speaker 2- ISTE Dr. Don Knezek

Wednesday July 8 IT leader
Dr. Don Knezek, CEO of International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

We had the opportunity to use interactive technology of Videoconference (VC) to listen,talk and data share to Dr. Don Knezek, from Texas. He is the CEO International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE is a non-profit organization whose mandate from the ISTE website is to “provides leadership and service to improve teaching, learning, and school leadership by advancing the effective use of technology in PK–12 and teacher education.” . This VC session was an excellent for IT leaders to practically apply the technology available, an assertion that Don identified that we IT leaders had to lead by implementing the technology in the regular course of business.

· Salience (From your perspective, why is IT in education important?)
Don has a wide variety of experiences in education as a teacher, school administrator , division superintendant and currently as a national education technology leader. From his practical experience of teaching, IT was an important aspect of helping student in rural area have opportunities available to all students. IT was an essential component of the transition of teacher centered classroom to the student centered classroom. Don cited there needed to be IT standards if IT is become an integral part of education.

· Outcomes (What are the specific IT in education outcomes sought through your organization?)
The ISTE organization has been able to put into documents the NETS (national educational standards) for students, teachers and administrators. These documents especially the NETS for administrators have been updated for 2009 since the last version in 2002. Upon further investigation of the ISTE website, it is my observation that the NETS-S_2007_Student_Profiles could become the basis of a standardized series of outcomes for students at the various grade levels to meet. Maybe this would be a starting point to update the Alberta ICT curriculum as it is nearly 10 yrs old, from 2000.

· Processes (What processes are used to achieve these outcomes?)
I found it interesting that Don identified that business had an important role. Since business organizations develop these new technologies, they would see the educational sector as a large market. ISTE is a non-profit organization, so they can focus on the student leaning as the most important corner stone. The influential nature of ISTE, in all the American states, would result in business would be very interested in the standards ISTE are promoting. ISTE is made up of members who pay to join. I am glad to see the reduced rate for joining online and receiving electronic versions of literature. Affiliated members are a backbone of ISTE membership and in Alberta, ATLE and ATA specialist council are part of the ISTE affiliates. The critical mass of administrators , teachers and students working from a common language to implement the ISTE NETS , performance measures and essential conditions , is a powerful force. These standards will only help

.Characteristics (What are some of the characteristics of IT Leaders that make them effective in achieving their goals?)
The NETS –A, the performance indicators for administrators, and the essential conditions identify the characteristics of school and division leaders. The important focus of the ISTE NETS is that the essential conditions identify what is needed to “to leverage technology for learning.” This illustrates that ISTE is an organization that is focused on student learning. When IT leaders stay focused on student learning, then the technology must cater to the learner, not the learner to the technology. Don discussed the role of advocacy as at the 30th. NECC conference in Washington, DC. ISTE members were able to meet with the influential lawmakers in Washington.

I had not heard of ISTE until two unrelated occasions.The first was in San Francisco airport 2008, where I saw a card of an ISTE executive member on a table. When I got home, I checked the website out and was very excited about seeing what this organization has developed for Technology in Education. The next encounter with ISTE was with the JTC committee of Alberta Education in May 2008, which was using some of the ISTE based questionnaires. These two unrelated events directed me to an excellent organization that has moved IT from the periphery of education. I have been an ISTE member since early 2009, and have used the NETS to align our division Technology Plan with the ISTE nets. The ISTE information , and collaborative venues allows for IT leaders to meet, learn and start talking the same language.