Associations | News

Consortium for School Networking Adds Missouri Chapter

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 08/09/11

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has launched a new state chapter in Missouri, its thirteenth in the United States.

The new chapter consists of members of Missouri Educational Technology Leaders (METL), an organization that seeks to "assist Missouri school districts in understanding how to plan for the use and successful implementation of information technology to improve student learning, advocate for educational technology needs and to promote the development of leadership skills for educational technology professionals," according to information released by METL.

CoSN is a professional association with the goal of empowering K-12 technology leaders in the public and private sectors to use technology to improve teaching and learning.

With membership, the new chapter will have immediate access to CoSN benefits, such as professional development tools and the ability to share resources, ideas, and best practices with other members across the nation.

"We welcome Missouri to CoSN, and we are very pleased to announce this new partnership, which will help to maximize our advocacy efforts both on the state and national levels," said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger. "When we launch state chapters across the country, we not only gain new members, but we gain perspective, creative ideas and innovative practices--all of which help to fortify our efforts and help to build momentum to press for policies and practices that advance the use of ed tech in K-12."

CoSN began creating state chapters in 2004, with the Texas K-12 CTO Council being the first. Some state chapters are created with entirely new nonprofit organizations, while others are formed through new divisions of existing educational technology organizations. All chapters are required to pay "unified dues to build a stronger voice for educational technology leaders," according to information released by the organization.

Other CoSN members include:

• CoSN Alabama Leaders;
• California Educational Technology Professionals Association;
• Colorado Association of Leaders in Educational Technology;
• CoSN Council of Florida;
• Georgia K-12 CTO Council;
• Indiana CTO Council;
• Louisiana CTO Association;
• Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators Association;
• Maryland K-12 CIO Council;
• New Mexico CIOs; and
• Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communication and Technology.

More information about CoSN is available at cosn.org. Visit metl.missouri.org for more information on METL. Contact Keith Krueger at [email protected] for more information about becoming a CoSN state chapter.