John, this is one of the most well-written pieces on kids' tech I have ever seen--thank you for letting us see all that lurks in the swamp. This smacks of 70s-era mafia-run Las Vegas business contracts being handed out, not the scientific decision making which should be informing our kids' education.
ISTE is another major Ed-Swamp heavyweight. They were on my short list of ed-conferences to include but there are oh-so-many that are all oh-so-sleazy in only subtly different ways, that I narrowed the focus to three. The primary reason they weren’t included is that ISTE isn’t as nakedly corrupt in their marketing language, but if you read the sponsorship details carefully, the same access opportunities are absolutely for sale. https://conference.iste.org/2026/exhibitors/pdfs/ISTELive26andASCDAnnualConference26SponsorshipBrochure.pdf
John the reason I mention ISTE is that for many of us educators who have been working to make tech relevant and useful - they are(were??) the go to for guidance. However, way back on my first conference I was gobsmacked by the show floor - it was there I saw how big a business it is. I was there to learn some new things to bring back to the classroom. While I did glean some good stuff I think that it is so easy to get lured into the bright shiny objects. I am not a major buying power and so wouldn’t be worthy of C Suite treatment. It is very obvious though what all the marketing is about and I can easily see how these events set the stage for ‘we need this in our a schools’ mentality when well meaning teachers return.
Thank you, John! We need to keep exposing the tech industry influence in education!!
John, this is one of the most well-written pieces on kids' tech I have ever seen--thank you for letting us see all that lurks in the swamp. This smacks of 70s-era mafia-run Las Vegas business contracts being handed out, not the scientific decision making which should be informing our kids' education.
Do you have any comments about ISTE?
ISTE is another major Ed-Swamp heavyweight. They were on my short list of ed-conferences to include but there are oh-so-many that are all oh-so-sleazy in only subtly different ways, that I narrowed the focus to three. The primary reason they weren’t included is that ISTE isn’t as nakedly corrupt in their marketing language, but if you read the sponsorship details carefully, the same access opportunities are absolutely for sale. https://conference.iste.org/2026/exhibitors/pdfs/ISTELive26andASCDAnnualConference26SponsorshipBrochure.pdf
John the reason I mention ISTE is that for many of us educators who have been working to make tech relevant and useful - they are(were??) the go to for guidance. However, way back on my first conference I was gobsmacked by the show floor - it was there I saw how big a business it is. I was there to learn some new things to bring back to the classroom. While I did glean some good stuff I think that it is so easy to get lured into the bright shiny objects. I am not a major buying power and so wouldn’t be worthy of C Suite treatment. It is very obvious though what all the marketing is about and I can easily see how these events set the stage for ‘we need this in our a schools’ mentality when well meaning teachers return.
ISTE is very busy peddling the “intentional/purposeful screen time” BS narrative also: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnwooden_edswamp-edtech-iste-share-7481779337382342656-KgmJ