Monday, January 16, 2012

Reflections & Feedback from Camp

I would like to express a heartfelt thank-you to the organizers of Ed Camp Delta.  It was a day rich with conversation, questions and ideas.


I was fortunate enough to attend the event with many of the colleagues I work with.  For most teachers, this was their first time attending an edcamp.  Here is snapshot of some of the feedback:



What did you like about the Ed Camp model of professional development?
  • participant driven
  • chance to hear from other pracitioners in the field
  • It was great having students and parents present
  • the success of this model of pro-d is rooted in choice.  Teachers choosing to attend on their own time.
  • The tech support was very good and essential.  The google docs for each session are a great collection of thoughts and ideas
  • It was driven by educators’ desire to better themselves (versus the professional speaker and vendor circuit which is often the backbone of big education conferences).  Ed. Camp has a very altruistic feel.
  • I like the organic nature of ed-camp
  • It was a great networking experience
What are some suggestions for improvement?
  • facilitator preparation often determines the success of a session.  
  • Maybe fewer but bigger sessions?  
  • Would this work for a conference where teachers “must” attend instead of choose to attend?  
  •  I wonder how Ed. Camp would fit into the formalized pro-d system we have now for teachers.  Somehow I think there would need to be adjustments on both ends (Ed. Camp structure and concept of teacher pro-d) for it to work on a larger scale.
  • in order to get full value we must engage in some professional reading/learning on our own
  • discussions often did not lead to solutions or next steps since there did not seem to be many "experts". From a practical standpoint I did not walk away with any new learning's we could take to our classrooms
As a school we are thinking about adopting aspects of the edcamp model of pro-d  for an upcoming professional day.  I certainly welcome other suggestions, ideas and reflections.....

On a personal note, it was great to have some "face time" with some colleagues I primarily interact with on Twitter (this includes a pre-edcamp "get together" the night before).  I really appreciate my expanded (and ever expanding)  network of colleagues and friends.  


I want to thank all the participants who attended and added to the many rich conversations.  


Looking forward to my next edcamp already.....

3 comments:

  1. Re: the last two bullet points, I find that while edcamp sessions can provide great motivation and big picture ideas, the best practical "I can use it in my classroom today" ideas come from teacher and principal blogs. Add the back and forth conversations of twitter and you have the perfect recipe for taking concrete action.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have heard a lot about the Ed Camp and hope to join it soon, thanks for the details
    Conference Feedback Form

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Shauna - At the end of the day no pro-d event can be all things to all people. I do think that the Edcamp model has the best chance of success given that the participants have an opportunity to drive the conversation. It was great interacting with you at the conference as well!

    ReplyDelete