What is ISTE? ISTE is an organization of experts and leaders in educational technology whose purpose is to promote "appropriate uses of information technology to support and improve learning, teaching, and administration in K-12 education and teacher education." ISTE holds workshops and forums, publishes books about the innovative uses of technology in education, and conducts research in educational technology. ISTE focuses on the integration of technology in schools and promotes the use of technology as a tool. Technology use should not be an end in itself, isolated in a lab. Rather, technology should be used as a means to an end, available for teachers and students to use when and where they need it. QuickTime Required Lajeane Thomas  ONE OF THE GOALS OF ISTE AND THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS PROJECT IS TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR KIDS BECOME TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE KIDS. OUR SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES ABOUT 99% OF OUR SCHOOLS NOW HAVE COMPUTERS AND ABOUT 95 % ARE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. BUT IT IS THE WAY THE TECHNOLOGY IS USED THAT IS IMPORTANT. SOME OF THOSE COMPUTERS ARE IN LABS AND WE'D REALLY LIKE TO SEE THEM AT THE ELBOW OF THE CHILDREN AND THE ELBOW OF THE TEACHER SO THAT THEY CAN USE THEM AS TOOLS IN THEIR EVERY DAY LEARNING. What services does ISTE provide for teachers? One of ISTE's most notable services for teachers is the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) project. NETS are voluntary guidelines developed for both teachers and students. NETS are used by schools and districts nationwide in the process of curriculum development, helping educators to decide what students should learn, when they should learn it, and how it should be taught. NETS also help educators acquire the skills they need to teach effectively with technology. You can view NETS for teachers and students on the ISTE Web site. NETS for Teachers: http://cnets.iste.org/teachstand.html NETS for Students: http://cnets.iste.org/sfors.htm How can I find out more about ISTE and NETS? ISTE's Web site - http://www.iste.org - provides extensive information about ISTE's services, as well as a host of links to valuable resources for teachers. The NETS project Web site - http://cnets.iste.org/index.html - provides details of performance indicators for teachers and students, along with lesson plans and strategies for integrating the NETS standards with content standards across the curriculum.