EdCamp is an organization that hosts professional developement conferences with no experts, no vendor booths, and no keynote speakers, often referred to as “unconferences”. These events are free for educators and are “participant-driven”, meaning the atendees are responsible for coming up with big ideas. The subject-matter of EdCamps is generally based around the use of technology in the classroom, and its impact on pedagogy. Participants of the conferences are encouraged to facilitate their own discussions on topics of their choosing. Once several discussions are underway, attendees can move around from group to group and jump in on any conversations that they find interesting. This concept is compelling because it recognizes the knowledge and experiences of educators and encourages them to collaborate with their peers in order to cultivate ideas for the future of the classroom.
Throughout the Education program at UVIC, we students have been encouraged to collaborate often in a myriad of environments. Through these collaborations, I’ve discovered that my collegues have a lot to offer in terms of knowledge. Further, I’ve found that our collective curiosity leads us to inquire often about flaws in the status-quo of Education. In EdTech today, we explored the concept of collaboration through a mock EdCamp. We were first prompted to create ideas and questions as topics of discussion. We then picked 5 topics from the list by voting for the ones we would like to participate in. Finally, we each chose a conversation that we would like to begin with, and the collaboration began!
In my opinion, this innovation in Education deserves a more central role in Professional Developement. Through our imitation EdCamp, I was able to listen to the ideas, solutions, and resources that my collegues brought forward on a specific topic: the introduction of diverse voices in an English classroom. This concept was looked at from a variety of perspectives and I was enlightened by the knowledge of my peers. We talked about which commonly-taught texts we consider to be archaic, as well as new stories and authors that could change the paradigm of the classroom. We discussed the fear that can often be attached to teaching subject-matter pertaining to a marginalized group of people, especially when you are part of the majority. We asked many questions, suggested sollutions, and in the end I was both better informed and very inspired. I am grateful for my collegues and intend on tapping into their wealth of knowledge throughout my career as an Educator.
Featured Photo: Jonas Jacobsson at: Unsplash