EdCamp Detroit from an EdCamp Newbie

Early in the morning on Saturday, May 9, I wished my husband luck with our lively 2 year old son all day and headed to my very first Edcamp. I had heard about Edcamp Detroit on Twitter and seen it mentioned by so many great educators online that I knew it would be a great opportunity to advance my learning.

In order to reflect on the great experience and share with others, I thought I'd write about what I experienced at Edcamp Detroit from an Edcamp newbie's eyes.

What is an Edcamp?

• Edcamps are not your typical educational conferences

There was no keynote speaker, no lengthy program describing who would be speaking and what their credentials were, no session guide to view online the night ahead of time, and no vendors there to promote their products. In fact, it very purposefully lacked these things. 

Although, there still was some pretty great swag-I'm looking at you bright orange Edutopia bottle. 

• At Edcamp, the attendees are the experts

It lacked all of the previously mentioned typical components of an educational conference because at Edcamp, it is all about learning from each other. The attendees share what they know, what they've done, and how it has impacted their classroom. You are actually hearing from other educators about their experiences in the classroom or school. A giant grid with room numbers and times was written on a white board and the attendees who wanted to present filled it up with topics that they were interested in. While many came prepared with presentations or slideshows, it was clear that others just had something great to share and this was the perfect platform.

Photo courtesy of Ben Rimes

• You have a voice (and others want to hear it!)

When I attend educational conferences, I typically expect a sit and get experience. However, at Edcamp, your voice is encouraged. Not only to present, but to participate in sessions, ask questions, and even share your own experiences. Plus the sessions were in classrooms, not huge conference halls, which certainly added a level of comfort and familiarity that encouraged active participation. I was happily surprised to find myself asking questions and sharing my own experiences at different sessions, when all I thought I would be doing was listening to others. It made it so that the sessions truly became applicable to what I am doing and helped me to build connections with other educators who have similar interests.

• You decide where to go and for how long

We were told right from the start, by Edcamp leader Nick Provenzano, to vote with our feet in the sessions. If we decided we weren't interested or wanted to hear someone else speak too, it was totally encouraged to get up during the session and leave. That was a foreign concept to me. Yet, plenty of people came and left throughout the sessions that I attended and nobody batted an eye. I actually had planned to leave one of the sessions I was at halfway through to catch another one, but I was so engaged in what the speakers were sharing, that I forgot all about it. While that option does exist at all conferences (you know, free will and all), it certainly isn't always encouraged. I thought that really gave people the freedom to make sure the conference met their needs and to make every minute count.

Lessons from the Sessions

• Re-designing learning spaces can create opportunities for more collaborative learning and more engaged students

Furniture photos courtesy of Ann Smart 

I attended a session led by Ann Smart and Lauren Villaluz all about redesigning learning spaces. They both had spent time researching effective learning spaces and helped schools to redesign learning spaces in a way that would make learning more collaborative, flexible, and engaging. I was very interested to hear how the Media Center at an Adrian school had been transformed from an unused area to a hub of activity. Luckily, our Media Center already is a hub of activity (just stop by right when school opens and you'll see what I mean), but it certainly had me wondering how I could make the environment even more student-centered and allow for more flexible learning spaces. They spoke about everything from choosing mobile furniture that serves multiple purposes to the type of lighting being used. It was awesome to hear from the kids themselves how school had changed for them because of the redesign. In the classrooms they had everything from mobile chairs and tables that made it easy to collaborate to smart TV stations so students could share tech projects with peers. The Media Center had more comfortable gathering areas, an array of seating types, and Hokki stools, which I think would be a great addition to our Media Center. A really key message that they had was to ask the students. That seems so simple, but really, how often do students actually get to give input on what their classroom or Media Center will look like? I loved the approach at Adrian Schools to give students the leadership role in their redesign. This session helped me to really view our school learning spaces and consider how they could better encourage collaboration, flexibility, and learning for our students.

• The Maker Movement is making its way to classrooms and Media Centers everywhere!

  I also had the opportunity to listen to Jennifer Bond and Michael Medvinsky talk about their experiences with Makerspaces within their classrooms.They kicked off the session with an activity to remind us that we are all Makers. They shared great Maker projects that their students had done and really discussed with the group what it means to be a Maker and the collaborative nature of Making. When talking about assessing what students create within Makerspaces, they said that their rubric is asking if you solved the problem. They talked about Making as looking at problems or challenges and finding ways to solve them. With Jennifer’s group, the students were tasked with creating Rube Goldberg machines that required them to analyze the situation to create a functioning machine. Listening to students discuss the elements involved in making the machine function as they hoped it would, emphasized just how important the process of creating and collaborating really is.

Our Makerspace

The various Maker sessions that I attended reaffirmed to me how important it is that our students are given the opportunities to design, explore, create, solve problems, collaborate,  tinker, and make mistakes. Whether it take place in a dedicated school Makerspace, a mobile Makerspace, or through classroom projects and activities, the opportunity to be a Maker allows our students the chance to drive their own learning and collaborate in an authentic manner.

Collaborative learning in our Makerspace

And if the conference weren't enough...

The food trucks were pretty great too!

Enough said.

Obviously I had a great time at EdCamp Detroit and I really recommend it to all educators who are looking to expand their knowledge and inspire their learning!

Photo from EdCamp Detroit

Reflections on MACUL

This past Thursday I attended the MACUL conference for the second year. As I expected, I left feeling motivated, inspired, and a little overwhelmed. When you are learning from some of the brightest, most innovative minds in education, I think it's safe to say that you will leave feeling that way. But, that overwhelmed feeling is okay-because a day later, after a much needed night of sleep, it is what challenges you to look at your own teaching and integration of technology, and make it better.

The MACUL conference is all about the use of technology in education. What I found myself hearing from the various sessions were different definitions about technology from each presenter. That evolving definition was interesting to me, because when it comes to education, there really isn't just one predetermined answer to why we use technology or what it is all about.

In reflecting on the sessions I attended that day, I was able to define technology in the following ways:

• Technology is about CREATING. 

If you've read my blog you know that my passion project is our school Makerspace. So, it's no surprise that when I saw that Sylvia Martinez was presenting on Makerspaces all day, it was the first session that I loaded in my fancy MACUL app. In her first session she talked about Makerspaces as a global revolution. People of all ages want to create. They want to explore, invent, design, build, try, collaborate, and share. Further, they want to use technology to do it. Sylvia talked about the use of technology in Makerspaces. She said that technology really is a key component in an educational Makerspace, especially when looking at them from the perspective of integrating STEAM concepts. That's not to discredit the crafters of the world, because there is no doubt that someone who knits a sweater is creating something amazing (I sure couldn't do it), but from an educational standpoint, she said that she believes Makerspaces should integrate technology. She mentioned one of our school's favorite Makerspace items- the MakeyMakey, but also shared great examples of Arduino projects and Hummingbird Robotics, to name a few. One thing she said that I really agree with is that
"Makerspaces are not about the shopping, they are all about the learning stance". We can get caught up in what the next cool gadget is out there to add to our school Makerspace, but at the forefront of a Makerspace should always be questioned, will they learn from this? We may not know exactly what or how much they will learn, but all of that exploring, designing, and creating, should certainly help our students to grow as learners and Makers.

• Technology is about COLLABORATING

There are a number of ways to collaborate using technology, but one of the most popular forms of collaboration in schools right now is through the use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE). I had the opportunity to attend one session on GAFE that really highlighted the collaborative features of GAFE. The presenter, George Couros, shared a Google Doc with his PLN on Twitter to ask educators to share their blogs. Within minutes, that doc was pages long. Many of the people filling it out were not in the room, but had just clicked his link from Twitter. It was a great example of how GAFE can be used to allow people to interact. We've used GAFE at our school for two years now, and the various ways that I've seen educators and students work together has been amazing. Whether updating minutes for an SIP meeting, having students work together who are in different classes, or allowing a teacher to provide immediate feedback, GAFE has changed the education world. 

• Technology is about CONNECTING

When I was doing my masters program, I had to set up a Twitter account, but I will admit, I barely used it. I didn't know anyone else using Twitter and 140 characters felt so restrictive. Little did I know, that Twitter is not just a great tool, it's a necessity for educators who want to stay connected. I slowly waded into the Twitter pool last year, and this year I think it's safe to say that I am fully submerged. You miss out on some amazing things about MACUL if you aren't on Twitter. I kept TweetDeck open throughout the day and found that I was learning about other great sessions all day too, thanks to #MACUL15. Throughout the day I was seeing great links tweeted out and apps suggested that I would have otherwise missed. I left with so many resources saved to Pocket for me to check out later that I am very grateful for. I also was able to find new educators to follow and learn from. Plus, MACUL Quest was happening on Twitter. I didn't win any prizes myself, but it sure was fun to see them tweet out prizes and the educators who found them! The connections made through Twitter are just one tiny example of the way that technology connects us of course. From Google Hangouts to Skype, I saw amazing examples of how technology is bringing people together in ways that never would have been possible before. 

• Technology is about LEARNING

This one is obvious perhaps. From sessions about augmented reality uses in the classroom to reading strategies and project based learning ideas, technology helps us to learn. It is a tool that brings learning opportunities to us in incredible ways. Students can take virtual field trips that take them around the world, ask an author a question about a book they are reading, or have their questions answered in seconds. There is no doubt that technology has changed how we learn and how much information we have access to at any moment. There were so many sessions at the MACUL conference that provided inspiration for learning through many different technological formats.

• Technology is about IMPROVING

In the keynote, George Couros shared a video that reminded us of the absolute power of technology. This video showed a baby who was deaf and thanks to technology, was going to be able to hear. You can see the baby's features change as he hears for the first time. I dare you not to tear up, just a bit. 

This is why we have Makerspaces and why we use technology. To continuously make things better and test the limits, so that these very real and necessary improvements to human life are possible. I'm not saying that playing with a MakeyMakey in our after school club will change the world, but it may give our kids the opportunity to start thinking about things differently. It may encourage them to start wondering what else they can make and what else they can do if they just keep creating and questioning.

• Technology is about RELATIONSHIPS

This one is my favorite take-away from MACUL. When I listened to George Couros, the keynote speaker on Thursday, present, I can honestly say I laughed, I cried, and I felt inspired to share what I learned. At the heart of his presentation was the message that technology is all about building relationships. This message really stuck with me and caused me to reflect on all of the relationships I've built thanks to technology. Technology gets a bad rap for isolating people. We see people looking at their phones and assume that they are doing so to tune the world out. When really, technology is bringing people together in mediums that were not possible before. Whether people are checking Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Skype or a number of other social media apps out there, they are opening them up to someone else's world. We are connecting with a larger number of people in more intimate ways than every before. We are seeing photos of their babies just after they were born, watching videos of their children perform, and reading articles they read simply because they shared them and we trust their judgement. Technology connects us not just to our friends, but to people who would otherwise be strangers. Through blogs and Twitter, I've been able to find and learn from educators with interests similar to mine. I've used social media to discuss educational topics with people who would otherwise be perfect strangers, to connect with our school community, and to stay in touch with friends across the globe. Technology causes us to work together, share ideas, and create communities near and far. 

I'm sure as I continue on as an educator and as technology continues to change, these definitions will change and evolve. It's been fun to reflect on another great year at MACUL! Next year I'll be presenting at MACUL about the grant my colleague and I were awarded, so I'm sure it will be an even more rewarding experience!