EdCamp to Learn, Share, & Grow

The EdCamp experience is special for many reasons. It may be your first step into sharing your experience as a professional. It may be a place to learn about something new. It may be a place for making connections with educators who share your passions. If you are and educator who is interested in solutions and taking an active role in your profession, EdCamp is the place for you.

An EdCamp is an unconference in which the participants in attendance pitch the sessions for the day. Then participants choose the sessions they wish to attend. EdCamp is a place where your role could shift from session to session.

EdCamp as a place to present

A traditional educational conference requires presenters to submit proposals months in advance. So presenting at a conference is a pretty big commitment. It is super intimidating. It requires a bit of ego and willingness to be rejected in order to take the time to complete that proposal submission.

An EdCamp provides perfect baby steps for someone looking to share something that they are doing in the classroom. This could be as simple as speaking up about your work in a session you are sitting in on. When I first shared about how I used tech in my classroom in a breakout session, it was so empowering to hear others giving me positive feedback and wanting to learn more. It truly changed my mindset to one in which I felt that what I did in my classroom was worthy of sharing. That my work could be of value to someone else.

That is an extremely important feeling that every educator needs to have. I’m not talking about mindless validation or self-congratulations. I mean teachers who are taking a risk and trying something new, sharing their takeaways from the experience, and being recognized for it. Great

EdCamps are a place where many can find that self-confidence from other educators who are taking risks. The best EdCamp sessions are filled with those who believe in their practice but don’t think it’s perfect. They are willing to share their practice but are not dogmatic about it.

Once a teacher has some confidence in what they are doing, EdCamps are a great place to share out what they have done. EdCamps are all about pitching a session around an area of interest you want to talk about. Pitching a session around a topic with the specific intention of sharing out a few of your favorite practices or highlighting the work you have done is a great step to take before leaping into a full conference breakout session. Great EdCamp sessions are also ones where someone is willing to play the role of moderator and help hear everyone’s voice. This may start out with an opening in which that person shares out what they are doing. It’s a great way to hit the ground running.

EdCamp is a place to learn something new

When I think of the first EdCamp I ever attended in 2012, I was shocked at all the names of the sessions. These were words I had never heard before like Gamification, Sketchnoting, Augmented Reality, Google add-ons, design thinking, makerspaces, Minecraft. In the age of social media, it’s easy to find these words in you feed. It’s just as easy to get lost in trying to find out what they mean. The power of EdCamp is the ability to talk directly to experts who don’t simply throw these words around. They craft their classrooms around these tools and strategies.

EdCamp sessions are a no judgement zone. It’s built for educators who have a question and want to learn. We all understand that there are only so many hours in the day. This is where it helps to have educators who are willing to share their experience. An EdCamp is an ecosystem in which you can play different roles in different spaces depending on your experience and the topic being discussed. You may be a major contributor, an eager learner with lots of questions, or maybe just a curious listener wanting to know what the heck the words in session title mean.

EdCamp is a place to meet someone from your content area

Conferences are a wonderful place to be around educators. But how often do you meet new people at a conference that you didn’t already know on social media. Most of the new connections I make at a conference are with a presenter not the participants. EdCamps flip the script on this dynamic.

The breakout sessions for EdCamps are built around the idea of participants interacting with each other. It is not up to one person to present to an obedient audience. Those in the room have a shared interest in the topic. The success of a session is built on the number of voices heard. The more participation the better. The more interactions among participants the better. In great sessions, one can find educators to connect with beyond the session and beyond the day. These educators can be great resources moving forward.

I’ll be honest, though. Not every EdCamp session is great. So, it's important to follow some basic rules

If you pitch it, own it.If you pitch a session, don’t be afraid to take a leadership role in the room. That doesn’t mean you have to be the expert. It means that you are responsible for setting the stage. Why did you pitch this session? What is your experience with the topic? BUT most importantly, take the time to introduce yourself and invite others to introduce themselves and explain why they are there.

It’s great to share your ideas, but don’t be dogmatic.
EdCamp is a place to share ideas. No one likes to be preached to. The EdCamp model attempts to break the traditional sit and get PD. So it’s important that everyone is willing to hear each other out.

Don’t be too shyI’m an extreme introvert. It’s very easy for me to be afraid to offer my opinion or thoughts on a conversation topic. But it’s doing the session a disservice to sit back and not offer your insight or expertise on a topic. So don’t be shy.

Pass the micOn the other end of the spectrum, it’s important to give everyone a chance in the room to speak. Even if you pitched a session to share out your classroom model, leave space and time for others to share their work. They may offer some great insight and give you some “aha!” moments. Who knows, you may find a new partner for your work.


The only regret I have about being a part of a team that plans and stages and EdCamp is that I don’t get that EdCamp experience one of our attendees does.

So find the nearest EdCamp in you area here in order to learn, share, and connect!