We hope you can take a minute and take a breath – follow local guidance, if that’s through a mask or not!

“The ultimate measure of a [person] is not where [he/she] stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where [he/she] stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

We have all heard and used this phrase – probably repeatedly – in our numerous holiday season conversations.  I think you would agree that, in reality, this year is NOT our typical holiday “season”!

Being a non-profit organization made up of hundreds of volunteers – both end users and marketplace providers – the “let’s get back to school” focus has provided some interesting informal research data points: We look at educational technology differently,  We look at teachers differently, We look at marketplace providers differently, We look at learning differently.

Albert Einstein famously stated, “In the midst of every difficulty lies opportunity.”  While I am quite sure he did not intend this for a global pandemic, this restricted time has given many individuals, families and even organizations time to review ‘how they work’.  Recently, the North American Management Board of the Association held conversations around how to communicate our collective work more effectively, addressing the realities of interoperability and privacy.

The most important first item to note in this quarter’s newsletter is just that – stay safe!  It is a phrase many of us throw around during our normal meet-and-greets each day, but the current COVID-19 caution messaging and public responses has given the salutation a whole new meaning!