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SIG

Free TCEA Membership This Week

by Robert Bennett October 26, 2020

written by Robert Bennett

Using technology to create lasting learning has been the focus of TCEA for 40 years, and this year, you need all the support you can get. So we’re doing more than ever to connect educators and meet your needs.

To help give educators the tools, ideas, and community resources you need to succeed, you can join or renew your TCEA membership for free, for a full year, when you sign up this week.

To help support everyone during this time (and beyond), TCEA today is offering free, one-year membership in the organization. The free membership includes all of the online learning, resources, networking, and other features that can help you not only survive this scary time, but also thrive in it. The free membership is open to anyone, regardless of where you live or work; whether you are in a public school, private school, or home school; whether you are a teacher or administrator or librarian or counselor or technician or anyone working in education today; and whether you live in Texas or beyond.

It’s a great time to fall for TCEA — and join a cozy community of outstanding, engaged educators. We think of it like a warm blanket of resources, professional networking, and professional learning.

What You Get with Your Free TCEA Membership

Here are just a few of the benefits of joining our community of educators and lifelong learners:

The largest community-and-expert-developed resources for remote learning tools
A vibrant online TCEA Community with more than 33,000 active users
Weekly live and on-demand webinars created by and for educators
Three years of professional learning recordings, available on demand and when you want them immediately
80+ hours of annual, free CPE credit
Free SketchUp Pro software, a $495 value
Advocacy updates from the Texas Legislature to inform you of changes in educational policies
Free ebooks on innovative topics like makerspaces, digital icebreakers for collaboration, and transforming learning
And more

SIG-nificant Benefits

Plus, as a member, you can join any of our Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Each of these vibrant, peer-led groups help members explore topics and ideas they’re most interested and active in.

The SIGs include:

CAMP-SIG (for campus technology specialists, instructional coaches, and anyone who works with adult learners)
EI-SIG (for anyone interested in equity and inclusion)
LIB-SIG (for library media specialists)
ROBO-SIG (for those interested in the teaching of robotics)
TA/CS-SIG (for those working in Technology Applications and Computer Science areas K-12)
TEC-SIG (for CTOs, technology directors, and instructional technology leaders)
VL-SIG (for those interested in virtual learning)

Harvest a Bounty of Benefits

Fall into TCEA today. You can join or renew your membership for free, but only until the end of the day Friday, October 30.

Click here to pump up your professional learning network.

Leaders: Want to sign up your entire team, school, or even district all at once for free this week? You can do all that by filling out this Excel sheet with your team’s information (with their consent, of course), and emailing it to Robert Bennett, Director of Member Engagement, at rbennett@tcea.org.

Don’t delay. Together, we can achieve more!!!

October 26, 2020 4 comments

Find Your Tribe: Join a TCEA Special Interest Group

by November 1, 2018

written by

Are you a TCEA member who wishes to tailor your membership experience and become more involved in certain aspects of educational technology? Join one or more of our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) listed below and find the TCEA members who share your interests, challenges, and career goals. Membership in TCEA SIGs starts at just $10.

Here’s a little more about each SIG and what they bring to the table.

Campus Technology SIG (CAMP-SIG)

Calling all campus instructional technologists, technology coordinators, district trainers, and tech specialists! CAMP-SIG provides you with networking opportunities, tips and resources, coaching and mentoring methods, and more. They also host annual meetings for members to learn, share, grow, and network together.

Free and Open Resource SIG (FORE-SIG)

Are you a big supporter of the role of free and open source software solutions? If so, you’ve found your people at FORE-SIG. The purpose of FORE-SIG is to build and activate a community of educators who promote and support opportunities for technological advancement and a broader educational foundation that these solutions bring to PreK-16 education.

Library SIG (LIB-SIG)

Librarians have such an important roll in supporting the growth of well-rounded, digitally literate students. LIB-SIG brings together librarians who want to increase their technology skills and integrate those skills into the learning environment. They also write a monthly blog series right here on TechNotes.

Robotics SIG (ROBO-SIG)

If you live and breathe bots or if you’re just interested in how robotics can benefit student learning, ROBO-SIG is for you. Their mission is to become a network hub for educators involved in robotics, advocate for robotics as a classroom tool to teach and engage students in STEM, assist members in acquiring classroom robotics pedagogy and knowledge base, and prepare sponsors for the challenges of student competition.

Tech-Apps/Computer Science SIG (TA/CS-SIG)

Do you teach computer science or Technology Applications classes K-12? Welcome to your flock. TA/CS-SIG provides a forum to promote and support technology applications, computer science, and information technology educators and curriculum across the state of Texas.

Technology Coordinators SIG (TEC-SIG)

TEC-SIG is proud to be the largest of TCEA’s SIGs. Since 1989, it has provided communication between CTOs, technology directors, instructional technology leaders, and other administrators throughout the state. TEC-SIG furnishes its members with up-to-date information on legislation, happenings within the Texas Education Agency, grants, and more. Members share their own technology-related experiences at two yearly meetings in an effort to educate and inform each other on what is happening in the field of technology and how they can support staff and student use.

Virtual Learning SIG (VL-SIG)

With digital technology, learning doesn’t have to be contained just within classroom walls. VL-SIG supports collaboration and communication among virtual learning coordinators, online course instructors, and online curriculum developers. It also promotes and advocates for virtual learning to support the modern learning environment.

Joining a Special Interest Group

Each SIG will allow you to network with educators in similar roles or with similar interests to share ideas, challenges, and solutions in order to further enhance your knowledge and understanding of these specific areas of technology. TCEA SIGs also have a dedicated set of members who serve as SIG officers and help to plan SIG-specific webinars and networking events year-round, including at the 2019 TCEA Convention and Exposition.

SIG memberships do require you to be a current TCEA member. These groups allow you to access the private SIG area within the TCEA Social Community to better connect with your fellow SIG members.

Don’t delay. Join a TCEA SIG today to network with your peers and help meet the needs of your individual role or focus.

November 1, 2018 0 comment

Announcements/Important Dates Leadership

How to Solve the Biggest Tech Problems

by February 23, 2016

written by

This blog is written by Miguel Guhlin, President Elect of TEC-SIG.

When you are connected to a vibrant community of individuals, you know it. You feel you are a valuable component in a network of high-powered learners, people who aren’t afraid to share their ideas to make Texas better.

When your superintendent asks, “What’s going on with digital textbook logins?,” you don’t worry. You start crafting an email to TEC-SIG. When you begin to plan your rollout of Windows 10, you know who might have a plan to share. When you need a web host provider, you can rely on people who face the same challenges and have overcome them, people who aren’t afraid to share their ideas to help YOU be better.

When the high-stakes test vendor says, “It’s okay; there aren’t any problems,” you don’t take them at their word. You ask other technologists around the state, and they add those critical data points that empower you to tell the vendor, “That’s not right. These school districts have called you in the last hour about the exact same problem.” You connect with people who aren’t afraid to hold themselves and others to a higher standard.

When you find yourself needing RFP criteria for a project your Finance Director just mentioned, there’s one group you reach out to. And, in a few minutes, you have a collection of documents that just shaved days off your task, allowing you to deliver faster than anyone else expected. You have friends who reach out a helping hand, like Americans and Texans do.

A TEC-SIG member isn’t a corporation out to make a buck. Rather, they are a community of vibrant friends and friends you have yet to meet, who are waiting to lend you a helping hand because that’s what connected educators do. When you need help, we pitch in. When you need something done, we step up.

TEC-SIG…friends who aren’t afraid to shine and push back the dark.

TCEA TEC-SIG will be meeting on April 14-15, 2016. Why don’t you join us?

Thursday-Friday, April 14-15, 2016

Location: TCEA, 3100 Alvin Devane Blvd; Building B; Austin, TX 78741

Agenda (Draft): http://tinyurl.com/tecsigspring16

Want to step up and facilitate a presentation or panel?

TEC-SIG enables technology coordinators, instructional technology leaders, and other administrators throughout the state to stay in touch, to engage in community-based learning that supports and serves students and staff in a hyper-connected world. When everyone can be your teacher, it’s important to have a few Texans you can trust and rely on.

February 23, 2016 0 comment