EdCampHome 2.0

Back around Thanksgiving I was poking around the interwebs and stumbled upon EdCampHome.  I was vaguely familiar with the EdCamp model of professional development but I had only ever read about it.  The registration for the EdCampHome 2.0 had just opened.  I signed up, having only a vague clue what I was in for!  If only I had known, I have would have encouraged others from my campus to participate.

I learned so much today!  If your not familiar, this type of professional development uses the participants as the experts and there isn't a set presentation or sessions scheduled beforehand.  Here is a quick video about an in-person edcamp.

One of the huge learning curves I had today was using Google Hangouts to video chat (a first) and how to participate in this type of event.  I also have not been using the G+ community and I think I may have been missing out on a good source of information.  It honestly, reminded me of the feeling my students must have when they are asked to take academic risks.  If you ever have the chance to participate (which they have promised a EdCampHome 3.0) take the opportunity even if you feel like you are really stretching your tech boundaries.  I was amazed at how helpful other participants were to step up and help problem solve when I was just about to bail.  I was also amazed at the amount of work and skills of the organizers!! (I have redefined my understanding of a techninja).

What was my big take away to use in my classroom and with teachers?  GAFE (Google Apps for Education) which, I admit, I had to google because I was pretty sure I knew what it was but not 100%.  My entire district has Google accts for all teachers and students but at least at my campus they aren't really being used. My fellow instructional coaches & I use drive to share and collaborate on documents & projects but that has been pretty much the extent of it.  I have a much clearer sense on how my campus could harness this power.  I am planning on exploring the Chrome extenstions for Doctopus and Goobric along with Sites as a possible source for portfolios.  My notes also include Flubaroo and Synergyze but things were moving so fast, I don't remember what these are.

This event also led me to lots of other folks to follow on Twitter and blogs that I ought to be reading.  I also am in the middle of watching a session on developing teachers PLN.  All of the sessions from today's event played live and are now archived on YouTube.  If you want a test of what it was like, check out one of these archives.

In all...I would do it again and this drives me to think about how we could use this format at my campus or in my district.