I spent Saturday in Palm Springs at EdCampPS. I've written about the EdCamp movement before, including plans by several of us to bring an EdCamp to San Diego. Those plans have continued apace, to where we find ourselves currently three weeks away from EdCamp San Diego, on October 5, in Escondido. We opened registration in June, and all the spots were filled in about 2 1/2 days. We now have a long waiting list, which I hope means that we will have good turnout.
Four of us who have been organizing EdCampSD rode up to Palm Springs to participate, observe, learn from, and support our colleagues. Along with me were former SDUHSD teacher Holly Clark, Ryan Archer from San Marcos, and JoAnn Fox from Escondido. I spent much of my time examining their organization, layout, and logistics for their event. I talked with several of the organizers about what they had done, why they had done it that way, and how they would do things differently in the future. EdCampPS was a bit smaller than EdCampSD is expected to be; they had 140 signups, of whom about 85 showed up. We currently have 225 signups for EdCampSD and another 60 on the wait list. If we get the same attendance rate, we should be in good shape.
The sessions at EdCampPS were typical of what I have seen at other EdCamps: great discussions among educators with all levels of experience and expertise. Very few had been planned ahead of time; most were spur-of-the-moment, truly collaborative discussions. I attended a session on using Twitter for professional learning or with students, one on managing Google Apps with Chromebooks, and one on having students contribute to and comment on blogs. In each of the sessions, I feel like I learned something from colleagues as well as contributed what I have learned from my experience.
The next three weeks are going to be hectic, as we finalize arrangements for EdCampSD. In the end, however, it will work out to be a great day. The value in an EdCamp is in the conversations among colleagues, not in the session board or logistics!
