Redcamp = Really Effective Teaching and Learning

 Redcamp15 is approaching on April 11/15. Our version of the "edcamp" is turning 3 years old this spring, and we would like to celebrate this with as many edcampers as possible, especially those who are new to the context of an edcamp.

Redcamp has always been based on the foundation of "social collaboration," a collaborative model where the processes of building trust, engaging with others and their ideas and seeking learning opportunities becomes more ubiquitous, open and visible. The social collaboration link above explains how we think about professional development at Redcamp, and how we believe what we do there as participants is perhaps the highest form of professional development and engagement in learning based on the principles of the Learning Pyramid...



Unlike some other forms of PD, edcamps (and ours for sure) start at the bottom of the pyramid and work up, but not too far:) To be honest, at Redcamp we don't get too much past the Discussion level, but there might be a bit of demonstration and audiovisual mixed in to that discussion:) It seems like the learning ratios at Redcamp closely mirror the percentages on this chart... 90% teaching of others for immediate use, 75% Practise, 50% Discussion etc.

So in order to increase the potential for social collaboration and very effective teaching (learning) at Redcamp we want to include as many people as possible. To that end if you're reading this and haven't registered, please do! If you're already registered and are coming alone, why not make a small effort to invite even 1 person to join you at Redcamp15? If everyone successfully invited at least one guest to join them at the event, we would at minimum double our potential for increased social collaboration and high quality, effective teaching and learning on April 11.Why not ask someone to join you at Redcamp15 today? Although registration is not required, please encourage your Redcamp15 collaborators to register for Free at this Eventbrite link. Doing so makes it easier for us to plan details like food, t-shirts, door prizes etc. when we know who's coming:)

See you on April 11th!

We're Back...

We are excited to announce that RedCamp is back again for a third year! This April 11, 2015 lots of engaged, passionate and committed educators and other who support learning will converge at Glendale Sciences and Technology School to socialize, collaborate, listen and learn form each other on topics of their own choosing. The day has proven to be a memorable one for the 275 ed-campers who have participated in the past two events.

We want to invite anyone who has a vested interest in improving the learning experience in schools and beyond! We welcome teachers, educational assistants, educational paraprofessionals, politicians, parents, students, business representatives, community agencies and anyone else who wants to talk about optimized learning. RedCamp beleives that it takes a larger effort to effectively educate kids in the contemporary world than can be adequately provided in schools operating in a vacuum. This is why we want a broad spectrum of guests to join us at our edcamp... as one participant noted last year, "the one with such a wonderfully diverse collection of people involved." We're proud of this.

Watch for more details to come as April 11 draws near. A registration link is found in the top right corner of this blog. We hope to see you "in the middle" on April 11, 2015!

Let's Talk Twitter!

I'm here to share about Twitter & RedCamp13!

This past weekend I was privileged to have attended the very first #RedCamp13 in Red Deer, Alberta! EdCamp is a free conference for primary and secondary school educators who go knowing they will have an opportunity to contribute to and discuss various topics. I recently attended #EdCampYYC in Calgary, Alberta and the word spread that there would be another one in Red Deer.

As a pre-service teacher, I loved that EdCamp gave me the opportunity to facilitate a discussion. I had a voice and was able to learn from those who attended our discussion. Naturally, I went to this conference with my sidekick (or fellow student teacher) @jbechthold. We decided to facilitate a session together which was the perfect chance to share the neat opportunities we have had because of our connections on Twitter. Our session was titled, "Twitter: Being a 'Twerp' has its advantages" in which I talked about my experience as a Mystery Reader (see in a previous blog post http://missfechosblog.weebly.com/reflections.html) and @jbechthold discussed how a combination of blogging and tweeting landed him as a guest blogger for a company in the USA called "alwaysprepped". With this, we were able to open up a discussion in which others talked about how Twitter has become a positive tool in their lives as educators.

I suppose, in a way, we chose this topic selfishly so that we could learn from other more experienced educators about how they use tools like Twitter and other forms of social media in their classrooms. But that's exactly what EdCamp is! EdCamp is a way for educators to share and learn from each other.

A Calgary educator mentioned how his class had been tweeting back and forth with a farmer who sent them pictures of his crops etc. Twitter also made it possible for his class to follow and be updated by the NASA astronauts currently in Space! So unbelievable; a live feed for his students.

Anyways, to keep this quick: Twitter is AWESOME. So many connections to be made, so much collaboration and "PD when I want it" (Educator who attended our session at RedCamp13),
    
I found EdCamp to be like Twitter in person! Everyone has a voice. I love that Twitter brought EdCamp to life and that I was able to collaborate in person with those I collaborate with on Twitter. It's amazing to see collaboration happening in both places - we were able to share what we were learning with those unable to be there all because of Twitter!

Thanks for reading and please share any comments you might have below :)

- Kirby Fecho

The Collaborators...

  by  Brenderous

Around a hundred really smart people talking up #goodedu at #redcamp13! What an awesome day of #collaborative learning:)
— redcamp2013 (@redcamp13) May 11, 2013

They engaged, they listened and they collaborated. Red Deer's and central Alberta's first edcamp unconference is on the books... what a fantastic day it was.

I really appreciate the reflective post, "If You Build It, They Will Camp," by @robertsdrb and especially this comment...

Every session I went to gave me something which either changed, deepened, challenged or furthered my thinking. And there were many other sessions that I didn't get a chance to go to but wish I would have had the time for as well.

There's not much I could add to Diane's excellent recap and reflection of #redcamp13, except to say that I completely agree with this statement. As one of the other organizers of the event, and a host representing Glendale Sciences and Technology School where #redcamp13 was held, I felt responsible for keeping the flow going, and as a result didn't get to sit in on as many sessions as I would have hoped. That's OK though, because stepping back a bit gave me a unique perspective. From the sidelines I was able to make a few observations, some new friends and I had time to think about what we could add to #redcamp14...

• People. One of my hallway conversations with a school board trustee in attendance (thanks so much for that Cathy:) highlighted the wonderfully diverse nature of our unconference participants. Registered participants included...

School Administrators= 23
Senior Administrators= 2
Local Red Deer Teachers= 41
Out of Town Teachers= 33
External Agencies Supporting Schools= 6
Educational Assistants= 1
University Students/Recent Grads= 12
School Board Officials= 4
University Professors= 2
Seventh Grade Glendale Students= 3
Politicians= 1
Parents= 2

Cathy and I agreed that there are many stakeholders in providing high quality education, and many were represented at #redcamp13, but we could get more. Capturing the diversity in their perspectives is an important goal of the edcamp process.

• Kids. We had three (committed seventh grade students offered a session off the cuff explaining their edible landscaping project, and how they convinced the City of Red Deer to join them in creating a beautiful community resource on our shared property; an edible garden plan for everyone to enjoy and benefit from...) but more would be better. I had another conversation with a group of redcamp champs discussing the tremendous value of capturing student voice in an edcamp context. We were thinking out loud how great it would be to provide opportunities for students to share their thoughts about what can and perhaps should be done to continue supporting improved teaching and learning. We thought a TED style format would fit very nicely where kids briefly present their position, idea, dream, challenge etc. and then host a dialog around their topic of focus. This came to me during the session I presented addressing authentic and creative learning tasks, and we watched this... 

• Collaborative Projects. The image at the top of this post made me think about this very cool #redcamp13 session...

  @redcamp13 Thanks for the great day. Instead of blogging, we sang about it. Here is "Big Brains" youtube.com/watch?v=c2kZ2j… #redcamp13
  — Tim Bowman (@BowmanTwits) May 12, 2013

  I'm wondering why a collaborative, one day art, writing, drama or blog project couldn't materialize as a feature outcome of #redcamp14.

•  Topics. We had a rich and practical list of session topics; all proposed and presented by redcamp13 delegates. Presenters included politicians, teachers, administrators, senior administrators, pre-service teachers, recent education graduates, university professors, external agency representatives and even middle school students... it was an awesome range of choices, and one day just didn't seem like enough to fully address them, but maybe that's what's supposed to happen at edcamps. Perhaps some of these conversations will continue to evolve at the next edcamp offered in another town or city. At any rate, the more choice there is in session topics, the higher the chance we can create engagement and value in our conversations.

So my final words to close out the day included a simple invitation. I asked redcampers to consider that the interactions and conversations having occurred during the event could (perhaps should) be considered as beginnings; not endings. I suggested that the dialog should continue and the connections should strengthen through an effort to maintain a level of social and professional engagement with each other.

One thing I know for sure is that the people who made up #redcamp13 were already attuned to the social side of collaborative efforts.

 

They were motivated to make themselves visible and to participate. They shared what they knew, tools they had and thoughts they pondered. They showed up at #redcamp13 on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning in May when they could have been doing other things; I think because they saw the value in finding each other. They readily connected and related personally and professionally with each other. They contributed.

Perhaps all of this is why the forming, storming, norming and reforming they did above the social collaboration wave went so smoothly.

 

I am very much looking forward to #redcamp14!

Sean Grainger

@graingered

REDCAMP 2013

I had the opportunity to attend REDCAMP in Red Deer, on Saturday. The opportunity came to my attention because of Twitter. I have never attended an edcamp before. Sean Grainger (@graingered) posted a link to information and registration for the event. I had an idea as to what the event would be about, and registered right away.

There were a few really neat things that came out of #redcamp13:

• Reaffirmation of the fact that you can never trust navigation on your iPhone!
• I got to meet people I had connected with on Twitter. @hewsonk27 @joe_bower @graingered @Weilinga1
• Whenever you get educators together and let them talk about ways to move forward, best practice, tools to improve instruction, etc. you are guaranteed to have rich and powerful discussions.
• I was able to make new connections. Sitting in sessions and listening to people talk about their learning, really gives you a good idea about where they are coming from. I added a number of new people to my PLN. Some people added me as well.
• One of the most enjoyable sessions of the day was the JAM session. @mrtetz, @socgall, @BowmanTwits, myself and one other music teacher participated in writing a Redcamp song...                                                                                                                  

The quality isn't the best, but this type of collaboration is just as powerful as the discussions around education. We also discussed that Jam Sessions are the original Edcamp!

• Not everyone participating in the sessions agreed on everything. Being open to the ideas of others and discussing opinions, is very powerful. It's the discussion that is the important part. We are always learning and it's so great to be learning from each other.

After the opening session, which itself provided some great ideas, I attended a session on what we are going to do now that PATs are over. The discussion was great, but there was a focus at first on speculation around what was going to be done to us as educators now. The discussion did turn more towards the opportunities that were presented if we choose to exercise our voice and put forward what our feelings as to where education can go from this point.

My second session was presented by @EbertsR and discussed establishing a culture of collaboration in your school. The collaborative culture we establish in our PLNs can add to the scholarship that exists in our schools.

After lunch I attended a discussion on Twitter with @jbechthold and @KirbyFecho. This was a smaller session, but really demonstrated the power of using Twitter in our schools and for our personal learning. One neat thing about this session was that there were three pre-service teachers, two of which facilitated the session. There are many reflective, forward thinking young teachers out there. It is exciting to see the passion and commitment that our up and coming members of the profession have.

The last session I attended, as I mentioned in my list above, was the JAM session. That was very fun, and a great way to end a great day.

I hope to be able to attend many more edcamps in the future!! YOU SHOULD TOO!!

D Propp
(This is also posted on my personal blog at www.principalpropp.com)

One Day Away...

So the first ever edcamp in central Alberta is only a day away. Some pre-conference reflections are in order...

• It's totally amazing to me to consider that 126 people, many from out of town, and some from way out of town, have registered for a one day education conference on a Saturday that has no marquis name, brand or theme... a truly dedicated bunch of folks who just want to talk about how to make education better.
• It is really intriguing to notice such a broad spectrum of people with different backgrounds coming together at #redcamp13... it truly does take a village, as they say.
• It is so great to see a dozen pre-service teachers take the edcamp plunge. My guess? This is a highly engaged and dedicated group of teachers-to-be joining us.
• It has been interesting to watch the #redcamp13 event evolve over time in organic and transformative ways. I have come to realize once again, the power of social connection, and as part of the #redcamp planning process, I've learned about social collaboration too.
• Edcamps are a trend worth watching. Along the journey toward our event we received support from two leading web-based tech tools. Biteslide came on board with a door prize sponsorship of 10 free premium memberships and participant discounts for everyone, and Yapp provided free app creation services for #redcamp13. They called us... very cool:)
• It takes only a few engaged and collaborative people to put an edcamp together. Thanks to the locals for being those people!

So I know there will be more to say during and after #redcamp13... my hope is the tweets will be flying in multiple directions, and that the backchannel is relevant and useful to those who can't attend. I also hope participants will make use of our #redcamp13 app, and in particular to upload a memorable bunch of photos to record the day. Most of all though I hope that people attend #redcamp13 with an open mind and a sincere willingness to be vulnerable within their learning.

It's not too late to join us... pre-register at the red button registration link above, or just show up on Saturday morning... we'd be be so happy to have you join us!

Unconference recon at #edcampyyc...

Absolutely excellent job @paulgenge and crew hosting #edcampyyc... Nice job!
— Sean Grainger (@graingered) April 19, 2013

@joe_bower, @EbertsR and I attended edcampyyc in Calgary on April 19. I went because I am very much in favor of the edcamp unconference concept, but also as part of a reconnaissance mission to find out what makes an edcamp tick. Turns out what makes an edcamp tick is the people who attend.

Edcamp Calgary was my first edcamp experience. I've done my homework regarding the philosophy and format of edcamps, but didn't really know firsthand what it would feel like to participate in one. Participants represented a diverse range of experience with unconferences, and there were many 'tire kickers,' if you will wandering the halls and attending the sessions... it was cool to observe people being vulnerable with their learning; becoming participatory receivers.

  by  denise carbonell 

I witnessed teachers and others who are significantly invested in education immersing themselves in the collaborative mixing bowl to share thoughts and ideas with each other... because they could. All were there voluntarily to become part of the solution (or many solutions). The conversations were varied and complex, and all designed to create climates of improvement in teaching and learning. It seemed to me that people were there to share what they knew or thought, but also to explore what they didn't know or perhaps wanted to think differently about.

Some appeared more cautious than others, and some spoke less than others, but all were present and contributing to conversations surrounding the imperative to optimize teaching and learning environments. Thanks to organizers @paulgenge and @Armstrongyyc, I think #edcampyyg turned out exactly as it was supposed to. It turned out to be a gathering of engaged and passionate teachers and supporters of education who simply wanted to talk about their craft in a non-threatening and productive environment.

This is also what we intend #redcamp13 to be for the engaged and passionate folks who will be joining us on May 11 at Glendale Sciences and Technology School in Red Deer. We are excited to emulate the vibe we experienced in Calgary, and we're thrilled to become part of the growing edcamp culture in Alberta.

Hope to see you on May 11!   

Social Collaboration at Redcamp 2013...

  by  oscarberg 

The Collaboration Pyramid offers a great visual to explain how an edcamp unconference can be such a powerful collaborative professional development and learning tool.

In traditional team-based collaborative models we experience the "form, storm, norm and perform" process, and it has proved to be very useful in the context of team effectiveness, but perhaps leaves a bit of a void in the area of personal responsibility, or individual motivation to make a meaningful contribution to the team.

The Collaboration Pyramid displays a broader platform to support a different context for collaboration that may eventually lead to more authentic and meaningful personal investment in the team process. I think social collaboration as framed in the diagram is closely related to the concept of morphic resonance. 

morphic resonance [ˈmɔːfɪk]
n

(Life Sciences; Allied Applications / Biology) the idea that, through a telepathic effect or sympathetic vibration, an event or act can lead to similar events or acts in the future or an idea conceived in one mind can then arise in another...

In the first stage of social collaboration it is assumed that individuals have reflectively defined their own purpose and values, and that through reflection, these have manifested as personal philosophies; relative degrees of self-awareness and motivation to be present and contribute. This is the point where individuals become participants; they become visible as "receivers." Our personal philosophies become known and ideas conceived in our minds can then arise in another by way of social interaction.

RCVR from notthisbody on Vimeo.

This act of becoming visible and participating as a receiver creates possibility in learning and sharing. It's where morphic resonance begins. It is the first stage of interaction in the social collaboration process. Putting ourselves out there as receivers in the collaborative process frames our participation in group learning as self-motivated, reflective and social. It puts us in motion toward others who are also self-motivated, reflective and social, and the interdependent levels of the collaboration pyramid begin to flourish.

When we share what we know, have and think, we are displaying vulnerability in the learning process. Sharing is a fundamental element of social participation that feeds into the self-organized environment that is an edcamp unconference. When we are vulnerable and put our knowledge and thoughts out there, we tend to attract others who are compelled by similar domains of knowledge and ideas. When we begin to talk about these shared domains, the dialogue may attract new collaborators intrigued by a perspective they hadn't considered yet. People find others and discover their varied points of view, and they choose to connect and relate, or not... and the or not part of this is very important. The foundation of purpose, values, self- awareness and motivation that underpins everyone's relative participation in the collaboration pyramid helps them decide whether to engage, or not. It is more than OK for people to not engage. Choice is the rule of engagement. Everyone at an edcamp has the right to choose whether to engage in sharing and receiving, or not depending on their independent purpose, values, self-awareness and motivation.

The social collaboration side of the Collaboration Pyramid posits a collaborative model where the processes of building trust, engaging with others and their ideas and seeking learning opportunities becomes more ubiquitous, open and visible. The social side of the Collaboration Pyramid is, I think, what makes edcamp unconferences so intriguing to people. Edcamps provide opportunities for people  to create value through their choices to share what they know and think, and also to receive what others know and think through social participation. As the day of our edcamp unfolds, we anticipate countless opportunities will emerge as participants interact on various levels of the Collaboration Pyramid, and we wouldn't be surprised at all if connections are made that lead to really invested teams of people forming, storming, norming and performing toward goals that lead to value creation in the future.

So far this May 11 in Red Der, AB, participants will be able to choose whether they want to participate in these proposed sessions at Redcamp 2013...

• Resilient teaching and learning
• Creative teaching and learning
• Google EDU teaching and learning environments
• Blogging in teaching and learning
• The power of social networking in education
• Empathetic teaching and learning 
• Technology in the elementary classroom
• Technology and Language Arts
• Activity in the classroom
• Curriculum integration
• Building leadership capacity
• Effective middle schools
• Middle school philosophy
• Elementary PE
• Using drama in core subjects 
• Introduction to Google Apps for Education 
• iPads in the classroom
• Wikis in the classroom
•  Making music and concerts a ubiquitous element to enhance curriculum and school culture
• Creating a safe environment for LGBTQ students
• Drumming and rhythm in the classroom
• Curriculum integration (resources) 
• Twitter, Creativity, Helping Struggling students
• Assistive technology
• Inclusion 
• Literacy
• Reading College - YIMBY Reads
• Assessment is not a spreadsheet - it's a conversation
• Homework is something to be inspired - not assigned
• Students should experience their successes and failures not as reward and punishment but as information
• Prezi for beginners
• Progressive Education Conversation in Alberta
• Behavior Education
• Relational aggression in girls
• Curriculum Integration
• Project based learning for the 21st century learner
• Inquiry learning for the 21st century learner
• 21st Learning Competencies in the Classroom
• Assessment without grades or traditional exams
• Creativity- the key to unlocking possibilities
• Storytelling
• Creative math

The team of people planning Redcamp 2013 is as new to the edcamp process as are those who have registered for the event. We are choosing to share and receive (or not) like everyone else. Our goal is to create professional development and learning value for everyone involved by promoting the social collaboration side of the Collaboration Pyramid.

Hope to see you at #redcamp13! Register by clicking the red EventBrite button at the top right side of this site.

6 Excellent Reasons To Attend Redcamp13

Photo from: www.reddeerkiwanis.org

(the following is a post from Diane Roberts, @robertsdrb.  This post can also be found here.)

Redcamp13…Red Deer’s first #edcamp is set to happen on May 11, 2013 at Glendale Sciences and Technology School.  We are excited to see a number of people signed up and as we’ve been chatting with people about it, it is very clear the buzz is growing, kind of like that flashmob thing.

We know that there are more people out there who have never experienced an edcamp and are on the fence about registering.  This has inspired the following list of reasons why YOU should come to Redcamp13:

1.     Meet people from your PLN in person – We are excited to meet people face-to-face with whom we've chatted and learned from on Twitter such as Brenda Giourmetakis @bgiourme,  Corrine Thorsteinson  @corthor1971  and Jasmine Travers @JasTravers