I am planning on presenting at #EdCampKS this Saturday and it will be a reprise of a session I did in St Louis on ukuleles. While it is true that I really enjoy playing the ukulele and sharing that interest with others, that isn't the only reason why I do this presentation. As unbelievable as it seems, most EdCamps are tech-centric.
We often complain about how we have trouble getting colleagues involved in online educational social media. The truth is probably as simple as they aren't the #Gerds we are. They don't feel comfortable with the technology and we talk way too much about the tech. Yes this is oversimplified and rife with generalities, but that doesn't mean it is wrong.
I have been called a rebel, a rabble rouser and one guy insists on calling me #thatguy, all of which I wear as a badge. We need to be in the learning business, not the tech business.
#geek+nerd
I love the sessions that are not tech stuff. I had a conversation of middle school teaching in Omaha. I'll have to step in and play some on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteNice! I learned a bit from the last time and it should run a little more smoothly. I can guarantee you will learn to play a song if you stay for 20 minutes. :)
DeleteI'm with you 100%. There's always going to be the techie undertones because of how & where the Edcamp movement got started and from where it primarily draws its attendees (social media), but it falls back upon the session leaders to keep the focus on teaching.
ReplyDeleteOf the handful of Edcamps I've organized & attended, I was most pleasantly surprised by the first Edcamp Leadership last summer; I even remarked at the time that there was a good mix of tech and non-tech related discussion topics, probably more so than I've seen at any other one I've attended.
I am hoping we are moving away from too much tech, but because we tend to use a lot of tech it is a focus for us. I am afraid that that focus runs off a lot of potential attendees though.
DeleteAn interesting view, and certainly an interesting “twist” to the current trends in education. Sometimes it’s good to dig the roots deeper so the branches have a strong(er) foundation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, I went through my 'tech is king' phase years ago so I am on the other side. I hope that my voice can help educators from making my mistakes by focusing too much on the tech and not enough on the learning.
DeleteI always appreciate your comments, especially when they offer a kind of purposeful tension between the current state and the desired state in education.
ReplyDeleteAs an organizer of a fledgling edcamp in Rochester, NY (Spring 2014!), this was a timely post for me. However, it makes me wonder if, over time as more educators learn to purposefully use technology with their students, non-tech focused sessions like yours on the ukulele will be more or less popular. Your're dead on though to remind us that edcamp is about education primarily, and while tech is an excellent tool to increase the quality of the education, tech and education are not simply the same thing.
The session I did at #EdCampStL was only attended by people I already knew. I would not be surprised if the one on Saturday goes the same way. I guess as long as there are windmills, guys like me will be attempting to run lances through them.
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