Organizational and professional association sites are a great resrouce for scholalry activity, trends, research reports, and just plain keeping in the loop of expertise. Here are a few that highlight the cream of the field.
AECT
(Association for Educational Communications and Technology)
The Association for Educational Communications and Technology
(AECT) is a professional association of thousands of educators and
others whose activities are directed toward improving instruction
through technology. AECT membership includes subscription to TechTrends,
discounts to annual conferences, access to summer leadership institute,
discounts to AECT publications, among others. AECT also offers a job
center, online store, and regular conferences.
ASTD (American Society
for Training & Development)
ASTD is one of he world's leading association of workplace
learning and performance professionals, forming a world-class community
of practice. ASTD provides exclusive resources such as the T&D
magazine, newsletters, conference discounts, and job posting services to
its members. ASTD also provides the instructional design community with
learning opportunities such as the CPLP (Certified Learning &
Performance Professional) certification as well as podcasts,
professional conferences and educational programs. ASTD also provides
the learning and performance community with multiple state chapter
organizations throughout the United States who serve the local
instructional design community.
ISPI (International
Society for Performance Improvement)
ISPI's vision is that members have the proficiency and insight to
customize Human Performance Technology to meet the needs and goals of
their organizations and clients, so that the members are recognized as
valued assets. ISPI's mission is to develop and recognize the
proficiency of its members and advocate the use of Human Performance
Technology. IPSI provides exclusive resources such as PI, PIQ,
PerformanceXpress journals, job and resume posting services in a Career
Center, and conference discounts to its members. ISPI also
provides the instructional design community with development
opportunities such as the CPT (Certified Performance Technologist)
as well as professional conferences, institutes, and webinars. ISPI
also has multiple state chapter organizations throughout the United
States. ISPI is a wonderful instructional design organization that also
offers podcasts on human performance improvement topics.
IEEE LTTF
(IEEE Computer Society Learning Technology Task Force)
Emerging technology
has the potential to dramatically improve learning. The purpose of this
technical committee is to contribute to the field of Learning
Technology and to serve the needs of professionals
working in this field.The Technical Committee
on Learning Technology (TCLT) has initiated a number of activities to
promote research and development of Advanced Learning Technologies.
These activities foster collaboration among academic and professional
communities.
ISTE (The International Society for Technology in Education)
The premier membership association for educators and education
leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the
effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home of NETS
and ISTE's annual conference and exposition (formerly NECC), ISTE
represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide.
The eLearning
Guild
The eLearning Guild is a community of practice for designers,
developers, and managers of e-Learning. The eLearning Guild offers three
types of membership: Associate (free), Member Plus, and Premium Member.
The Associate member receives access to the Learning Solutions
eMagazine, Guild Research, discussion boards, job boards,
among others. The eLearning Guild offers the eLearning Community
multiple online forums and conferences throughout the year. The
conferences and forums are focused on the management, design, and
development of eLearning. The eLearning Guild provides the eLearning
community with excellent 360 degree research studies on various subjects
such as learning management systems, instructional design and eLearning
salary report, mobile learning, measuring learning, simulations and
more.
Sloan-C Consortium
The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is an institutional and
professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online
education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions
and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of
online education. Sloan-C supports the collaborative sharing of
knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in
learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and
providers, and student and faculty satisfaction. Sloan C is a solid
instructional design site and organization that offers its members
access to journals, reports, catalogs, listservs, networking, and
discounts on conferences. Sloan C offers the instructional design
community with symposiums, conferences, workshops, publications, and
news feeds.
Training Magazine
Training Magazine offers instructional design and training
professionals with resources and services that enable them to contribute
to the field of learning and development. The resources include The
Training Magazine, newsletters, blogs, and events and expos.
Training Magazine also offers training and presentation resources &
toolkits for training and instructional design professionals.