A couple of weeks ago I participated in an EdCamp “unconference”. EdCamps are a form of professional development where the participants make up what the conference will be about rather than having a preset schedule of people presenting information to them. The participants then are able to discuss and interact with the “presenters” about the topic to give them a rich, knowledgeable professional development experience. The best part about them are that they’re free! You can read more about them here.
For my EdCamp we discussed innovative uses of technologies that support learning. One thing that I really liked about this was that everyone brought something new to the table. If someone brought up something that other people had used before or knew about then they added their two cents. I felt like I was getting a lot of useful information from educators who have used these tools and knew their benefits and their drawbacks, and were forthcoming about both! One thing that I didn’t like was that there were sometimes long pauses between conversations. I know that part of this was due to the fact that it was all online, rather than face to face. I’m not sure how to fix that other than for more prompts to be given throughout. But you want to keep the conversation natural and flowing so that might not be the best bet either. I also would have liked for the conference to have been broken up into elementary and secondary groups. Throughout our conversation I felt like it was hard for me to relate to the other people because they mostly taught high school. I think breaking it up by the grade you teach would give you a better take away.
This type of conversation has great potential for professional development because it allows everyone to have a stake in the conversation and to bring their knowledge to the table. I think that this type of professional development would be great in my school/district because we have recently went to 1:1 chrome books and 2:1 iPads. Having an EdCamp would be great for teachers to get together and have a conversation about what they’re finding works the best for their students and classrooms. Being able to hear what other teachers in our school/district are doing would give many ideas and even help other teachers out since often new technology can be overwhelming. I also think that this type of professional development would be much more valuable to teachers compared to the traditional kind. Teachers being able to have a say in what they’re discussing and learning will lead to much deeper learning on their part.
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In order to organize an EdCamp for others there are many things to take into consideration. I would need to find out various topics that people would even be interested in discussing. If they aren’t interested in them then no one would come. I would want to make sure to offer a variety of topics so that people had a choice and would have more to offer. I would also need to find a time and place that is central and works for everyone. Like I said before I would try and split the groups into elementary and secondary just so teachers would be able to relate to one another’s conversations. Overall I think EdCamps are a very valuable experience for educators that allow them to have a say in their professional development.
Technology Teacher Confessions 