Unconference professional development: Edcamp participant perceptions and motivations for attendance

Figures & data

Figure 1. Number of Edcamps across time.

Table 1. Edcamp locations.

Location	Number of Edcamps
USA	417
Canada	53
Sweden	31
Denmark	5
Virtual Edcamps	4
Belgium, China, Indonesia, the Netherlands	3
Chile, United Arab Emirates	2
Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, New Zealand, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia	1

Note: Based on events listed on the Edcamp Wiki (http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/) as of 12 August 2014.

Table 2. Edcamp schedule.

Time	Activity
8:30–9:00 am	Registration and breakfast
9:00–9:40 am	Large group session; discussing Edcamp; building day’s schedule
9:45–10:45 am	First breakout sessions
10:45–11:45 am	Second breakout sessions
11:45 am–12:45 pm	Lunch
12:45–1:45 pm	Third breakout sessions
1:45–2:45 pm	Large group session; Smackdown; door prizes

Table 3. Edcamp breakout session topics.

	Breakout Session 1	Breakout Session 2	Breakout Session 3
1	Blended and online learning	SAMR model and teaching above the line	Common Core state standards
2	Standards-based grading and learning	Literacy and writing across the curriculum	Learning management systems
3	Twitter 101	Digital leadership	To flip or not to flip
4	Gamification	Differentiation	Genius hour
5	Things that suck and don’t in tech integration	Bring your own device (BYOD)	Project versus problem-based learning
6	Role of the professional	Empowering teachers	Tech innovations
7	Make anything	Twitter chats	The 4 Cs – collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication

Note:

SAMR = Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition.

Table 4. Respondents’ experience working in education.

Experience	Survey One percentage	Survey Two percentage
Pre-service teacher	6	8
1–3 years	10	15
4–10 years	29	36
11–20 years	39	28
21–30 years	12	11
30+ years	4	2

Table 5. Respondents’ current professional positions.

Current position	Survey One percentage	Survey Two percentage
PK–12 teacher	45	42
Instructional support (technologist, coach)	16	13
Teacher educator	8	11
Pre-service teacher	6	8
Administrator	8	6
Librarian/media specialist	5	3
Other	12	15

Table 6. Respondents’ content areas.

Content areas	Survey One percentage	Survey Two percentage
Elementary content (all)	18	28
English	18	8
Mathematics	13	11
Social Studies	11	9
Technology	11	11
Science	11	9
Spanish	5	4
French	4	2
Latin	2	2
Special Education	2	4

Notes: Percentages do not equal 100 because respondents did not have to indicate a content area. One respondent identified with each of ESOL (English as a Second/Other Language), Media Studies, Literacy, Robotics and Army JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps).

Table 7. Motivations for attending the Edcamp.

Code	Example	Percentage of responses
Recommendation	‘I have heard so many positive things about Edcamps.’	43
Colleague recommendation	‘The factor that influenced me the most was a co-worker’s opinion.’	27
Colleague attending	‘I convinced a friend to come along!’	18
Social media recommendation	‘People I follow on Twitter have mentioned it.’	11
Learning	‘I want to continue to learn and grow!’	33
New	‘I hope to not only learn new tools and ideas to use in my classroom but to grow my PLN as well!’	14
Classroom practices	‘I hope to have resources that I can use in my classroom.’	14
General Edcamp interest	‘I am intrigued by the format of Edcamp.’	28
Interest in specific aspect of Edcamp	‘An opportunity for personalized, relevant PD.’	22
Collaboration	‘Edcamp always offer valuable information and collaboration with peers.’	16
Discussion	‘I love the dialogue and sharing of the group.’	13
Autonomy	‘I like the idea of picking my own PD.’	11
Networking	‘When I attend conferences all I ever want to do is talk to the other teachers.’	20
Location	‘Date and location worked best for me, so I’m looking forward to learning!’	19
Past experience	‘It’s the best PD around.’	18

Note:

PLN = Professional Learning Network.

Table 8. Overall rating of Edcamp experience.

Rating	Percentage of responses
5 – excellent	49
4	36
3	13
2	0
1 – poor	2

Table 9. Strengths of Edcamp experience.

Code	Example	Percentage of responses
Positive	‘It was an amazingly positive atmosphere.’	32
Autonomy	‘We had the freedom to move between sessions.’	32
Technology	‘Having so much connectedness via technology was phenomenal.’	30
Discussion	‘Great conversations with tremendous ideas were shared.’	30
Learning	‘Gave me some new perspectives and tons of new ideas.’	28
Organization	‘Everything seemed very well organized.’	21
Networking	‘Awesome to meet Twitter buddies face to face.’	19
Food/prizes	‘Providing breakfast and lunch was great!’	15

Table 10. Weaknesses of Edcamp experience.

Code	Example	Percentage of responses
Barriers to participation	‘I think that everyone needed to be reminded of watching their “air time.”’	47
Nature of discussion	‘Some of the sessions weren’t as collaborative as I thought they would have been.’	28
First-time issues	‘I think since most of us were first timers we didn’t know what to do.’	13
Topic issues	‘There was no place to go if the participant didn’t feel like any of the sessions fit their needs.’	11
Tech issues	‘The Google docs set up for collaborative note taking didn’t work well on my iPad.’	5
Schedule creation	‘The opening session was overwhelming.’	34
Logistics	‘The layout of the space was a little confusing.’	25

Table

	1	2	3	4	5
Poor						Excellent