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.....