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The NCTE Instructional Technology Committee

Function of the ITC

The function of the ITC is to study emerging technologies and their integration into English and language arts curricula and teacher education programs; to identify the effects of such technologies on teachers, students, and educational settings, with attention to minority, handicapped, and disadvantaged students; to explore means of distributing information about such technologies to the NCTE membership; to serve as liaison between NCTE and other groups interested in computer-based education in English and language arts; to maintain liaison with the NCTE Commission on Media and other Council groups concerned with instructional technology.

Reconstitution of the ITC

Since November 1993, the Instructional Technology Committee has been undergoing a reconstitution process; however, because the committee meets electronically, it has been able to make substantive progress on a number of fronts. First, under the committee's previous chair, Gail Hawisher, the committee was able to announce that the NCTE membership will be able to access NCTENet through an agreement with America Online, a commercial network vendor. Since then, the committee has continued to work on NCTENet and has arranged for a one-year trial of an NCTENet Gopher Server to begin in August 1994. This server will allow members with Internet access (either through NCTENet on America Online, some other vendor, or their institution) to obtain information about NCTE activities. Currently, the committee is organizing into subcommittees. One of these will continue to work on NCTENet and is attempting to provide NCTE committees and the membership with electronic conferencing systems. Other committees will address guidelines for tenure and promotion standards for individuals working on instructional technology development, publicity regarding NCTENet, the development of a commission on instructional technology, and training for teachers who wish to incorporate instructional technologies into their pedagogy.