Some Participant Stats To Date...
- So far we have 21 Alberta school districts represented at Redcamp15
- We also have school based administrators, senior administrators, local and outside of Red Deer teachers, FNMI educators, private school teachers, substitute teachers, school counselors, learning service specialists, external agency learning support representatives, pre-service teachers, university professors, provincial politicians, business leaders students and parents joining us. What an incredibly interesting and diverse mix of RedCampers! The dialog that will evolve amidst this group is sure to inspire us.
Swag at RedCamp15...
Once again we are so thankful to receive the support of both ATA Locals 60 and 80 for RedCamp this year. Their combined and shared support allows us to provide a continental breakfast to all participants, free t-shirts for the first 100 or so and door prizes too!
- Our feature door prize item will be one of 25 relevant and current education trade books... We have 5 each of 5 different books to give away this year... (click the images below and to the right as you read the rest of this post to see the Amazon page for each book).
Once again this year Biteslide™ is sponsoring our event and has provided a special offer for all RedCamp15 attendees giving them a FREE 6 month trial of our School Pro license (worth $474)! That means that once participants redeem the offer they can also share Biteslide™ with up to 50 teachers in their school! Awesome!
In keeping with the true spirit of edcamps, we have no predetermined "sessions" this year at Redcamp15. What we plan to do is post all suggested topics of discussion first thing in the morning at the event, and spend some time 'mulling' which ones will be the most popular among participants. (We're going to do this via shared Google Docs. Chrome Books will be provided for participants that don't have a personal device with them... see below:) The most popular topics will be assigned rooms on the schedule and off we will go. It's important to remember also that the 'vote with your feet' principle applies to all topics, and any topic that isn't chosen for submission to the official schedule can still become a "pop-up" session for any Redcampers that still want to dive into it. There is plenty of common space around the school to do this, and we'll have our very own Story Café and Learning Commons open for these dialogs to take place at various times of the day:)
Glendale Ambassadors Are Back! 
We were so lucky last year at RedCamp14 to be supported by a group of Glendale Sciences & Technology School middle school student ambassadors. This year this group of students is representing our Inspire Leadership student government. We're hoping a group of them will suggest a session explaining the United Nations Associated Schools Project Network context of their efforts at Glendale, but we'll see. You will be able to identify them by their baby blue t-shirts with the Inspire logo on the front. They will once again this year help us out by selling fresh smoothies at our smoothie bar aka "TNT" (Totally Nutritious Things) and new this year in the Story Café they will offer for sale fresh baked treats and hot coffee. Both locations offer casual seating for your pop-up conversations, but we highly recommend the Story Café for its coffee shop ambiance:) The weather for April 7 is predicted at a balmy 12C with clouds, so inside might be a better early spring choice:)RedCamp15 Tech...
We have a large supply of Chrome Books at Glendale. The school has graciously offered them for use by any RedCamp15 participant arriving without a personal device. This is especially important first thing in the morning during the mulling process when we will be crowd-sourcing our topical content for the day. We will be collectively accessing the official Google Doc containing each previously suggested topic, and also those added that morning during the topic mulling process. Our wifi password will be provided in the morning, and our GUEST network functions pretty well. Here's the official Topic Possibilities document as it stands so far... http://bit.ly/RedCamp15Topics.
Twitter... We are @redcamp15 and our official Twitter feed hashtag will be...
#redcamp15We are fooling around a bit with live streaming this year... more to come as we learn about the possibilities here... no guarantees at this point:) Of course we prefer to collaborate with you in person, but if we can get some live (free) streaming going, what the heck, we'll do that!
We have a RedCamp15 app once again for your app'ing pleasure... we are set up with YAPP and you can download the mobile app here, or by scanning this QR Code with your device.
We encourage your use of this app, not just so we can broadcast photos, blog entries, comments etc., but also to provide an opportunity to explore and learn about the use of apps in schools as a potential to grow the levels of social collaboration in education.
Old School "Dot-mocracy"
The "voting" process we will use in the early morning of April 7 is decidedly old school:) We will have sticky dots available for all who will in turn place them on the sessions each one of them feels particularly intrigued by. The topics with the most 'dots' once mulling is over get a place on the official RedCamp15 Board that lists the room assignments and session times. Any topic that doesn't make the official cut won't just go away though. As we said pop-up spaces will be available all day long... all you will need is at least one other participant to join you and off you go!
So, that's enough for now... we will provide further updates as (if) they arise leading to next Saturday. We are SO excited to see you at RedCamp15! Don't forget, walk-ups are more than welcome so bring a carload of friends! Here's the registration link for those who know ahead of time they'll be joining you.
See you next Saturday!
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