Developing strong, energized teachers and keeping them in schools is critical to ensuring great learning experiences for students. We believe that teacher-to-teacher learning is not only an effective way to improve practice in the classroom, but is a crucial strategy to develop teacher leaders, increase teacher satisfaction, and build teachers’ professional learning communities. Our participant-driven, collaborative model is an important supplement to traditional professional development offerings. The Edcamp movement has spread to 46 countries around the world with over 3,000 Edcamps having been held since 2010.
All Edcamps follow several key tenets:
- Participant-driven: Edcamps allow educators to collaboratively determine session topics, giving educators "voice and choice" in their professional learning.
- Free to all attendees: Edcamps never charge a fee, and are open to the public for educators of all levels, subjects and districts to attend.
- Experience, not Experts: Edcamps encourage educators to facilitate sessions by sharing experiences; it's about conversations, not planned presentations.
- Reliant on the Rule of Two Feet/Clicks: Edcamps suggest educators find sessions that meet their needs to maximize learning.
The end result of an Edcamp event is engaged, empowered, and prepared teachers who adopt effective methods in their classrooms and become leaders and change agents in their schools.
