news

Casting the NETS Far and Wide The Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS), an inter- governmental organization representing seven Arabic countries, is using ISTE’s NETS as a guiding framework to help craft similar standards for its region. ABEGS, which represents the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, and Qatar, will translate the National Educational Technology Standards for stu- dents, teachers, and administrators into Arabic. “We have reviewed the standards set by your organization and found them suitable and applicable in the region,” writes Ali Al-Karni, ABEGS director general, in a letter to ISTE. An organization in Norway has also been granted permission to use the NETS for educational purposes. The National Digital Learning Arena, which offers free digital learning resources for secondary schools in Norway, will post the standards on its website, http://ndla.no.

To learn more about ABEGS, log on to www.abegs. org/sites/APD/DocLib/Broshor/ABEGS.pdf.

ISTE Announces New Award

Do you know an outstanding young educator, or are you one yourself?

ISTE has established the Outstanding Young Educator Award, which will recognize an outstanding PK– 20 educator under the age of 35 who demonstrates vision, innovation, action, and transformation using technology to improve learning and teaching. The work of the selected educator will reflect ISTE’s mission and purpose and can be used to model best practices in the field. Nominees should demonstrate skills in creative thinking, collaboration, data literacy, information and media literacy, and communication, and model the philosophy of NETS in their work.

Educators may nominate themselves for this award. Nomination letters are due March 15, 2010. For details visit www.iste.org/awards.

ISTE Is on Kindle!

Two of ISTE’s best-selling books are now available on

Kindle. Readers can go to amazon.com and download

Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools by Lynne Schrum and Gwen Solomon and Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age by Jane Krauss and Suzie Boss. Look forward to more ISTE titles being made available in this format. Order your books at www.iste.org/

bookstore.

Eduverse and New Media Literacies Learn how MIT’s Project New Media Literacies (NML) is engaging young people and equipping them with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emerging media landscape. Host Peggy Sheehy and NML Research Director Erin Reilly discuss the history of this project, why media literacy is important, and how to get started in this 30-minute episode of a filmed Second Life production. The archive of this ISTE Eduverse Talks episode and many others are available now at www.iste-eduverse.org. After you watch the show, visit the ISTE Community Ning ( www.iste-community.org/page/learning- library), where you can use the media library discussed in the episode.