Hello Michael Barbour:
I hope you are doing well! I have a few items to share with you.
First, I am looking forward to seeing many of you at SITE Interactive next week. There are some great sessions planned! Check out our website (https://site.aace.org/online/) for more information.
We’re also getting ready to head to New Orleans for the annual SITE conference. This will be my final SITE conference as president before handing it over to president-elect Jake Cohen. Send your proposal in by October 28!
Additionally, I will be seeing some of you at next Tuesday’s roundtable discussions if your institution is among the signers of the Digital Equity and Transformation Pledge.
SITE, alongside AAQEP, AACTE, CAEP, ISTE, and the U.S. Department of Education launched the Digital Equity and Transformation Pledge in June as a way to mobilize change in how Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) prepare future teachers for new learning environments.
COVID created an urgency to make fundamental shifts in how we prepare future teachers, but also a window of opportunity for innovation at all levels. With this pledge, we are looking to leverage this opportunity to innovate teacher preparation for success in new learning environments.
The following establishes principles intended for EPPs to signal their support for changes to how we prepare new teachers.
- Prepare teachers to thrive in digital learning environments.
- Prepare teachers to use technology to pursue ongoing professional learning.
- Prepare teachers to apply frameworks to accelerate transformative digital learning.
- Equip all faculty to continuously improve expertise in technology for learning.
- Collaborate with school leaders to identify shared digital teaching competencies.
We believe that SITE shares this vision and we want to invite you to join the growing number of EPPs signing on to the pledge. As a signatory, the coalition would invite both an EPP leader and a faculty champion selected to participate in bi-annual virtual roundtables to address strategies to bring about change (the first one is on Tuesday, October 4). Faculty champions are typically embedded in the program and model effective digital pedagogy for colleagues.
Already more than 60 EPPs have signed on and we hope you will consider joining this auspicious group. Head to https://iste.org/EPP-pledge to sign up.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Langran, PhD
SITE President
@SITEconf | #SITE23
SITE – Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education
PO Box 719, Waynesville, NC 28786-0719 USA
E-mail: info@aace.org * http://site.aace.org