What is Edcamp?

Based on my understand, Edcamp is both an organization based in the States, and an approach. The idea is that users/attendees/participants can flesh out a conference, rather than receive teachings from experts or consultants.

I think it’s interesting to note that (according to the map on the website, anyway) there are official Edcamps in Tunisia, Bahrain, and Armenia, and of course a ton in the States, but only a couple in Canada – in the grand cities of Winnipeg and Quebec City.

Map of Edtech conferences coming up. Screenshot from https://www.edcamp.org/

Experiential learning in class

We demo’d this in class today.

What went well:

  • Talked to people I don’t usually talk to
  • Got to discuss an idea (potential benefits of hands-on activities for students to keep their hands busy while they listen in class) in a casual, but valuable way
  • Was nice not to feel overly managed by a teacher

What I would do differently:

  • Let people “pitch” their workshops to make the subject more clear

Could you do this in a high school classroom?

Yes!

Make your own Edtech conference

Here are the steps for making your own Edtech conference happen in a classroom (with some elaboration from my own facilitation brain):

  1. Introduce the concept. Explain scope, timing, expectations, how this will go.
  2. Invite ideas for workshops. Have folks write ideas on large stickies or bright coloured pieces of paper. These should be workshops that people can either lead or start a conversation around. *This might be good to let people think about in advance.
  3. Sort ideas into time blocks. Will you have two workshops per time block? Three? Four?
  4. Let folks “pitch” their workshops. This way, attendees will know what to expect.
  5. Go! People facilitate and attend workshops according to the schedule.

Optional add-ons:

  • Include a requirement for when the group comes back. e.g. 3 main takeaways, a sentence that summarizes the conversation, a new question, etc.