Derek L. McCoy

This week, I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in an online panel discussion about present/future critical needs of schools and educators.

ISTE originated and hosted this open reflection on our need to understand and drive support for the #ConnectEDucator initiative. #ConnectedEducator is proposal from President Obama’s administration to provide substantial funding for professional development in the area of  technology training for educators. Here’s more about the ConnectEDucator Initiative in this ISTE post.

Hilary Goldman, @hgoldmann, was the organizer for this event. The other panelists included Brian Lewis @blewisiste [CEO ISTE], Richard Culatta @rec54 [Director of the Office of Educational Technology, US Dept of Education @OfficeofEdTech], Wendy Drexler @WendyDrexler [Chief Innovation Officer ISTE],  and Dyane Smokorowski @Mrs_Smoke [2013 Kansas Teacher of the Year/Technology Integration Specialist]. I was proud to be a representative of #NASSP as one of the 2014 Digital Principals.

This was great share experience! Between the chat room and Tweets, there were lots of active sharers and participants who were enthusiastic to lend an ear and provide a question or suggestion for the group on how we can garner support and grow understanding for this needed initiative. Connected educators know the need and value of providing resources and training for our new endeavors in digital education and leadership.

Below are some resources that will get you up to speed on this initiative and our sharing!

Resources:

• NASSP blogpost – NASSP Supports Proposal to Increase Broadband Internet Access for Schools
• Ed.gov blogpost – ConnectEDucators: Leveraging Technology in the Classroom
• ISTE blogpost – President proposes new digital learning PD program
• ISTE Video Archive – What Could ConnectEDucator Mean For You
• Storify – Twitter Summary of Chat

I can’t thank ISTE, Hilary, Brian, Richard, Wendy and Dyane for this experience. This worthy cause deserves everyone’s attention and voice! Please pass this on to other educators and ask that they lend their voice in making sure our schools, teachers and students get the resources we need to improve learning and teaching in our schools.

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