I had the privilege of attending an "un-conference" this weekend, edcampstl. I had heard of others attending similar events in the past, but had never attended one myself. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived.
The event, organized by Bob Dillon and Chris McGee, was held at Maplewood-Richmond Heights Middle and High Schools. There were approximately 250 people in attendance, all with copious amounts of technology in tow. There were laptops, tablets, and smartphones everywhere. A twitter feed was shown as people tweeted about the event. The organizers had set up free wifi for all attendees throughout the school.
I found the most interesting facet of the event to be the open scheduling. Upon arrival, there were 8 large posters on the wall, one for each room, where people could sign up for a time slot to host a discussion about any topic they wished.
Here is a list of the topics that were presented. I attended a session on Google Docs and another on social media use in the classroom in the morning. Both were professionally presented. The social media presentation was even hosted by a couple of MSTA members from MRH Middle School, @MsPepin and @MsFmath.
Lunch was provided for all of the attendees. During this time, they also had activities set up throughout the school such as chair racing, paper airplane creation, running through the halls, and yelling in the library. These kept everyone active and energized for the afternoon sessions.
I loved the open sharing of ideas and look forward to attending similar events in the future. Thank you to edcampstl for a great day of learning.
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