The Education Department's Office of Educational Technology (OET) will host booth #3212 and make several presentations at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in Philadelphia June 25-July1. OET's team will engage conference participants in discussions around innovation in education and leveraging technology to improve the opportunity for teachers to teach and students to learn. On Monday, June 27, OET Director Karen Cator and Deputy Director Steve Midgley will participate in several sessions focused on emerging trends and the action steps with respect to the National Educational Technology Plan.
OET also will launch its "connected educator" initiative to explore the potential for online communities to support professional educators. The "connected educator" initiative will raise awareness, usefulness and quality of online interactions, specifically within online communities of practice. The goal of the OET is to answer questions on communities of practice such as: what are they and where do they exist?; why and how are they valuable?; what can we learn from expanded research and practice about makes these communities worthwhile?
"Online communities in education support the Obama Administration's compelling vision of connected educators," Cator said. "We want to support online communities of practice—one of many ways educators can connect—with dissemination of promising practices, innovation and research."
About ISTE
The ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology. ISTE is the trusted source in education technology for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy, and leadership for innovation. This annual conference is one of the world's major education technology events.
OET's booth will engage participants throughout the conference. In addition, Cator and Midgley will moderate or participate in the following: