ISTE Urges US Affiliates to Mobilize Members Regarding the Obama Economic Recovery Package

--Posted January 16, 2009

ISTE has been hard at work joining forces with SETDA, CoSN, and SIIA and togther we are endorsing the President-Elect’s goals to “equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms . . . [and] provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers..." The groups are recommending that Congress disseminate these new classroom technology grant funds through the existing Enhancing Education through Technology (EETT) program in order to ensure that the funds quickly reach the neediest schools and are used for their intended purposes.

There are a number of ways you can learn more and get your voices heard, so that together we will have a powerful impact on these decision-makers:

1. Support Ed Tech Funding! Make your voice heard through the Ed Tech Action Network.

2. View the press release by ISTE, CoSN, SETDA, and SIIA urging support for Ed Tech in the stimulus package.

3. Read the full text of the US House of Representatives appropriations bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

4. A webinar was presented on Thursday, January 15, 2009 by ISTE leaders. The briefing focued on specific aspects of the proposed economic recovery package that could mean substantial new resources for classroom technology and broadband build out, and gave a call to action as to how you and your colleagues can harness the Education Technology Network to Make Our Voices Heard! Presenters are Hilary Goldmann, ISTE Director of Government Affairs; Mary Wegner, Advocate Leader for the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) and member of ISTE's Public Policy and Advocacy committee; Don Knezek, ISTE CEO; and Susan Larson, ISTE Affiliate Program Director. You can watch or listen to the recording of the 48-minute webinar here:

To view the webinar: (turn your speakers up!) __http://iste.acrobat.com/tx7u9rm.oxwys2/__
To listen to the audio portion of the webinar: __http://iste.acrobat.com/th5fbsf.bcug6v/__

5. Share these links and ETAN alert within as many educational networks as you can.
 ETAN Alert Economic Recovery Package.pdf ETAN Alert - Call to Action
 stimulusPRFinal22 _3_.pdf Press release

6. Share ideas, success stories, and suggestions for effectively impacting our nation's decision-makers. Use the Discussion Forum here - tab at the top of this page. (To edit any wiki pages or post to the discussion forums, you must be a member of this wiki. Follow the links to "join" at the top.)

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Save the Date
April 30-May 1
ISTE/CoSN Washington Education Technology Policy Summit

A two-day event in Washington, D.C. that includes dialogues with policymakers about the latest ed tech policy issues and a visit to your state's Congressional leaders. More info and registration instructions to come soon. Cost is $120. Hotel is $219 per night.

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ABC's of Advocacy - wiki from NECC 2008

http://abcs-of-advocacy.iste.wikispaces.net/
Develop your advocacy knowledge, skills and toolkit by browsing through the ABC's wiki, a collection of resources and work done at this training event. This workshop was held the first day of NECC. Presenters included Hilary Goldmann, ISTE's Director of Government Affairs, and Affiliate leaders Jill Pierce, Mary Wegner, and Helen Padgett - people who have been "in the trenches" and are excited to share their methods and ideas with you. Promotional flyer for the Advocacy training event: ABCAdvocacy.pdf

Resources

Be sure to visit the ISTE website often for advocacy news, updates, and tools!

ETAN - EdTech Action Network

ETAN provides a forum for educators and others to engage in the political process and project a unified voice in support of a common cause – improving teaching and learning through the systemic use of technology. ETAN’s mission is to influence public policy-makers at the federal, state and local levels and to increase public investment in the competitiveness of America's classrooms and students.

Here are some helpful tools that you can share with your members about how to get involved with ETAN, and how to run an ETAN booth at your conference. If you'd like to host an ETAN booth at your event, contact Hilary Goldmann.
 ETAN FLyer.doc - What is ETAN, why and how to join
 Primer_for_Working_at_the_ETAN_Booth_2007.doc - Once you sign up to have an ETAN booth at your conference, this info will help you maximize your efforts.
 ETAN_Booth_Lessons.doc- A great resource from our Alaska Affiliate ASTE -- tips they have discovered in offering an ETAN booth at their events.

Advocacy Toolkit

The Advocacy Toolkit is a collection of stories, templates, starter kits, and other resources that help you to make the case for educational technology to a variety of audiences.

Affiliate Communications Call

This monthly update includes reports of legislative happenings on the federal and local level, plus news of events and issues throughout the affiliates relating to advocacy, public relations, best practices, and any other communications issues. For those people participating in the calls, please review the minutes as soon as possible after they are posted to ensure accuracy .

Minutes

 Comm call 3-18-08.doc
 2-12-08 com call.doc
 com call 1-9.doc
 comm call 12-11-07.doc
 comm call 11-14-07.doc
 Aff com call 10-10-07.doc
 com call 9-19-07.doc
8-8-07
7-18-07

CUE Interviews with Representatives Miller, Roybal-Allard

Feel free to reprint (w/attribution)
Miller -  090407Miller piece2.pdf
Roybal-Allard -  101707Q&A.pdf

How to Host and Publicize a Student Technology Showcase - shared by MACUL

Thanks to Ric Wiltse, Executive Director of MACUL, for sharing this step-by-step process for how they have successfully produced and publicized a Student Technology Showcase for the last six years. This overview includes a detailed timeline and publicity plan you can follow and adapt to create a similar event in your area.  Student Techn Showcase MACUL overview.doc