Imagine a force so powerful that it can compel 60 educators
from around Massachusetts to willingly give up
a sunny day in July and converge on downtown Boston for an all-day professional
development session….
You’ve most likely just encountered an ‘EdCamp'..!
I reported in another post on the overall theory
and structure of an EdCamp:
An
EdCamp is a relatively new style of professional development where the
presenters are often ordinary classroom teachers. There isn’t one presenter explaining one
topic, there are several sessions going on in different conference rooms at the
same time, each session on a topic chosen by the presenter. Thus, no agenda, or conference schedule, is
defined ahead of time. In fact, an
EdCamp is often referred to as an “unconference”..!
An
EdCamp venue provides meeting spaces with lots of break out rooms, and a blank
wall where participants post what topics they want to present (or discuss) at a
given time and in a given break out room.
You, the eager educator, look at this on-the-fly agenda on the morning
of the EdCamp, decide what you want to learn, then go to that break out room
and become part of the discussion – if you wish.
I attended my first EdCamp – EdCamp Boston – in May and
became a believer before the first hour had passed. The energy level in the room was charged and
every session I attended was a winner.
The July EdCamp (EdCampBLC – for Building Learning Communities), was held at the Park Plaza Hotel
in downtown Boston . Given my experiences in May, I had high
expectations for EdCampBLC – and I’m pleased to say I was *not* disappointed!
EdCampBLC was organized by a small, but energetic group of
educators: Tracy Sockalosky, Sean Sweeney, Jeremy Angoff and Brian Hammel. Once the introductions were completed,
available times and room names were arranged in a grid on one of the
walls. As attendees decided on a
discussion/presentation, they just grabbed a piece of paper, wrote a brief
blurb about their topic and taped it to the wall, thus claiming one of the
rooms for their own!
 |
| EdCampBLC Agenda |
Because meeting room space was at a premium at the Park Plaza
After reviewing all the sessions, I had time for two (not
counting the one I planned):
-
What is transformative? 1:1? Chromebooks? iPads?
Apps? BYOT? Google?
-
Implementing and managing ChromeBooks and iPads.
For me, the first session, “What is transformative?” was so
indicative of a classic EdCamp session.
About a dozen people gathered in a room and the conversation was
initially led by Jeremy Angoff. We began
by trying to define exactly what ‘transformative’ meant and what was being
transformed. As we talked, Jeremy
created a GoogleDoc,
projected it on the wall, and posted the link, so participants could share
their thoughts in real time as we moved forward.
As the meeting rolled along, I was struck by several
things. First, once Jeremy delivered his
opening words, others quickly chimed in with their own thoughts, questions and
caveats. If you walked into the room 10
minutes after we started, I think you would have been hard pressed to pick out
who was ‘in charge’ of the entire meeting, as no one person really dominated
the conversation. I had my own ideas on
what our conversation about ‘transformative’ was going to center around
(technology in the hands of students), but many had extensions on this and a
variety of other things to consider:
-
the SAMR model of rolling out technology (watch
for a blog post on that very soon!)
-
the need for truly realistic expectations
-
how some are reluctant to embrace technology (Dan Riles described teachers who were reluctant to embrace technology in the
clasroom ‘Tech Vulnerable’, which I loved!)
-
whether technology would help teachers create
intrinsically motivating projects
-
the need to reach ALL learners (low, medium and
gifted)
Those are just some of the ideas that stuck with me long
after we left.
It was a thought-provoking hour that raised many important
points. As we were wrapping up, I really
liked the way Jeremy paused and gave anyone who hadn’t been heard the chance to
say something. Many of those who were in
more of an observing role did make some points and were able to have their
opinions added to the dialogue.
The time *flew* by (when have you ever said that in a PD
session??) and before you knew it, it was time to move to the next
session.
[By the way: if you were waiting to hear our lofty answer to
“What is transformative?” – sorry, we never got there! As tempting as it might be to try and wrap
this up in a tidy sound bite, it is an incredibly vast and complicated
issue. I was just happy to be part of
the conversation!]
Session 2 was entitled “Using Schoology to collaboratively
build a US History course” – and it was moderated by me! Actually, the entire idea of utilizing crowd
sourcing to gather resources for a US History course was the brainchild of Nate
Everett (@thalesdream). Nate presented
this at an EdCamp session in May, but could not be at this EdCamp. Since the theme of our EdCamp was ‘building
learning communities’, I felt this was a perfect topic, so I volunteered to
give the same type of overview. There
was a break between session 1 and session 2, so I eagerly awaited the flood of
participants. I had my laptop, some
handouts, a few notes and a big sign indicating what the session topic
was. Time creeped toward 11:15 and I was
scanning the door, watching folks walk by, pause…and then walk on! By 11:20, there I was - staring at my
projector – still waiting…! Suddenly,
the idea for a new session came into my mind “What if you scheduled an EdCamp
session and nobody came?”….As I was about to pack up my stuff, I heard a voice
– not exactly ‘calling out from the wilderness’, but close. One lone participant stuck her head in and
said “Is this the session on Schoology?” and I answered “It is now!” We had reached the necessary quorum –
two!
Sara Krakauer (@globetwisting) introduced herself and I
quickly went through my (Nate’s) overview.
Basically, Nate created a course using Schoology and grants interested
teachers admin access to the course. The
idea is to get dedicated teachers to donate their resources (lesson plans,
primary sources, assessments, etc.) to this site. Teachers would then have access to a wide
array of material and could pick and choose what they needed for their
particular circumstances. Sara was kind
enough to listen to the idea and had a few questions. Since nobody else had any questions, it
looked this was going to be the fastest EdCamp session on record. However, Sara was nice enough to explain a
little about herself and discuss what she was doing. I was blown away with her initiatives of
global citizenship and the model she created to get her students more involved
in 21st century learning. If
you want to learn more, please see her massive blog, Innovation On Earth
.
Sara explained that she was getting ready to present her
learning model to Fulbright Scholars at the State Department! She walked me through some ideas for her
presentation and we talked over different ways she could use her time with
these outstanding educators. In the end
– in typical EdCamp fashion - I learned more from her than she did from my
Schoology overview. It was a pleasure
meeting her and getting to know more about what she is doing in her
classroom.
[Note to self – and anyone planning an EdCamp session: Try
to pick a session slot that is NOT at the same time as a popular topic. In my case, the Schoology session was at the
same time as a session on curation. I
heard later that most of the EdCamp attendees were in that one session..!]
After lunch, I had time for one more session and I chose
“Implementing and Managing ChromeBooks and iPads”. Currently, my school only has MacBooks – but
I would imagine these two devices will probably be the most commonly deployed
over the next five years. As someone
working toward their license in Instructional Technology, I could see myself
becoming involved in managing these tech tools and I wanted to hear what others
had to say about this. The conversation
was, again, very interesting, with 10-12 participants raising questions and
discussing issues over managing these devices.
We also discussed the differences (and there are many) between managing
ChromeBooks versus iPads. From the notes
I took, it sounded like Casper
by JAMF Software was the hands-down winner for strong iPad management software.
In the end, though, the big story that everyone will
remember from this session came from Jarred Haas (@JarredHaas), a middle school
teacher in Peabody . Jarred was interested in ways to “better
physically manage our iPads.” Jarred
explained that his school has one cart of iPads for almost 1500 students. There are no elevators in this school, so
custodians *carry* the cart up and down the stairs to teachers’ rooms,
depending upon when they have signed up for the cart..! As the participant next to me replied, “Just
when you think you have it rough…!”
There was a last round of sessions, and the standard
“smackdown” session where attendees share what they learned from their day of
presentations. Unfortunately, I had
other commitments, so that was the end of my EdCamp experience. Even with the few sessions I took part in,
the knowledge I gained and the new contacts I made will be resources I will go
back to in the weeks and months to come.
I hope you’ll consider an EdCamp in the near future – in
fact my next one is only a few weeks away – EdCampCapeCod will be held on August 12 in Sandwich ,
MA
Give it a try – I think you will be amazed!
