President to President: Past ISTE Presidents Explore Federal Role in Ed Tech, Discuss What They'd Tell the Next President at NECC

Current and past presidents of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) and business leaders shared what they'd tell the new U.S. President about the federal government's role in educational technology at ISTE's Presidents Panel on Tuesday, July 1, at the 29th annual National Education Computing Conference (NECC) at the Henry B. Gonzalez Conference Center in San Antonio, Texas.

ISTE Past President Kurt Steinhaus led the panel of other past presidents and business leaders in a roundtable discussion, which he kicked off by posing the question: If you had 30 seconds to tell the new President of the U.S. about the role federal government should play in educational technology in the next administration, what would you say?

Panelists shared a variety of responses, including the need for strong federal leadership in education technology and adequate and reliable funding to achieve equity. Additionally, panelists noted the need for authentic assessment models, case studies and research to showcase the many successful ed tech projects and programs.

ISTE President Trina Davis closed the panel with a call to action regarding ed tech advocacy. "We can accomplish so much more with our collective voice by getting plugged into organizations like ISTE and advocating at the local, state, regional, national and international levels," she said.

ISTE and other associations including NEA, SEDTA and CoSN have developed a PSA campaign addressing the next U.S. President on ed tech funding and issues. (http://onegiantleapforkids.org)

Current and former ISTE presidents participating in the panel included Trina Davis, Gary Bitter, Peggy Kelly, Cathy Norris, Heidi Rogers, Lynne Schrum, Kurt Steinhaus, Jan Van Dam and Cheryl Williams.

David Byer and Karen Cator of Apple; Anuja Dharkar of Adobe; Scott Kinney of Discovery; Don Knezek, ISTE CEO; Paige Kuni of Intel; Dan Meyer of Atomic Learning; David Saedi of Certiport; consultant Helen Soulé; and Mark Tullis of Learning.com also participated in the panel discussion.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK–12 and teacher education.