by Victoria Stearns, Public Relations Writer
Local teachers and education professionals will have the chance to do some learning of their own at edcamp Cedarville on Saturday, Oct. 24. Edcamp Cedarville is a free one-day professional development opportunity on the campus of Cedarville University.
Edcamps provide access to high-quality, personalized professional learning for educators and is organized through the international edcamp foundation. Edcamp Cedarville will follow the standard edcamp format, often referred to as an “unconference.”
“Unconferences” do not use keynote speakers, but instead encourage a guided, open dialog between educators with a wide array of interests and specialties. The innovative format, developed by Harrison Owen in the mid-1980s, allows participants to lead conversation through ad hoc community participation.
Edcamp Cedarville will consist of 16 sessions, two time slots in four rooms in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Sessions may include topics such as technology integration, assessments, technology community, Google Learning, learning spaces, classroom management and special needs strategies and differentiation.
“In an edcamp, participants are both the learner and the expert. This organic collaboration of educators provides fertile soil for the seeds of professionalism to grow. Any lead learner who seeks to improve student achievement should attend as many edcamps as possible,” said Jeremy Ervin, Ph.D., dean of the school of education.
Any educator may attend whether pre-service, in-service or retired.
Attendees will earn a certificate of attendance to be used to submit for local Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credit.
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 3,711 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 100 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and leading student satisfaction ratings.