BFTP: Why I belong to ISTE

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post, May 19, 2007. Last week I gave my reasons for paying my dues to ALA/AASL. Since I am also an active member of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), I thought I ought be fair and look at why I pay my dues and volunteer and write for that "other" national professional organization to which I believe all school librarians ought to belong.  Or simply join if they don't see ALA as a good fit.

ISTE advances excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology.

First, dues are not the issue with ISTE that they are with ALA/AASL -  $99 vs. $180.  (Both organization's dues have gone up $20 over the past 5 years.) The basic membership includes membership in any SIG (Special Interest Group) like SIGMS (Media Specialist) and one journal like Leading & Learning. ISTE is not a library association, but education organization, and school librarians have no higher or lower standing in ISTE than they do in ALA. And just as all librarians are represented broadly by ALA, so are all educators represented generally by ISTE.

I have concerns about ISTE, but they are quite different from those I have about ALA. If ALA is the dowdy old aunt of the family who needs to be encouraged to get out of the house and try something new but upholds cherished values, ISTE is the rowdy teenager whose values and character are not firmly formed and needs guidance. It's easy for the glitz and "gee-whiz" of technology to overshadow the primary purpose of the organization - to help educators learn how to evaluate and use technology to better educate students. (See Gary Stager's recent blog post.) This is why ISTE needs librarians as members - to provide some balance and little common sense to the organization. So being a member or ISTE and...

1. Paying dues gives me a voice. ISTE needs seasoning. As a member, I can express my concerns regarding any head-long rush of technology adoption. Counter the profit-motivated push by companies to blindly add technologies to the education mix. Promote research, demand assessment, and raise concern about the safe and ethical use of technologies. To remind ISTE that in its mission statement - "providing leadership and service to improve teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in education" - the operative word is "effective."

2. Paying dues shows I support and recognize the need to know about cutting edge educational practices. Any school librarian who does not get and stay on the forefront of accessing, using, communicating and evaluating information in digital formats and is not seen as a building technology leader is irrelevant. Simple as that. 

3. Paying dues gives me more opportunity for inter-species communications. ISTE has a great mix of educator types. Technology specialists, of course, but also lots of classroom teachers, administrators, college professors, and librarians. When we librarians present at AASL conferences and write for ALA/AASL journals, we are preaching to the choir. Writing and speaking through ISTE gets the sermon about the importance of good libraries to the sinners who actually need to hear it.

4. Paying dues gives me access to the ISTE Conference and SIGMS. Yes, I have described this mega-conference as a "love fest to all things that go beep," finding it far too vendor driven. But it is exciting and motivational. This blog is a direct result of hearing David Weinberger's NECC keynote in Philadephia in 2005. Unlike most ALA conferences, I actually attend sessions at NECC. Oh, the organizational work of ISTE (affiliates, SIGS, committees) is all pretty much done the days just prior to the ISTE conference or virtually - no need for the  expensive "midwinter conference" idiocy. The SIGMS events at ISTE are outstanding. This is where the cutting edge conversations happen in the school library world. Period.

5. Paying dues shows my support for the NETS standards. This is the set of learning standards the nation's states and schools actually use when it comes to what kids need to know and be able to do with information and technology. Librarians, we need to make sure the NETS  focus remains on information literacy, problem-solving, communication and the use of HOTS. The "refreshed" NETS do this and even add a "creativity" component. Now if we could just merge them with the AASL standards...

6. Paying dues gives me the chance to influence legislative lobbying efforts. These efforts of ISTE need some serious work. At the present time unfortunately, it's all about the money - making sure E2T2, E-rate and other national funding sources are preserved. Important to be sure, but less important in the long run that ISTE being a voice on education policy, especially in speaking out against issues like DOPA. I don't think ISTE "gets" intellectual freedom. School librarians, your voice is needed here very much. Or do you like your Internet blocked?

7. Did I mention paying dues gives me complaining rights? This is tough for me since I have served on the ISTE board for the past and have gotten to know both the other board members and CEO Don Knezek and the ISTE staff. I genuinely like these people. They are smart, dedicated, competent, and have their hearts in the right place. They care about the organization and its members. But as members, we not only have the right, but the obligation to try making all our professional organizations better through constructive criticism - including ISTE. (As of this writing, Don has announced his retirement and the board structure is undergoing a transformation - stay tuned.)

I said it before and I will say it again, "Joining a professional organization is not necessarily about the good we as individuals get from membership, but the differences our contributions in both money and time make to the profession as a whole - and to those whom the profession serves. It isn't always about you!" This goes for ISTE as much as it does ALA/AASL.

School librarians, join ISTE.  Sure, we'll take your dues, but it is your values and sense are what we really need.