Good organization and lots of positive support from my colleagues made the rest of the experience a breeze. Thank heavens I'm an organized person or I can see how this would be overwhelming. Let me give you the run down of how this all came together.
After the nail-biting meeting with the higher powers I got to work creating a Google Form. In this form I listed several topics that I thought might be of interest to the staff. We have many folks who aren't as tech-fearless (or maybe reckless is a better term) as I tend to be so we thought it would be good to give folks some ideas to get started. I also made an "other" choice so they could add additional topics. Then under those broad topics I narrowed things down further, such as how are others using it, how has it helped in day to day teaching, and so on. Finally, I had an open response for any topics or ideas that folks would like to explore further. I received some good ideas that I think need to be explored further, but maybe within smaller focused groups. There is such a wide range of tech ability levels and grades/subjects taught on campus that it's a little hard to make topics that might appeal to a large group.
Insert a moment of anxiety when I heard some folks say that they weren't looking forward to another boring PD session. I hoped that they would walk away refreshed and with a few new ideas. This isn't another sit and listen type of PD! I don't think they understood that an EdCamp wasn't that type of boring, old thing. This is fresh, exciting, and participant driven! I thought I explained that in my email sending out the Form...maybe they didn't read that?
From there I sorted the most clicked topics and figured out a schedule for our allotted time on our PD afternoon. We were going to have three concurrent 25 minute sessions with 5 minutes between for a total of 9 sessions taking only 90 minutes, then a quick wrap up afterwards. Wow, now that I think about it, that's a lot of info in a short time period!
Back to the sesion topics, we had quite a big interest group in augmented reality...I need to learn more after hearing other folks talk excitedly about it after the session! We also had sessions on Google Classroom, Google Maps, Google Forms, classroom management, Padlet/ThingLink, our school-wide website, and a few others. I'm fortunate enough to work with a great group of colleagues who were more than willing to moderate sessions. I tried to find moderators who were experienced in the topic so they could guide conversation if needed or answer questions. With many staff expressing an interest in learning more about the topics I felt I needed to have a few folks in the session who could share basic information. I know that's not the true nature of a real EdCamp, but for our beginner status I felt it was necessary. Next time I know it will go smoother since folks know how to work the sessions.
Once conversations got started and folks understood that this wasn't a presentation the chatter got productive! It was going well! Experienced folks were sharing with newbies about how they started out and what pitfalls they experienced and newbies were asking questions left and right! It was like I had died and gone to tech heaven! My anxiety was gone and a smile filled my face!
Knowing that it would be a lot for folks to take in I wanted a backchannel to document the conversations going on. I wanted to create an easy to use/navigate/edit way to keep track of the things talked about, so I created a Padlet for each session. I did preload some links, articles, blog posts, and Pinterest boards for each topic to be on the safe side. I then asked the participants to add ideas and links of their own while the session was going on. While this didn't go as far as I'd hoped, I think only 4 other people besides myself added to the Padlets. If nothing else, it's a reminder of the session topics.
I also created a Twitter hashtag, tssedcamp2016! I was going guns-a-blazing, I wanted this to be like the one I went to in Baltimore! Besides myself, I think only 2 other folks tweeted. Again lots of newbies and not everyone is fascinated with Twitter like I am. Baby steps, baby steps.
Finally, after I was able to exhale and thank everyone for participating in the first TSS EdCamp I told them I'd send out a Form for feedback on their day. Generally it was a good experience, they liked that it was something new, liked the opportunity to talk to other folks, and enjoyed moving around. It was better than sitting through a 90 minute lecture on something that they didn't care about. It created some connections between divisions. I think they liked it! They were curious about learning some more things they'd talked about.
The biggest wish was that we had done it earlier in the year so they could have tried things out and worked with them throughout the year. I won't lie, I did have a "Negative-Nelly", they didn't learn anything new. Mostly this person is always a grouch, so I didn't take it personal. I had too many other folks make happy comments to let that rain on my my parade! Folks said they heard about some things they wanted to explore further! I think I heard angels singing! I think they liked it! I didn't bore anyone to death!! My mission was accomplished! Deliver relevant PD that is fueled by the interest of the participants and make it fun!
Overall, I think it was a positive experience. Folks came away refreshed by a new approach to taking charge of their PD. Yeah, I'd say it was a great experience and I'm glad I sent that email from ISTE to my division head about leading your own EdCamp. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
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