News & Notes
Announcements about the Affiliate program, dates, opportunities, tools, etc. This info primarily comes from ISTE staff.
Welcome Three New Affiliates!
Please join me in welcoming our three newest Affiliates:
All of these are relatively new organizations and have laid the foundations for a great future. NEISTE is a regional group bringing together seven ISTE Affiliates in the New England area. G-STE and NMSTE have recently formed to serve untapped populations in their local areas. It’s been fascinating watching them grow and take this step of affiliating with ISTE. We encourage you to visit their Web sites, contact their leadership, and welcome them to our network. I know they would greatly value your advice and examples, and we will all gain fresh perspectives from new voices.
NECC 2008 – Affiliate Activities
There are three activities at NECC we encourage you to attend:
1. Affiliate reception, Friday night
2. Affiliate Annual Meeting, Saturday
3. “ABCs of Advocacy: Making Your Voice Heard” – advocacy workshop Sunday afternoon.
You and your colleagues are invited to participate in these dynamic events. This is the one time each year we can bring everyone face to face to share ideas, learn from each other, and build lasting relationships.
Details about each event can be found on the Affiliate wiki, http://affiliates.iste.wikispaces.net/NECC. Also, an invitation is in the mail to each Affiliate rep. Please spread the word to others in your organization.
RSVP for these events can be done online here: http://tinyurl.com/yv5k9p. This is a quick online tool that explains the details of each event and allows you to register for the Annual Meeting, as well as gives us some info about you and your organization so we can tailor these events to best meet your needs.
Important:
- to register for the Annual Meeting, you must use this url: http://tinyurl.com/yv5k9p
- to register for the “ABCs of Advocacy” workshop, you must register through NECC, www.iste.org/necc.
New – Volunteer for ISTE
Many of your members have been looking for rewarding ways to interact, develop professional networks, build their own skills, and further our shared mission. ISTE has created a new volunteer program to facilitate all those things, and to help us get many great things done. The best volunteer relationships are equitable exchanges in which volunteers gain as much as they contribute, and we keep that in mind when creating new volunteer opportunities.
Who may participate? Anyone who is an ISTE member. So please share this with your membership for those who already are ISTE members, or who might like to be.
How does it work? Start by going to the ISTE Web site, www.iste.org, and log in with your membership number. Visit the Membership section and find “Volunteer” on the left menu. You’ll start with an intake form that will allow you to identify your skills and interests, and review a variety of volunteer opportunities. The volunteer coordinator will then follow up with you to match you with the best opportunities. You’ll also be kept up to date via a volunteer newsletter and email list.
For more info, contact Terra Sieberman, ISTE’s volunteer coordinator, at volunteer@iste.org.
A Note From the Affiliate Membership Committee
 As the Chair of the Affiliate Membership Committee, I am pleased to work with leaders who represent all ISTE Affiliates. The AMC has worked hard to identify ways we can support Affiliates and their memberships. Our committee is made up of members from a variety of Affiliates with different characteristics such as size, policies and structure. Our work involves professional development and benefits that support ISTE affiliates. Two spotlights of our work each year are to review the nominations submitted for the Outstanding Teacher and Leader Awards, and planning the Affiliate Annual Meeting at NECC. This year we have also worked with the ISTE staff to identify a revised policy for reprint of articles from ISTE periodicals that we feel will benefit Affiliates. For the first time there will be an advocacy event at NECC that we encourage Affiliates to consider sending representatives to in order to take back valuable information. Please let us know if there are issues or topics that you feel we should be addressing in our committee.
Kathy Hayden, AMC Chair
[By the way, minutes from all AMC meetings are posted on the Affiliate wiki. -- Susan]
ISTE Welcomes Affiliates into Second Life
In early January, we invited ISTE Affiliates to join us in Second Life by renting a parcel of virtual land on the newly launched ISTE Island 2. Attached directly to ISTE’s existing space, the new island provides a community for educational groups to collaborate, network with members and students, and share organizational information. The island features a forested landscape with running streams, gently rolling hills, and ocean views, and a variety of community resources including a shared auditorium, periodic tutorial sessions led by fellow educators, and small group meeting areas.
Jennifer Ragan-Fore, the project director for ISTE’s Second Life Program, describes the value that a virtual world can have on membership, noting “The unique opportunity for membership-based organizations like ISTE and our Affiliates is the potential that Second Life offers for deepening our infrequent face-to-face encounters with regular, real-time conversations, projects, and relationship-building. Our annual conference offers important opportunities for members to network and connect with other educators, and our Second Life project provides the regular care and feeding needed to keep those relationships going strong year round.”
The response from the Affiliates so far has been quite positive, with five Affiliates among the first wave of organizations that have already signed rental agreements: AzTEA, TIES, NCCE, QSITE, and CUE. Groups are in varying stages of “moving in” but all have been enjoying the opportunity to promote their regional flavor. AzTEA, ISTE’s Arizona's Affiliate, decorated with cactus plants and a southwestern theme, while TIES, one of ISTE’s Minnesota Affiliates, created a space complete with piles of freshly driven snow.
Parcels of land are still available if your Affiliate is interested in participating. Contact Jennifer Ragan-Fore at jraganfore@iste.org to learn more.
ISTE 100
 ISTE 100 members are select, forward–thinking corporations who share ISTE's commitment to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in education and who are committed to working with educators in pursuit of that goal. Please watch for the ISTE 100 logo in advertising, in company booths at conferences, and on member company Web sites.
In February we welcomed two new ISTE 100 members: Grupo Educare, a research center and producer of programs for IT, higher thinking skills, constructive mathematics and more; and Time Warner Cable Business Class, a division of Time Warner Cable, that offers a full complement of business communications tools.
Learn more about the ISTE 100 program at www.iste.org/iste100. These companies know the value of partnering with people of vision. There are a number of ways Affiliates can interact with them, including sponsorships, grants, special projects and more. Contact Mila Fuller, ISTE Director of Strategic Initiatives, for more info at mfuller@iste.org, 202-681-7777.
ISTE Board Elections
Congratulations to our three candidates for the upcoming open position of Affiliate Representative on the ISTE Board: Ryan Imbriale, Kathy Hayden, and Ron Cravey.
Thank you to all of our candidates who chose to run for this position. Active participation in the leadership of our ISTE Affiliates helps to strengthen our organization. We appreciate everyone’s participation and continued support of the Affiliate program.
Please encourage all ISTE members to vote in the upcoming general election March 11 – April 11, 2008. All active ISTE members are eligible to vote for all positions. Visit the ISTE Web site to vote today!
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