In our Ed Tech class this week, we learnt about Edcamps that occur within school systems all across the world. These are informal sessions intended for teachers, and run by teachers, creating a learning environment and space for open discussion. There is also an emphasis on collaboration, and learning from each other based on experience rather than expertise on different topics.
I had never heard of Edcamps before, and I think that it is such a wonderful to develop and meet a diverse community of people in the same boat as you (as a teacher!). It’s a space and time for teachers to continue to extend their learning, and allows for them to learn from relatable and personal experiences that can further their own understanding of the topics discussed about. Something that someone else has experienced but you haven’t yet, this is an opportunity to learn and develop an understanding of that certain thing. Another thing that I like about Edcamps is that there is so much choice in what discussions you want to participate in. The way Edcamps are designed is for there to be a variety of different topics to be discussed at once, so as a teacher who may want more insight and/or conversation on a specific topic, you can choose to go to that session. Furthermore, these topics are chosen by all participants, so if you don’t see a topic that you are interested in or are really wanting to discuss about, you can put that topic up for others to join.
This is what I love about Edcamps. Its designed so that teachers can learn from teachers, whether that be resources, stories, tips, etc. You can learn a lot from generic courses and workshops of course, but you can learn even more through just experiences themselves. And that is the core of Edcamps; conversations through experiences, and the development of your own teacher toolkit as you go through these discussions and conversations that further your learning.
The Edcamp Model:
- Free: Edcamps are free and open to all participants to ensure that all different types of educators are able to attend.
- Participant driven: attendees drive the conversations and discussions – there are no prescheduled sessions. This is an opportunity for educators to collaborate and discuss topics important and beneficial to them!
- “Two Feet Rule”: Edcamps are meant to further the learning of educators on topics, so participants are encouraged to find sessions that meet their needs. This means that if they feel inspired to move to another session, they are free to do so.
Our class did our own Edcamp, and I really enjoyed it! Initially, I thought that it might be challenging for us to have extended conversations as we aren’t “experienced educators” yet, but I was surprised to find how well our conversations went. There was a lot of discussion and participation, and so much insight into different people’s experiences. It makes me realize that everyone has so much experience in various different fields in terms of education, and that every person had something to bring to the table. As a group, we cover a lot of ground with our own different experiences and having these conversations can boost learning to a whole other level!
