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Should I Join a Professional Association?
Let's learn about professional associations from different sectors within the IDT field.
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CorporateATD
Membership Options: Paid Description: "The Association for Talent Development [ATD] is a professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees around the world… by providing trusted content in the form of research, books, webcasts, events, and education programs." (Source) The eLearning Guild Membership Options: Free Description: The eLearning Guild provides “information, networking, and community for eLearning professionals.” The Guild’s goal is “to create a place where eLearning professionals can share their knowledge, expertise, and ideas to build a better industry—and better learning experiences—for everyone.” (Source) The eLearning Guild hosts several annual conferences including DevLearn, a popular learning and development conference. LXD Connect Membership Options: Free LXD Connect is a subgroup of ProductHive that helps learning experience designers in Utah to network and learn from each other. The group announces free meetups and job postings in its Slack channel. Higher EducationAECT
Membership Options: Paid Description: "The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is a professional association of instructional designers, educators and professionals who provide leadership and advise policy makers in order to sustain a continuous effort to enrich teaching and learning." (Source) OLC Membership Options: Free and Paid Description: "The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is a collaborative community of higher education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences designed to reach and engage the modern learner – anyone, anywhere, anytime." (Source) EDUCAUSE Membership Options: Paid Description: EDUCAUSE is "a community of IT leaders and professionals working together to tackle challenges and leverage opportunities that are constantly evolving within higher education." EDUCAUSE helps "those who lead, manage, deploy, and use information technology to advance higher education." (Source) K-12The Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL)
Membership Options: Paid Description: “The Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL) transforms the policy landscape to promote better policies and practices to advance powerful, personalized, learner-centered experiences.” The iNACOL Mission Statement stated that “The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to catalyze the transformation of K-12 education policy and practice to advance powerful, personalized, learner-centered experiences through competency-based, blended and online learning." (Source) ISTE Membership Options: Paid Description: "The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) [is] a passionate community of global educators who believe in the power of technology to transform teaching and learning, accelerate innovation and solve tough problems in education. ISTE inspires the creation of solutions and connections that improve opportunities for all learners by delivering: practical guidance, evidence-based professional learning, virtual networks, thought-provoking events and the ISTE Standards." (Source) All SectorsUSDLA
Membership Options: Paid “The United States Distance Learning Association [USDLA] was the first nonprofit distance learning association in the United States to support distance learning research, development and praxis across the complete arena of education, training and communications." (Source) USDLA address the following learning communities:
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