Just as we aspire for students to be lifelong learners, we also seek to support educators in keeping pace with trends in digital learning and developing their understanding of learning practice. Research tells us that one of the best ways to do so is within a community of educators where ideas are shared, perspectives are broadened and successful approaches are directly translated into practice – all with a goal of meeting the diverse needs of students.

Each year, thousands of educators show up at the ISTE Conference & Expo to achieve this vision of professional learning. But what happens after the conference?

ISTE members consistently ask for more professional learning opportunities that extend beyond the conference and support their understanding and implementation of the ISTE Standards in their practice.

We’re listening!

At ISTE 2018 in Chicago, we announced two brand new initiatives – ISTE Certification for Educators and ISTE U – that provide community engagement, ongoing learning support and meaningful assessment to meet your professional learning needs.
For years, our community has been inquiring about a credential based on the ISTE Standards. The new ISTE Certification for Educators is designed for those who want to take the next step from integrating technology to becoming a learning catalyst. The certification combines pedagogy-focused professional learning with an evaluation of artifacts. Successful participants earn ISTE recognition and become ISTE Certified Educators.

ISTE Certification is competency-based and vendor-neutral, and focuses content and learning activities on the seven Educator Standards, with a special emphasis on the instructional indicators within the standards.

As excited as we are to share ISTE Certification with our community, we are equally excited about ISTE U.

ISTE worked with leading educators and professional learning organizations across the country to create ISTE U, a virtual hub of best-in-class courses that focus on helping teachers and leaders build digital age competencies. The courses tackle critical education concepts like digital citizenship and leading-edge topics like artificial intelligence in education and show educators how they can integrate these concepts into their day-to-day practice. And all ISTE U courses are available for graduate-level credit, even if you aren’t enrolled in a graduate program!

As topics like computational thinking, open educational resources and personalized learning are gaining traction in many districts, leaders and teachers want to provide effective instruction within these areas to meet the needs of their students. Our ISTE U initiative provides courses on these and other timely topics, and our list of courses continues to grow.

ISTE Certification and ISTE U are designed to help educators build on their existing learning networks and encourage them to build new communities of practice that further their knowledge and expertise. Our goal is to provide engaging, impactful experiences that ensure participants can learn from nationally recognized experts, as well as each other, and bring their new knowledge into their own classrooms.

Visit iste.org/certification or iste.org/ ISTEU for more information.