On June 6, 2014, almost 100 educators from all over the U.S. arrived at the United States Department of Education to participate in the first-ever Edcamp to be held there. Most of these educators paid their own way to attend incurring a personal expense of time and money, two days and $500 to $900, depending on where they came from.
The question comes to mind, why would any educator give up personal time and money to attend an event at the U.S. Department of Education? Actually, the organizers were limited in the number of educators that could be accommodated, because of space and security issues. There were over 1,000 requests to participate the day after the EdcampUSA was announced. This was a huge number when we consider that many educators are in the closing weeks of their schools and could not apply.
Most of the participants had attended previous Edcamps, and many had organized their own local Edcamps. There have been well over 500 of these conducted in the US and some in other nations. Edcamp is being recognized as a grassroots professional development movement for educators. This was suggested to the US DOE in order to involve them in some way in the movement. The whole idea of doing an Edcamp at the DOE was probably an effort not only to inform the DOE, but also to seek some form of validation for trying to fill a professional development need that is felt by so many educators today. It was also a statement that educators are very interested and invested in improving their profession by taking up that cause without any help from the very system for which they work.
My hope was for the DOE to become more than aware. I hoped for the participation of top policy makers in the sessions to observe first hand the discussions of educators and their efforts, needs, and desires for real education reform. Edcamps are known for their frank and experienced views on the problems in education. These are views that take place through a lens of experience and not theory.
My view however was not to be realized. The DOE did assign a few people to attend the sessions. Some rotated in and out during the course of the day. The policy makers however did not participate in any numbers. There were a very few at the beginning of the day, but after just two sessions they went on to other obligations in their day.
The chief liaison person, Emily Davis, who headed up the Edcamp on behalf of the DOE, was an educator working as the Secretary’s direct assistant in such matters. She was a great contributor, and participant. It was her first Edcamp and she participated with excitement and enthusiasm, as well as awe, throughout the entire day. I know that she will enthusiastically report the success of the Edcamp at the DOE, but I admittedly wanted more. I wanted the Secretary and other policy makers to experience an Edcamp as opposed to receiving a feedback report. That desired involvement however, was not to be. We were granted a very quick visit and a limited photo-op with Secretary Duncan before the opening session.
I know we often refer to Edcamps as a place for professional development to take place, but it is not PD in the conventional sense of the term. It is more of self-examination of what we do to bring learning to students. Some of it is steeped in tradition, education as it was in the 19th & 20th Centuries. Some of it is very progressive, involving the latest technological tools for learning. It is also an examination of pedagogy. It is an open reflection of the educator’s role in education today. It is an experience that gives direction to educators as to how to direct their professional development to achieve the outcomes discussed in these sessions. It is an eye-opener for many, and an expansion of progressive ideas for others. All of it is based on education experience and pedagogy of educators. These are not opinions of politicians, business people, or for-profit reformers.
The Edcamp itself was very exhilarating. It is always great to respectfully test someone’s ideas on education, as well as having your own ideas tested. It was that open transparency in examining the problems and possible solutions that I wished could have been experienced by some of the people who are in a position to make education policy.
I always come away from these experiences wondering after all this is said and done, what is the next action to be taken by all who attended. I think the educators there came away with a number of ideas to implement. I am not sure what the next steps from the DOE will be. That, after all, was the reason for locating this Edcamp at the DOE in the first place.
The DOE’s awareness of Edcamps is a big step. The positive force of social media that was evident at the event was another lesson for the DOE. I would also hope that the dedication of educators to unselfishly sacrifice for their profession was another lesson learned. I know that the members of the DOE are often targets for the wrath of frustrated educators, but that is not part of Edcamp. Hopefully, that was learned as well, so that, if this ever happens again, policy makers will engage rather than just do a quick walk through and photo op.
BTW: If you get an opportunity to attend an Edcamp, jump on it!
It is my understanding Brother Duncan used the word Neat in response to a guestion abt edcamp. ???
Have a great day! Message sent from my iPhone.
People pay attention to what they think is important. I guess you know how important edcamps are right now to the DOE.
[…] On June 6, 2014, almost 100 educators from all over the U.S. arrived at the United States Department of Education to participate in the first-ever Edcamp to be held there. Most of these educators p… […]
[…] My hope was for the DOE to become more than aware. I hoped for the participation of top policy makers in the Read the full article […]
Quoting: “There were a very few at the beginning of the day, but after just two sessions they went on to other obligations in their day.” William Chamberlain, in a comment above, has it right! Sadly, it’s clear that Secretary Duncan cares not one bit about this grass-roots approach to improving the effective, deeper learning for all students. Sadly, his feedback reports will be filed away never likely to be given the attention they deserve. However, if the situation arises justifying it, you can expect Secretary Duncan (or even President Obama) to praise the Edcamp and the value he gained through participation!
Good Evening Tom,
I wanted to thank you for being such an inspirational educator on Twitter. I always return to your blog and read what’s happening with all the Edcamps. Today, I just meet George Couros at a tech conference sponsored by the Indiana Department of Education. The whole day was about the importance of social media and building a PLN on Twitter. It’s hard to believe that I started Twitter a year ago. A lot has happened since you tweeted me a simple suggestion to upload my photo onto my account and rid the egg. Funny how life comes full circle, I shared the same suggestion of encouragement tonight to a newbie on Twitter. So, thank you for supporting all educators and encouraging those of us who have not yet met. It’s my hope to meet you someday at an Edcamp to thank you in person for all your help.
It’s really weird the dance we do between grassroots/cutting edge and adoption/proliferation. On one hand it doesn’t matter ONE whit who recognizes or comes to an edcamp. Heck one of the BEST parts of an edcamp is that everyone there wants to be there so why muddy the waters? On the other hand when we believe in an idea, when we think an idea is transformative, we desperately want it to gain traction. We want our parents, our peers, our bosses to see the value and to spread the word.
We want teacher choice for the same reason students want choice. We understand that education is changing so rapidly that the only “experts” in the room are those that just finished trying something, often half-way around the world.
I think it’s cool everyone tried. I don’t think anyone is shocked at the DOE’s reaction. Maybe next time we need to spend some lobbyist money. Greenbacks are the best fertilizer around. Congrats again to Kristen, Dan and all the edcamp crew.
Tom, I struggled with the same concern and hope. It seemed like a missed opportunity for policy makers to interact with teachers who were just there to share and learn(and in their own building). My hope is that perhaps understanding what it is, maybe there’s an opportunity a year from now to give it another go…
It at least would have been a nice opportunity to have people visit us during lunch and just chat informally because sometimes those are the connections made, too.
I did also wish we voted on topics like the usual Edcamp because I think that would have made it a more realistic event. Most sessions were already posted before most of the attendees arrived.
Time to process the feedback and give it another go!
[…] We Had EdCampUSA, Now What by Tom Whitby […]