Spotlights
Accomplishments and news of Affiliates. Please send your stories so we can share them!
“Worth the Surf” – The Best of Affiliates’ Web Sites
--Susan Stillwell, JHU Graduate Student/ISTE Intern
Here’s a look at a few Affiliates’ Web sites and why they’re so great. See if you agree. Remember – you can access the Web sites for all our Affiliates through either the ISTE Web site or the Affiliate wiki .
Affiliate: CUE
Web address: http://www.cue.org
Great Idea: Series of Discussions that ask "Why?"
CUE is publishing a series of informational documents called “Why Innovate?” that explores issues surrounding emerging technologies. (http://www.cue.org/why/)
The series examines new and emerging technologies that often create as many questions as opportunities. In these documents, CUE leaders ask Why Innovate? and discuss the technology tool, its benefits, and explore any associated risks or concerns for its use in education. Current topics include wiki and Web 2.0. Future documents include Why blog? Why podcast? Why Flickr? Why Google? Why tag? Why iPod? Why mashup? Why game? Why vlog?
In addition to this feature, the CUE Web site is full of resources, community-building tools, information for its members, opportunities to get involved, and much more.
Affiliate: WEMTA
Web address: www.wemtaonline.org/
Great Idea: Advocacy Toolkit
A well-developed advocacy program markets, promotes, and rallies people around the mission, issues, and philosophies of your school library media program. As a result, advocacy must be based on specific needs and supported with evidence. The WEMAtter Toolkit provides information to help library media specialists show the connection between their programs, resources, and services and student achievement to advocate for their programs. By addressing various local stakeholder groups, it complements the Legislative Advocacy Resources on lobbying locally, statewide, and nationally.
This site provides:
- Research from state and local studies showing the impact of library programs on student success.
- State and national standards as well as links to standardized test information that can be used to show the connection of information and technology literacy skills to content-area learning.
- Ready-to-use resources to use as models for your own letters, testimony, brochures, posters, PowerPoint presentations, and other public relation tools.
- Data collection tools to collect local data to show the impact of your program.
- @your library resources from ALA and AASL.
Affiliate: MassCUE
Web address: www.masscue.org
Great Idea: User-friendly site full of info and resources
- Easy to navigate; logical and comprehensive menus.
- Front page includes mission, current news, and contact info.
- Easy to find out how to become a member. Allows a person to become a member online with a credit card. Clearly identifies member benefits.
- ISTE Affiliate Member logo on front page with link to ISTE
- Wealth of community connections, professional development, publications, and resources.
FCITL’s Principal of the Year Award
This Florida Affiliate has a unique award that honors a special principal who demonstrates successful program implementations utilizing technology to further student achievement. One of the most unique things about this award is the way nominees are presented and the winner awarded: each district must submit a three- minute video along with a written nomination. Many districts host a local award and use it as an opportunity to tout the successes of technology integration at the local level to the public and local legislators.
There are never enough opportunities to highlight success and this award is a great way to showcase positive impacts on student achievement. State finalists are chosen and their videos shown as a highlight at FCITL’s annual meeting at FETC. Many of the nominees bring their families and other administrators along to share in their honor of being a finalist, as well as awaiting the big announcement of the winner. The videos make a powerful impact and are shown not only to the audience at the membership meeting, but are posted online. After all, a video can be worth a million words. You can take a look at them here: http://www.fcitl.org/successStories/awardPrincipal.asp. FCITL is looking to find additional avenues to show off these videos and the impact these exceptional educators are having on students throughout their state.
Thanks to Alice Ray-Overstreet, Executive Director of FCITL, for contributing this information.
MECA Celebrates 25 Years
-- Douglas Belk, Past President
 Nearly 1,200 members and attendees helped the Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA), a technology-oriented organization serving PK-20 educators, celebrate its 25th anniversary at the Hilton Conference Center during its conference in Jackson, Mississippi in January. The event offered its members 130 hands-on, concurrent, poster, and vendor showcase sessions and a record number of vendor exhibits.
Opening keynote speaker David Warlick challenged the audience regarding the need to shift from technology training to technology literacy. Executives from the Mississippi Department of Education teamed up to deliver the closing session keynote.
And what’s a celebration without food and entertainment! The MECA Gala followed MECA’s annual meeting with a great spread and entertainment provided by The Barlow Brothers and the Hot Sauce Horns.
Creating a Student Achievement Competition
--Cynthia Ochoa, CUE-SN
About seven years ago I asked Hall Davidson of CUE if we could enter our southern Nevada students in the California multimedia competition. He did say no, but he didn’t stop there – he suggested that we start our own. He even went as far as to offer his event as a model and suggested we look at the CUE Web site and use the forms they created. So that is what we did!
Now in its fifth year, this competition rewards student multimedia achievements in elementary, middle, and high school. We will be spotlighting the winners at our “21st Century Instructional Technology Conference Web2 4U” on May 16 and 17 hosted by Clark County School District and Computer Using Educators of Southern Nevada. For details, see the Web site, http://www.cue-sn.org/UpcomingEvents/07MultimediaContest.htm.
Affiliates Host NETS Refresh Forums
--Carolyn Sykora, ISTE Project Manager for NETS
ISTE Affiliates have been playing a leading role in the NETS for Teachers Refresh! Seven Affiliates have either led forums or will lead Refresh Forums this spring, representing tens of thousands of educators around the country!
MICCA kicked off the string of affiliate-led forums in October. Throughout the fall, Affiliate members were giving us feedback on the NETS•T 2000 that revealed two schools of thought: 1) those who thought the new teacher standards should absolutely mirror the NETS•S 2007; and 2) those who wanted to incorporate the student standards, but emphasize the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that teachers need to help students become digital-age learners.
Valuable feedback throughout the winter at VSTE, MN TIES, and PETE&C (PAECT’s local conference) has resulted in an “official” draft of the NETS•T, which you can find at www.iste.org/nets-refresh. If you were unable to attend any of the in-person forums, you can still weigh in! Take part in our online survey at: www.iste.org/nets-survey.
ISTE will unveil the new NETS for Teachers 2008 at NECC in San Antonio at a celebration on Monday, June 30, 8:30 am, Room 217. We hope you will join us!
A BIG THANKS to Ryan Imbriale and MICCA members; Camilla Gagliolo, Danny Arkin, and members of VSTE; Marla Davenport and MN TIES members; Sean McDonough and members of PACET; Ron Cravey and members of TCEA; Heidi Rogers and members of NCCE; Kathy Hayden and members of CUE; and Ren Baldwin and members of MACUL! We also met with members of FCITL, FACE, and LACUE and appreciate their input.
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