It was bound to happen. I'm actually surprised it took this long. Edcamp invaded a large national conference, and it was a huge it.
A few enemy combatants were hanging out at #ASCD13 talking about the opening message of getting educators connected and thought that the conference was lacking something to bring educators together to not only connect, but to talk about topics near and dear to them. In an effort to give the masses what they deserve, #edcampRogue was born.
A space of the conference was taken over with very little resistance, a monitor and laptop were hacked and the session was spread using Social Media.
People attended by the dozens (4 dozen) and conversations were had. Social Media was discussed, grade level concerns were shared, common core was vilified by one organizer, and one person got to learn how to use a wiki. People came together to share an connect in a way they felt there were not able to do in the current conference format.
#EdcampRogue was planned and put on in under 5 hours. Learning and connecting can happen with minimal planning and the turnout shows that people want to connect. They are just looking for opportunities to do it. Edcamp allowed that to happen.
Everyone was really excited and engaged at the hour long session. At one point, someone asked if big conferences should be scared of the edcamp movement. What do you think?
My favorite aspect of this was the ability to gain sponsorship so quickly. Kudos to Edutopia for getting it.
ReplyDeleteThank you to all who tweeted out from #ascd13 and #edcamprogue. It made for a great weekend of learning from afar!
I wish I would have found this during the conference! This was my first major conference, and to be honest I wasn't really impressed. I've been to a few Edcamps and I usually learn more and definitely connect more in one day of Edcamp. Hope to bump into you sometime! Here is my ASCD Reflection http://www.educationshift.net/2013/03/ascd-final-reflection.html
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