Air Stream

The landscape below our Southwest flight is brown, khaki, taupe. Ochers dominate the desert below. Seemingly barren save for hills, valleys, mountains and surprising canyons. I wasn't tuned into the landscape. San Fracisco was miles to go, so I'd tuned in to Twitter for #edcampLdr and #edcampLdrFL.

WiFi enabled airplane=amazing.

EdCamps are free professional learning opportunities for educators, students, administrators, sometimes even parents. Free! Sessions, conversation topics, are built the morning of camp over coffee and sometimes continental breakfast. Though the session board is typically built live on site with post-it notes on a paper grid, someone often types it and shares or tweets it. Such quick follow through edcampers have. Reason number eight hundred and seventy two why I love them. Edcampers are passionate about teaching and learning. Campers leverage tools--digital and traditional-- to maximize joy, passion and expression.

Prizes and refreshments are donated. An "App Smackdown" (think ignite-style sharing session on steroids) is a staple of EdCamp. 

Tanya Avrith co-planned #EdCampOrange with me, Beth Scanlon and Alina Davis. We ran the smackdown during the last half of our pizza feast, but #edcampLdrFL ran theirs the last hour of the day. I know the energy in the room sizzled! I could feel it even from thirty thousand feet half a continent away!

Are you an EdCamper? I am!  I am hooked on the conversations and opportunities for learning. Dipping into the stream, following a hashtag and tweeting with attendee friends, makes learning possible anytime, anywhere.  Even from the air. Last year  was our first #EdCampOrange. 

We're planning to do it again come January. Maybe we'll *virtually* see you there.