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Web 2.0 Tools Expand Global Audience for Educational Technology Conference

While thousands are attending the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE®) 30^th annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington, D.C., many thousands more are participating online around the world through a variety of ISTE's social media channels.

Launched early in 2009, the ISTE Connects blog (www.isteconnects.org) is now tweeting and live-streaming conference content.  Many thousands are interacting with this online community, including educators in Brazil, Canada, Finland, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and Tunisia.

Also launched earlier in 2009, ISTE Vision (www.istevision.org) allows users to upload and view videos.  ISTE Vision is providing on-site simulcast and archive of keynotes and other conference events.

NECC's Tuesday morning keynote is an Oxford-style debate that proposes, "Bricks and Mortar Schools are Detrimental to the Future of Education". Online participants can go to www.isteconnects.org to cast a "for" or "against" vote at the session's start, then vote again at the session's conclusion. The side that has persuaded the most people to change their vote is the winner. The debate will be live streamed on ISTE Vision (www.istevision.org).

Throughout the year, ISTE provides numerous educational and social resources to its members through online communities such as Twitter, Facebook, ISTE Wikispaces and LinkedIn.  These communities and more are linked to www.isteconnects.org.

"People arrive at NECC and can now continue or follow-up on conversations they were involved in on Twitter, Ning or ISTE Connects," says Leslie Conery, NECC conference chair and ISTE deputy CEO. “It’s also very important that while many people cannot attend NECC in person, they can still participate in virtual conference activities and interact with other technology educators either on site or around the world.”

About ISTE

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.

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