individual needs of students. Karyn Fillhart and Kristin Oropeza put together an environment where educators could come together to share ideas. They presented tools for use in Language Arts, Math, and with English Language Learners and other educational needs (Fillhart & Oropeza, 2020).
Slide 11: Another session at ISTE Live 2020 was “Creating a Culture of Digital Citizenship: PD for Teachers” (Lindsey, 2020). This session was aimed at teachers who want to “help guide students’ respectful and healthy technology use” (Lindsey, 2020, para. 1). LeeAnn Lindsey provided strategies to incorporate digital citizenship in the classroom. Students use technology every day for many different tasks. The technology changes at a very fast rate and students need to be guided and trained in how to effectively access, use, and develop technology.
References
Fillhart, K & Oropeza, K. (2020, November 29). Accessibility tools smackdown [Conference Session]. ISTE Live 20. https://conference.iste.org/2020/
Frauenhoff, K. (2020, November 29). Follow the yellow brick road to personalized learning [Conference Session]. ISTE Live 20. https://conference.iste.org/2020/
Fredericksen, L. (2016, December 12). The value of your professional Associations [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SBPT9gECVk
Frisella, Chris. (2019, May 3). With imagination and the right apps, students learn — and can prove it!. ISTE Blog. https://www.iste.org/explore/tools-devices-and-apps/imagination-and-right-apps-students-learn-and-can-prove-it
Lindsey, L. (2020, November 40). Creating a culture of digital citizenship: PD for teachers [Conference Session]. ISTE Live 20. https://conference.iste.org/2020/
International Society for Technology in Education. (2021a). Edtech research. https://www.iste.org/learn/edtech-research
International Society for Technology in Education. (2021b). ISTE blog. https://www.iste.org/explore
International Society for Technology in Education. (2021c). Professional learning networks. https://www.iste.org/learn/about-iste-plns
Created by: Casey Jo Burrus © 2021
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