“EdCamps – the new way to do

Professional Development”

LACUE 2012 Valerie Burton, West Jefferson High School

Co-Presenter(s): Tinashe Blanchet, Carl Gaines, Brian Mull, Paula Naugle, Tiffany Whitehead

Description: EdCamps are “Unconferences” offered by teachers for teachers. Teachers are the presenters and the campers. Do you want to change the way professional development is done? Do you want more for your campus or district? We have tips and resources to help.

The Phenomenon

Grew from the BarCamp philosophy, like-minded people getting together to share and

grow.

EdCamps

EdCamp is a collaboration among educators who

passionately believe in the power of educational

technology to transform teaching and learning.

We are devoted to advancing best practices in

K-12 education and professional

development

Born from Bar Camp Set-up

I have attended two and I have

enjoyed them both

Concept

To be professionally

developed, who is the best judge of what is needed?

Administrators or Teachers

4 Tips to Getting Started

Attend an EdCamp Before hosting your own,

try to attend an

EdCamp.

Check out the official EdCamp

wiki page for ideas and inspiration.

Visit the EdCamp Wikispace

Choose Your Team

Organizing an EdCamp is hard to do alone.

Enlist the help of

your PLN

Get Organized

Once you’ve selected your team

get organized

To get

started

• Select a venue

• Select a date

• Select your team

• Select your focus

Contact your PLN

• Send information about your EdCamp via email! contacts as well.

• Attach important documents, videos, or pictures that you might have.

• Encourage them to forward it to their PLN to broaden exposure.

Website, Blog or Wiki !?! Your site should include as much information about your event as

possible. 1. Purpose of your EdCamp 2. The location and time/schedule 3. Sponsors page – if you have sponsors who have donated money or products, you need space dedicated to promote their business. 4. A Contact page – add a form so that anyone can communicate with you if needed. Be sure to include a contact email address whether or not you use a form.

Platform is your

choice

Tweet, Tweet y’all

• Create a Twitter account for your EdCamp and decide on a #Hashtag

• (Example: #EdCamp*insert your event’s name*).

• A lot of information for upcoming EdCamps is tweeted out by your Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter, so this will help others keep up with your latest EdCamp news.

Get the word out

“Like” it?

• Create a Facebook Event, Fan page, or do both!

• As one of the most popular social networking sites, Facebook is a great place to publicize your EdCamp.

Bloggers … write!

• Any ideas, goals, completed tasks, to-do lists, you name it –start blogging about it.

• Use your blog to advertise your event.

• Your blog would serve as a terrific reference for future EdCamp organizers.

Create Flyers or Posters

Flyers: Grab people’s attention with a fun, catchy flyer! Admittedly, printing costs can get pretty expensive so make sure to pair it up with an electronic PDF. If you do decide to pass out hard copies, try to see if your local printing company will give a discount.

Team

Be sure to have a tight team with duties

dispersed to make sure that all bases are

covered

• Publicity – who is going to send out emails,

posts, tweets, etc.?

• Facility Set up – who is going to be sure

that everything ready at least an hour before

event begins?

• Greeters/MCs - who is making

announcements and checking campers in?

• Food set up/servers – who is setting

up/out snacks, coolers, etc.?

• Clean up – who is helping to break down

rooms after sessions?

• Make board for sign up and set it up

• Check Wi-Fi

• Have signs up for Wi-Fi passwords and instructions

• Mark rooms with signs that will hold sessions

• Walk through and check out the technology hook ups, projectors, etc.

Check in:

• Check list with names or Eventbrite Ipad/iphone App

Build Connections

Collect resources

• Have a wiki that has a page to be updated by participants

• Have schedule from board on wiki

• Photo album (ex: Flickr, Picasa)

• Back Channels set up by room or by session

• Have a Google Doc, wikipage or registration site with everyone’s name/ school/email/twitter, etc

Day of Camp

• Check rooms for VGA hook ups

• Check Wi-Fi capabilities

• Be careful streaming, you do not want it to slow down the Wi-Fi

What supplies are needed?

• Paper, pens and possibly post-its or cards for the EdCamp board

• Tape or Velcro to stick index cards if you are using a paper board

• Power strips, projectors and cables (do not assume the facility has them)

Food

• Breakfast items & coffee

• Lunch - either have list of nearby places to eat or have sponsors cater.

• Drinks w/coolers - have drinks cold and available not only for lunch but throughout the day

• Snacks for campers to munch on

• Clean up

• Regroup

• Get feedback

• Thank EVERYONE

Think about NEXT TIME

EdCamp Louisiana Organizers:

Tinashe Blanchet @MrsBlanchetNet ~ Mathematics Teacher, John Ehret High School

Valerie Burton @MsBisOnline ~ M.Ed., English Teacher, Jefferson Parish School System

Carl Gaines @Carl_Gaines ~ Computer Science Teacher, Chalmette High School/AP Social

Studies Instructor, Louisiana Virtual School

Brian Mull @BrianMullNL ~ Director of Innovation, November Learning

Paula Naugle @PLNaugle ~ 4th Grade Teacher, Jefferson Parish Public School System

Tiffany Whitehead @Librarian_Tiff ~ Teacher-Librarian, Central Community School District

Online Schedule on the Wiki

Name tags and buttons

Help make things look

“Professional”

Student Presenters

Door Prizes

Snacks

v

•Flickr/EdCampLA

•Facebook/EdCampLA

•Twitter/EdCampLA

•YouTube/EdCampLA

•Gmail/EdCampLA 2011

•Posterous posts/EdCampLA

•PBworks wiki/EdCampLA

Twitter Background

What do you want form the

experience?

July 10, July 17, July 24, and July 31 Location:

Wamogo Regional High School 98 Wamogo Road

Litchfield, CT https://sites.google.com/a/rsd6.org/edcamprsd6/

EdCamp Social Studies will take place at theScience Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA on

March 24, 2012

Hangouts

Website ~ EdCampSS http://www.edcampss.org/p/about.html Facebook ~ EdCamp Social Studies Twitter ~ @EdCampSS & #edcampss Contact ~ edcampsocialstudies@gmail.com

The School for Global Education & Innovation

is proud to present a FREE event for NY and NJ educators.

This “UNCONFERENCE” will be held at the STEM Building at Kean University on August 9, 2012 from 8am - 4pm

https://sites.google.com/site/edcampcommoncore/

What are the goals of edcamp COEdTech 2012?

• Networking: Connect educators in the Central Oregon area

• Instructional Practices: Learn new curriculum ideas, best practices, and/or tech integration ideas from other educators

• Personalized: You customize your own PD by suggesting, facilitating and attending sessions about topics that interest you!

http://edcamp.coedtech.org/

Burlington High School offered weekly edcamps every Tuesday starting on July 10. https://sites.google.com/a/bpsk12.org/edcamp-tuesdays/home

Each week they offered participants a space to share new ideas, ask questions, and connect with each other.

http://edcampai.wikispaces.com/

• http://files.simplek12.com/downloads/HowToEdCamp.pdf

• http://www.edutopia.org/blog/planning-an-edcamp-details-mary-beth-hertz

• http://edcamp.org/

We believe in the power of

Professional Development

For Teachers By Teachers