Sunday, June 8, 2014

edcampUSA

Landing on the moon wasn't the end of the space program for the US. It was the end of the beginning. After five years of building the edcamp concepts around the country, it feels like edcampUSA hosted at the Department of Education in Washington DC on June 6 was another moment that was the end of the beginning. This time, it was the end of the beginning of the movement to personalize and energize educational professional development. Thanks to Emily Davis at DOE, and the Edcamp Foundation for making this a reality. I was honored to be a part of the inaugural event. Though there would a few connected friends in attendance, there were many more people at the event that I had never met, but everyone had a similar passion for changing learning as we know it. If you have ever been to an edcamp, then you know the energy in the room and the energy of the conversation. You also know the hope that springs from the event, and the sense of kindred spirits that develops. All of those things were present for this event as well. I tried to capture the day in pictures as much as possible, but the beauty of edcamp is hard to capture in pictures. Below you will find a few that begin to tell the story.

Already looking forward to edcampUSA in 2015. It will soon be a must-go event on the schedule of every connected educator, and the talk in the room was how to work the logistics to make this a reality for many, many more passionate educators in the future.

The monuments at night are always a great backdrop for learning.

Learning together. Bringing together educators from around the country. 

The wisdom in the room was incredible. 

A big thank you to Department of Education for taking a chance to grow.

We need to fill the Department of Education with more and more voices from the classroom. 

Some pieces of edcampUSA looked just like every edcamp in the country. 

The board. Excited that I got to lead conversation around The Culture of YES.

A huge thanks to our organizers and more. 

We may not have changed policy, but edcamp has arrived as an important voice of change. 

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