This week in class we had an EdCamp. An EdCamp is an “unconference” where participants drive the professional development instead of organizers. Our EdCamp started with people writing topics on sticky notes and posting them on the wall. As a class, we then voted for the topics that we were most interested in discussing and the four topics with the most votes became the discussion points for the day. A facilitator took the lead on each topic, and the discussion began! There was no expert speaking at the front of the room and instead the discussion was driven by the experiences of participant. The video below illustrates what this might look like.

This was my first time participating in a conference with a participant-guided structure and it was really neat. I really appreciated the non-hierarchical nature of discussion, where everyone was welcome to participate and share their experience regardless of their teaching area, teaching experience, or other expertise. I found the structure also really conducive to building relationships between participants. As we chatted, some of us realized we had experiences in common or similar questions about a particular topic and were able to make connections over these things.

Using the EdCamp Model in the Classroom

Even though we were participating in an EdCamp in the context of teacher professional development, I think that a similar model could work really well in the classroom. For example, one of my teachable subjects in social studies, and I think that you could use EdCamp as a way to talk about current events in class. It could also be used as a way to find out what students are interested in and give them some space to self-direct their learning and teach each other. In one example I read about, a teacher has their students organize an EdCamp-style workshop for a younger grade at the school. This gave them an opportunity to not only explore their own interests but also take a leadership roles with younger students.