FAQ's- The Appeal of the Edcamp...

   by  kjarrett 

So edcamps have been around for a while now. Here's a little history for those new to the concept of an "unconference." The whole vibe of edcamps actually derives from a different form of meeting called a barcamp, a simple effort to 'get togehter to share ideas.' We call our little edcamp Red Camp, and we get lots of questions about what exactly it is. We thought it would be prudent to talk about the most prominent four questions we get asked in hopes that our answers will encourage you to join us for this year's version, Red Camp 15. These are outstanding questions that extend beyond the "why are edcamps free"... or "how do you pick topics for an edcamp" sort of questions that are easily answered by a quick web search, or by clicking the links abouve. We feel these questions get to the meaty heart of our version of an edcamp...

• Folks seem to want to know more than anything, what is the purpose of an edcamp? 

As stated above, that's a very easy thing to articulate... the purpose of an edcamp is to bring diverse people together for a set period of time to share ideas within a context. Edcamps are about education, but as we all should hopefully realize by now, education is about more than just teachers and students. All members of society have a role to play in producing vibrant, thoughtful and creative young minds. The questions is not whether those roles exist, but rather whether we choose to take responsible action toward fulfilling them. People who show up at an edcamp are those who have made this commitment. They understand that everyone has a responsibility to support the evolving minds of children, our gifts for the future.

• Why would someone spend a Saturday of their own time at an education conference?

That's a great question, and one we ask of every participant we run into. The answer has been 100% consistent...

I came today because I am passionate about learning and teaching and I am happy to spend a day with others who share this passion talking about how to serve students, parents, colleagues and my community in optimized and creative ways.

Of course this is a hybrid answer, but the gist is the same for every single redcamper we've asked:)

• Why do you ask non-educators to join the Red Camp conversation? 

We strongly believe that every member of society older than a child has a responsibility to support that child until that child grows to become a supporter of children younger than that child. In the eternal words of Professor Herbert Vilakazi,

"The problems of children and of youth, giving rise to child and youth care programs, can only begin to be solved in that society of humankind’s dream; a more collective-oriented society than at present, when the father of the child shall be every man as old as the child’s father; when the mother of the child shall be every woman as old as the child’s mother; a society of responsibility of the entire community; a society without poverty; without the inequalities of society members, based upon race, class, or sex; a society without the use of violence against other members of society; a society without any exploitation and oppression of any group by any other group; a society of equals; a thoroughly democratic society; last, but not least a society that shall have, once more, incorporated productive labour into the educational process."

Of course we all have a role to play in supporting the happy, healthy development of well-adjusted young people who will grow to become the nurturers of the generation to follow them once becoming care giving adults themselves. At RedCamp we believe that diverse members of adult society need to speak more often, and more proactively about growing happy, healthy and well-adjusted young people in collaborative and creative ways.

• Why do you invite students to speak and participate as redcampers?

To us the response to this question is obvious. We believe that the for the most part in education, the most glaringly obvious under-emphasized voice is that of the student. We encourage youth to represent at Red Camp as facilitators, dialog instigators, ambassadors, hosts and listeners. The kids are our most important stakeholders and we need to hear what they have to say with open minds, and open hearts if we are to serve them in maximized ways.

So among many others, those are the main questions we get asked about Red Camp. We hope our answers will help you understand why we keep this edcamp thing going, and perhaps they will encourage you to attend #redcamp15. There is one more thing though; another rationale we'd like to present. We are very much interested in speaking with any person or group who is interested in hosting a new edcamp in Alberta. I attended a new edcamp in Parkland County this past fall, and it proved to be an excellent and enjoyable experience for me. Edcamps don't compete against one another, they complement each other, and new ones seem to make the older ones stronger... an edcamp network is forming in Alberta. The "edcamp Alberta" concept is evolving with tour stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Spruce Grove, Lethbridge and Red Deer. As a small group of organizers in Red Deer, we want to continue supporting more and better edcamp style unconferences in as many Alberta communities as possible.

If you are a passionate educator thinking about taking the edcamp plunge in your area, please get in touch, or better yet, come to #redcamp15 and we will talk about how we can support you!

See you on April 11:)

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!

Redcamp 2014... An Engaging Experience

Well, another edcamp in Red Deer is on the books. There were so many thoughts that struck me during the event, but one really hit me. At an unprecedented time of excitement and change in the domain of education in Alberta, a large number of engaged and connected educators and others who support teaching and learning found the time on a Saturday to come together in collaborative conversation; they were there because they wanted to be there. This is such a positive and encouraging thing.

Participants at #redcamp14 came together to connect, share and receive in that awesome place between analyzing perspective and moving people to action... the "edcamp sweet spot" so to speak.

Teachers, administrators, parents, students, educational assistants, professionals who support education, politicians all took time out of their personal lives to create dialog around making education better, and there were 19% more who participated this year than at last year`s inaugural Redcamp event... and we were thrilled with the turnout then! This is incredible, and inspiring and definitely provides a rationale for planning another event next year, and perhaps coordinating a series of edcamp events throughout Alberta.


I was fortunate yesterday to speak with organizers of edcamps in Edmonton and Calgary, and also a fledgling event to be held in Parkland County. We were bantering about the concept of "Edcamp Alberta" next year, with "tour stops" in existing edcamp communities, (Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and now Parkland County.) Doing this would expand our ability to promote and cross promote the edcamp experience, and ramp up the level of social collaboration behind planning them. The process may even inspire other local groups to create a new event tour stop within their community. We all have good ideas and ways to make things better, faster and cheaper... sharing our knowledge and experience with each other would strengthen everyone's event offering. This would be connecting in the true spirit of edcamps, but with total respect for the local flare of each event. Redcamp organizers are excited about the potential of this effort.

I heard the word engagement many times yesterday. I heard it from a group of Glendale Sciences and Technology School students who hosted a session describing their efforts to initiate a TED Ed Club at their school. I heard it from educators during other sessions and in casual hallway conversations saying we need more of the kind of opportunity to connect in engaging professional dialog that edcamps provide.

I heard it from a school council chair who stated she felt the edcamp model would be an excellent platform to engage parents and community in the school improvement dialog and I also heard it from many new teachers who were excited to discover the format of edcamps and how they provide so many opportunities to connect with other engaged educators excited about what they do and how they do it, not to mention other stakeholders in providing high quality education for kids. Overheard from one enthusiastic young teacher...

"I love coming to a place where everybody loves their job."

And from another...

"I wish all of my professional development looked like this; I feel engaged and connected here as opposed just sitting and getting."

To be sure, edcamps are not just a ride on the professional development train. Edcamps are not passive, they are active. They are hopeful. They are engaging. They connect and they inspire. Here's to another great event at #redcamp14, and looking forward to helping ours and other edcamps grow and thrive in Alberta.

See you next year!

Redcamp14: Party time, excellent!

Teachers’ Convention comes at a great time in the year: February! We have been back to school after the Christmas break for about a month or a little more, it is still cold outside and we have had WAY too many indoor recesses! As educators, we are ready for a break from the classroom and look forward to learning from experts and fellow colleagues presenting on a variety of topics. Most teachers will tell you they enjoy the sessions at Convention but the part they really look forward to is the chance to reconnect with colleagues they have known for years, have worked with in the past or even who work in the same building but they never see in their busy school days. They also very much look forward to actually having time to eat out for lunch! 

The sessions at Convention tend to be a lot of sit and get which is worthwhile if the speaker is dynamic and has some thought-provoking things to say. However, I often come away from those types of sessions with a few key phrases I will remember for a short time and then, if I don’t read more about the topic, I will likely forget what it is I was to have learned. This reminds of the popular quote; attributed to an ancient Chinese proverb, Native American saying or Ben Franklin, depending on where you look on the internet:

(image courtesy of: http://www.thequotefactory.com/ )

I enjoy listening to the professional and often times famous speakers at Convention but it is kind of like going to the symphony. I sit, I enjoy, I clap and then I leave. I’m not sure how much I will retain or remember but I can say that it was entertaining. I feel that my involvement in my learning in this format has improved slightly though backchannel Twitter commenting which involves me as a participant more than passive listening has done b.t. (Before Twitter), but I find that the real learning happens AFTER the session or presentation in conversation with my colleagues over coffee or lunch. This dialogue about issues in Education helps me relate to what was presented and will trigger further learning and curiosity about the topic. I may continue a chat about it with someone at school, online or at a district event or meeting. I may purchase the presenter’s book or related books or look for more information on Twitter or Google+. It is this active involvement in my learning which fires me up and which I feel impacts my practice as a teacher and administrator.

That’s what I love about the edcamp style of PD we saw last year at Redcamp13 and our District Day of Personalized Learning and Collaboration, both of which will repeat this year. The conversations happen right there, with the presenter in the room who may or may not claim expertise. They may in fact have much to offer in the way of expertise or experience or they may have simply offered to facilitate the conversation with thought-provoking questions, or resources. Whatever the structure, they provide the stimulus to get EVERYONE in the room to share their knowledge and experiences at the table (or circle, or sofa, or wherever we choose to sit!) and not just the paid expert at the front of the lecture hall.

So, if you are also a fan of the sort of connecting that happens AFTER the PD at Convention, you will most certainly love what happens at Redcamp14. It is participant driven, it is real conversations about education, it is involvement as a learner, it is FREE, and it is FUN! It is the after-party while the party is still going on! Excellent!

Hope to “party” with you at Redcamp14: May 31, 2014 in Red Deer, Alberta at Glendale Sciences and Technology School.

Diane Roberts
@robertsdrb

(image courtesy: http://i.imgur.com/asVqaxu.jpg)

Engaging Dialog at #redcamp14...

The conversations are beginning to heat up for #redcamp14! Our faithful and engaged registrants have already provided a proposed line up of sessions that would blow our socks off even if this was to be the end of the list (but we know it won't:) 

So far this May 31 in Red Deer, AB, participants will be choosing between these proposed sessions at #redcamp 2014... the "put it up on the board" process the morning of our event will tell us where the the highest levels of interest are, and that's where the conversations will go!

• Resilient teaching and learning
• Creative teaching and learning
• Inquiry learning
• Integrated curriculum/project-based learning in the middle school cohort
• Inclusion
• Learning workflow 
• Mobile devices
• Competency based learning vs. content based learning
• Flipped classrooms
• Google EDU teaching and learning environments
• Curriculum redesign
• Video tutorial creation
•  ipad e-book creation 
• Blogging in teaching and learning
• The power of social networking in education
• Teaching skateboarding in school
• Empathetic teaching and learning 
• Technology in the elementary classroom
• The teenage brain
• Mindfulness
• Student leadership
• Developmental Assets
• Cognitive Behavioral Theory
• Innovation Day/Genius Hour
• Inspiring Ed
• New AB Education Act/Regulations, Capital Planning, Infrastructure
• The learner is the center in the 21st Century classroom
• Digital leadership or how our school is using social media to gather data
• The entrepreneurial student... and you!
• Little Green Thumbs Program - www.littlegreenthumbs.org
• What can school gardens teach us?... Bring your shovel and smile and we'll show you!
• I would be interested in sharing my journey of transforming my classroom into a 1:1 device classroom
• Humane education - teaching that inspires compassion for animals, people and the environment
• Learning Centers in secondary ELA classroom
• The Great School Assembly
• The Return of the "Redcamp Jam"
• Response to Intervention
• Improving School Literacy

If you are unfamiliar with how edcamps work, please go ahead and reference some of the stories from last year... Ron Eberts wrote about it here. Diane Roberts wrote about it here. Sean Grainger wrote about it here, and Kirby Fecho, a third year preservice teacher wrote about it here. We even had a #redcamp13 song last year! Hey Tim, Ev... what about an encore performance? See you all on May 31!

@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

Redcamp is a little different...

  by  stevendepolo 

Maybe I shouldn't say because I don't know for sure, but I think RedCamp is a little different from most edcamps. At our edcamp event we intend to solicit an array of diverse perspectives on how to do education better, faster and maybe even cheaper, (but that one is for another post.) At our first annual event last year we received many comments from participants about how great it was to hear the voices of folks who didn't necessarily work in a school, but that had every reason to be invested in an effective and vibrant education system. The fact that we had undergraduate preservice teachers, active teachers, administrators (senior and school based,) school board members and other civic politicians, education specialists, parents, education assistants and others in the same rooms talking collaboratively with each other all day long was a unique and productive situation. Differing perspectives looking at the same issues led to very engaging dialog.

  by  jurvetson 

Of course there is a lot to be debated about how group conversations evolve, but the spirit of edcamps dictates that the answer is "in the room." We want the "answers" at RedCamp to come from rooms that represent a broad spectrum of interests, expertise, experience and opinion. At #redcamp14 we have an opportunity to represent possiblity in teaching and learning. We promote the concept that our education system has the potential to be the mirror for society instead of the reflection. We believe (like the vast majority of edcampers) that what we do in schools, while responsive to the needs of society, can also shape and form what we do in society. To that end we need to broaden the scope and make education everyone's business.

  by  JonoTakesPhotos 

If you are perosnally invested in better teaching and learning, we need you to be at #redcamp14! Register at the EventBrite button in the sidebar... see you on May 31!

We're back...

 

Redcamp13 was fun and we learned a lot together that day last May at the first Central Alberta edcamp ever. So much so in fact, that the organizers of last year's event decided to make it an annual effort... enter #redcamp14!

We are excited to be hosting our event on Saturday, May 31 2014, once again at Glendale Sciences and Technology School in Red Deer, Alberta. Registration details are found by clicking on the Eventbrite tab on this blog' homepage, or by visiting here. We're planning a full day of edcamp, unconference style sessions where the answers to our questions are found inside each room. We hosted an incredibly diverse group of redcampers last year...

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
Speech Pathoilogists= 1

... and we have every reason to believe we will host an even more diverse group this year. We already have representation from seven different school districts in Alberta at #redcamp14... a great early indicator of the type of event it will be. Following last year's event, one of the best quotes came from Ron Eberts, Assistant Superintendent - Learning Services for Red Deer Public Schools, and fellow #redcamp organizer. His statement captured the essence of our edcamp perfectly...

Of all the Micheal Fullans, Ken Robinsons, and Rick Dufours I've seen, I would rate Redcamp '13 among the best professional learning experiences I have attended. Yes, without a doubt, "the expert is the room"! I can't wait until my next Edcamp experience, and I can say with no hesitation or doubt, Redcamp '14 will be a fixture on my professional learning calendar one year from now!

I totally agree with Ron and look forward to a repeat event this coming year. We had some really creative sessions take place, and there will be more at #redcamp14...

@redcamp13 Thanks for the great day. Instead of blogging, we sang about it. Here is "Big Brains" http://t.co/GxYxySS56b #redcamp13
— Tim Bowman (@BowmanTwits) May 12, 2013

Ready to lead a #redcamp13 chat on using tabletop games in the classroom! Hopefully I can convert other educators like @wilw converted me.
— MissMcCrimmon (@MissMcCrimm) May 11, 2013

We even gave up some free swag...

#Redcamp13 swag! We're ready, are you? @redcamp13 #seeuthere http://t.co/gnJ8kX23da pic.twitter.com/zEOeX0TVVJ pic.twitter.com/tbFB4u1z4I
— Diane Roberts (@robertsdrb) May 11, 2013

If you are an engaged teacher, administrator, parent, student, senior administrator, politician, school board representative or community member that has something to say about best practices in education, we need you voice to make #redcamp14 an enjoyable and valuable learning opportunity for all. Why not join us?