Yesterday I attended one of the best professional development experiences of my life: EdCampPhilly.
For those of you who are unaware, EdCampPhilly is part of a larger movement of grass-roots educational experiences organized by educators who are dissatisfied with what is out there right now. Instead of lectures on differentiated instruction by those who cannot do so for their own peers, the schedule is collaboratively created the morning of the event and posted as a google doc for all to see. Participants can run sessions or just attend the ones offered and "vote with their feet" by coming and going into rooms as they please. Additionally, there is a constant backchannel of tweets going on, with shared resources, session information, and meet-ups being organized (just point your twitter account to #edcampphilly to see it). Basically, it is exactly what I love: collaboration, technology, and educational pedagogy all wrapped up into one.
This is not that difficult a thing to do - all it requires is a few dedicated individuals to find a space, get some funding, and advertise it. I highly recommend checking it out at some point in the future - whether you are a professional educator or not.
Thanks to all those who organized and attended the conference. I hope to keep in touch with many and learn from as many of you as possible!
For those of you who are unaware, EdCampPhilly is part of a larger movement of grass-roots educational experiences organized by educators who are dissatisfied with what is out there right now. Instead of lectures on differentiated instruction by those who cannot do so for their own peers, the schedule is collaboratively created the morning of the event and posted as a google doc for all to see. Participants can run sessions or just attend the ones offered and "vote with their feet" by coming and going into rooms as they please. Additionally, there is a constant backchannel of tweets going on, with shared resources, session information, and meet-ups being organized (just point your twitter account to #edcampphilly to see it). Basically, it is exactly what I love: collaboration, technology, and educational pedagogy all wrapped up into one.
This is not that difficult a thing to do - all it requires is a few dedicated individuals to find a space, get some funding, and advertise it. I highly recommend checking it out at some point in the future - whether you are a professional educator or not.
Thanks to all those who organized and attended the conference. I hope to keep in touch with many and learn from as many of you as possible!
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