This passed weekend I attended @edcampr4TX at Region IV. I had never been to an edcamp, so I wasn't totally sure what to expect. @jpbigboy had given me the lowdown on how it would work on iTechNation episode 4, but hearing it and actually being there are two different things! Of course I was use to the normal conference set up where you would go pick up your schedule and decide which sessions you wanted to attend. Then you would sit in your session and get a million different ideas and not really know how to integrate them into your daily classroom without getting overwhelmed! Don't get me wrong, conferences are great and you get a lot of amazing ideas! But people get overwhelmed with the amount of info that is given out and they do not always have the session you were looking for.
That's what makes edcamps so great! The first 30-45 minutes of an edcamp is spent setting up the schedule. The way that works, is people take their ideas or things they want to talk about and write them on a sticky note and place it on the wall. Once everyone has their ideas posted, you organize all of the ideas into similar topics. Once you have them organized a schedule can be created with the topics that everyone has chosen. The schedule can then be posted so people can decide which session they would like to attend.
(I think a great way to improve this would be to use Padlet. With padlet, all you have to do is put the link in a QR code and then everyone can scan the QR code to get to the Padlet page. Once they are at the padlet page, they can create a post of what their idea is to discuss. The person who created the board is able to move the posts around to organize them into similar topics.)
This way everyone who attends has a say in what the topic of each session will be and it will help them get more out of the sessions. Another key part of the sessions is you need someone to be the group leader or have some knowledge on the topic. When I signed up for the edcamp, I did not plan to be a 'leader' of any of the sessions that I went to. I was there to learn and hear what other people had to say. I quickly realized that I needed to change my train of thought for the day!
Each of the sessions was very different because there were different people in each session looking for different things. That is what makes an edcamp unique! Some of the sessions were one person standing up and talking about what they are doing for most of the time, while others were everyone throwing ideas out there to try and create a training schedule. Each session offered something different and it made for a great day of discussion and learning!
Overall, I learned a lot, shared a lot of what I know, met some great people to network with and had a good day! I will definitely be attending more edcamps in the future to share what I know and learn from others experiences!
That's what makes edcamps so great! The first 30-45 minutes of an edcamp is spent setting up the schedule. The way that works, is people take their ideas or things they want to talk about and write them on a sticky note and place it on the wall. Once everyone has their ideas posted, you organize all of the ideas into similar topics. Once you have them organized a schedule can be created with the topics that everyone has chosen. The schedule can then be posted so people can decide which session they would like to attend.
(I think a great way to improve this would be to use Padlet. With padlet, all you have to do is put the link in a QR code and then everyone can scan the QR code to get to the Padlet page. Once they are at the padlet page, they can create a post of what their idea is to discuss. The person who created the board is able to move the posts around to organize them into similar topics.)
This way everyone who attends has a say in what the topic of each session will be and it will help them get more out of the sessions. Another key part of the sessions is you need someone to be the group leader or have some knowledge on the topic. When I signed up for the edcamp, I did not plan to be a 'leader' of any of the sessions that I went to. I was there to learn and hear what other people had to say. I quickly realized that I needed to change my train of thought for the day!
Each of the sessions was very different because there were different people in each session looking for different things. That is what makes an edcamp unique! Some of the sessions were one person standing up and talking about what they are doing for most of the time, while others were everyone throwing ideas out there to try and create a training schedule. Each session offered something different and it made for a great day of discussion and learning!
Overall, I learned a lot, shared a lot of what I know, met some great people to network with and had a good day! I will definitely be attending more edcamps in the future to share what I know and learn from others experiences!
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