First EdCamp Experience

On Saturday, January 4, 2014, I attended my first ever EdCamp from the comfort of my own home. EdCamp Home was the epitome of both the medium and the message.  I found myself impressed by the scale and scope of the event and wowed by the organizers who were creatively, fluidly, and miraculously keeping everything on track.

Since this is my first experience with an un-conference, I have no frame of reference for comparison.  For my first session, I joined a GHO on Incorporating Ed-Tech in schools where 1:1 is not available.  I agreed with my gathered colleagues that 1:1 is not a necessity and that Ed-Tech is not the goal, only another tool. I have heard (from blended learning PD) that the ideal ratio is 2:1, where students use tools collaboratively and interdependently. This is hard to believe.  A 1:1 ratio (and the bandwidth to support it): empower each student with 24/7 access to learning supports, provide all teachers with the impetus to develop their own competency and incorporate innovation into lessons, and a multitude of other benefits (See Nine Reasons 1:1 Learning is Revolutionizing Education by Alexy Kudashev).  

Most schools are not there yet.  Many schools (including mine) have out-of-date desktop computer labs, limited ethernet connections, prohibitive wi-fi bandwidth problems, students without internet access at home, and no present means or plans for changing these realities. Does that mean that these students and teachers are relegated to the sidelines and miss out on the endless educational benefits?  No way!

My first EdCamp Home session was much too short to arrive at any meaningful learning.  By the time everyone joined the Hangout, introductions were duly completed, and a few challenges were raised, time for the session was at an end.  No answers, no direction, not even a lead… Yet, when EdCamp Home ended, I registered for Google Classroom Connections, explored Virtual Field Trip options (that ironically require an Ethernet connection), and considered Flipped Classrooms (and in the process discovered the ideas Zack Blois posted on Blended Learning models in non 1:1 environments).

EdCamp Home was not what I expected, but it opened the door to my learning, decision-making, and problem solving. It was the medium and the message for modern learning.  Hmmm… Now I will have to check-out the video from the EdCamp Home session on applying the EdCamp model in a classroom.