Instructional Technology Professional Organizations (Readings)

There are 4 readings associated with this topic. They are mainly just about some different organizations.

The first organization highlighted is the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). The information comes from their official website: http://aect.site-ym.com/. The main focus of this organization seems to be gathering people who want to improve education through technology. The only thing I was able to find about conferences related to this organization is their upcoming AECT 2012 International Convention which is October 30-November 3 and is open to both members and nonmembers. The organization does have two journals that are released bimonthly: Educational Technology Research and Development and TechTrends. The mission that the organization represents is to provide a forum on an international levels for the exchange and dissemination of ideas related to the topic. The organization is meant to serve people who involved with designing better instruction using technology. They really seem to address the need to use technology to further education and learning, as well as represent and speak for it. They want members to share ideas and they want the target audiences to see and understand those same ideas.

The second organization highlighted is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The information comes from their official website: https://www.iste.org/. The main focus of the organization seems to be the importance of technology to education. They have two conferences: ISTE 2013 and ISTE Leadership Forum. They have two journals (Journal of Research on Technology in Education and Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education) and one magazine (Learning and Leading with Technology). The mission of the organization seems to be pushing for policy change and money grants to support technology in schools to be used for educational purposes. In this case, they are serving schools and students in term of tech support and teachers in terms of helping their opinions to be heard. They address problems of policy makers not necessarily supporting technology in education by exposing them to the ideas and thoughts of its members.

The third organization highlighted is the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). The information comes from their official website: http://www.aace.org/. It's a little hard right off the bat to tell what their purpose is, though their name would suggest that they are focused on bringing, keeping, and using computers in education. They have a fairly large number of conferences attached to them: EdMedia, E-Learn, Global Learn, Global TIME, and SITE. They also have a number of journals attached to them: (International Journal on E-Learning Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, AACE Journal, and Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education. The mission seems to be about providing people a place to share information and ideas about using computers and technology in education. It seems to be there to serve teachers and others who want to use computers and digital learning. I'm not sure exactly what problems they address.

The fourth and final organization highlighted is the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS). The information comes from their official website: http://www.isls.org/index.html. The focus of this group seems to be on enhancing learning with and without technology. They do not have any posted conferences, though it is obvious that they have them. They have two affiliated journals: Journal of the Learning Sciences and International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Their mission is to enhance their field by providing dialogue about it. They serve professionals and students interested in the field. It answers the problem of needing a place to talk about ideas and share research.