I'm thrilled to be attending the upcoming EdCampNYC. Ever since EdCamp Philly and NTCamp I can honestly say the EdCamp movement hasn't been far from my mind. As a pre-service teacher, I see my involvement in this community as one of the things that will help me to have a long and fulfilling career as a teacher.
Over the summer, I was taking one of my required graduate courses on current research in curriculum and instruction. One of the texts we used was "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" which very conveniently is available in a full text version online at http://www.nap.edu/.
Chapter 8 is called "Teacher Learning." I was only 2 pages into this chapter when EdCamp popped into my head as a perfect example to consider as I was reading the section called "Quality of Learning Opportunities" which starts on page 180.
It's well know that the quality of professional development opportunities for teachers varies. So what makes a good quality learning opportunity? I'm going to outline what this books describes and share my analysis of EdCamp.
Learner-Centered Environments - Learner-centered environments "attempt to build on the strengths, interests, and needs of the learners." (pg 180)
EdCamp is Learner-Centered because the sessions come organically out of the strengths and interests of the attendees. Additionally, when choosing to attend a particular session, attendees can follow their interests and/or needs at a given time. If they find they are in session that is not meeting their needs for whatever reason, they are encouraged to "vote with their feet" and find something that is a better fit.
Knowledge-Centered Environments - A knowledge-centered environment ideally focuses on pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge that is supported by research about learning (pg 182)
Thus far, I think that EdCamp does generally offer a handful of knowledge-centered sessions as opposed to just sessions on generic pedagogy. I've attended sessions on very specific topics such as tools that I can use to help special education students, ways of incorporating engaging literature into content courses (www.greatbooks.com), and a different way to talk through concepts in a science based course. As far as sessions being supported by research in learning, I think that each of us is conducting research on some level as we interact with students and the material on a daily basis. We know what's working for us and what isn't working for us. Some of us also conduct formalized research as part of our thesis or for publication in journals. There are also sessions geared towards general pedagogical concepts, but with such a diverse group of attendees I think this is necessary. Perhaps someday there will be such thinks as SciCamp, SPEDCamp, MathCamp to supplement our EdCamp movement. I'm sure if that day comes, we'll be able to convince @cybraryman to add a resource page for us to reference.
Community-Cenetered Environments "involve norms that encourage collaboration and learning." (page 185)
As far as EdCamp meeting that criteria, the 3 words that come to mind are "My Twitter PLN." Prior to EdCamp Philly, I had a Twitter handle but hadn't really considered using it. Now, I'm proselytizing Twitter for professional development in the supermarket to a man stocking produce. Seriously, that happened to me on Tuesday night. I think I actually told him "It's the best thing that's happened to me." Although that might be slightly exaggerated, getting involved in the Twitter education community definitely ranks up there in my short list of greatest things that have happened in my life to date.
Last but not least, Assessment-Centered Environments "provide opportunities for learners to test their understanding by trying out things and receiving feedback." (page 184)
In my opinion, this is the area in which EdCamp has the greatest room for improvement. I may leave a session committed to "trying that out" in my classroom along with 10 other educators who were in the room, and may not talk to them about it again unless they happen to read my blog and comment on it. What if there were intentional ways for session attendees to stay connected? The purpose could be specifically sharing stories and receiving feedback about the things they learned at the session and how their practice has changed as a result. One idea I had today was for "#edcampchat". This was an idea that came to me during my walk today and is not well formulated, so bear with me. In this Twitter based chat, a calendar could be used to block off time for attendees of a particular EdCampX session to gather and talk about how things are going for them since their session. I say EdCampX because this could be a hashtag used by all EdCamps around the US (the World even?). Additionally, there's no reason that folks who attended #EdCampNYC couldn't decide to sign-in for a edcampchat session regarding an #EdCampCitrus topic. This hashtag could be used several times throughout the day and throughout the week for different conversations. A sign-calendar would ensure no overlap and would allow folks to see what chats are upcoming and plan accordingly.
Perhaps some of you will have other ideas too on how we could make Edcamp more Assessment-Centered. Please share your thoughts in the comments, your blogs, your tweets, whatever!
Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon at an #Edcamp near you!
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