Summer Institute Vs Edcamp

Are you wanting to organize a professional development day for a group of teachers? Summer Institute or Edcamp may be for you!
 
What is the difference between an Edcamp and Summer Institute?
 
A summer institute is a more formal professional development opportunity with scheduled speakers, sessions, and presentations. The presenters can be your fellow teachers and staff or outside presenters that you bring in. A summer institute lasts usually around a week to two weeks. It is a great way to get professional development in a small time frame and learn from peers and experts in their fields. 
 
An edcamp is typically described as “unconferences”. They are typically one day in length and are created by the participants when they show up that day. It is not meant to be a presentation but a discussion about topics that teachers are interested in. The Edcamp organization describes them as “free, organic, participant-driven, un-conferences that empower educators to maximize professional learning experiences and peer networks.” They have a bunch of resources on their site if you would like to find an edcamp near you or organize one. Below is a video that gives an overview of what an edcamp is. 
Both options are great ways to learn new things over the summer that can give new life to your teaching practice or offer you an outlet to share your experience with other teachers. You get a chance to learn and network with other teachers which is always a good thing in our business. 

PLANNING OUT YOUR SUMMER INSTITUTE

• Check with your district about PD funds. Can you pay presenters or attendees as an incentive? Can you use a school building? Are there particular dates to avoid so that you don’t conflict with major pd or camps that would affect the teachers you want to serve?
• 2 Months before - Get Presenters. Once you have a date, location, and possible incentives, send out an invitation to gain presenters. You will need to collect information such as when they are available, what they will present about, and how many people they can host in their session. I would suggest using a google form to collect the information. Set a due date for session presenters to sign up. If you are working on a budget with paid presenters and attendees, be sure to let your presenters know that their session will need to “make” in order to have it run as a paid session. 
• 1 Month before - Get Attendees. Once you have all of your potential presenters, it is time to get your attendees! I used a google doc to create the event schedule and linked each session to Eventbrite so attendees could sign up (or cancel) themselves. Eventbrite will send email reminders to your attendees as well as provide easy access to a spreadsheet roster and class count for each session. 
• 1 Week before - Reminders and final details. Eventbrite will let you export class rosters with all pertinent information. Pulling emails from the sheet allows you to send reminders to your participants so that the event is well attended! It is also a good idea to check back in with your presenters to be sure they don’t have any scheduling conflicts that have come up in the past month. Remember, they signed up for this 2 months ago and crazy things happen! You will also want to give final numbers to your district or businesses who are helping to fund either payment or prizes for your event. You’ll also need to be sure all the rooms your presenters are using have the appropriate setup or technology for the sessions. Create signage to help attendees find the rooms easily and export your rosters for a sign in sheet and you are all set!
• The Event! ​ On the morning of the event, be sure all the rooms you are planning to use are unlocked and the lights are on. Set up a registration/sign in table and post your signage in the building. Because the presenters and attendees signed up ahead of time, it really runs itself at this point! Have fun and be sure you get to attend a couple of sessions!

PLANNING OUT YOUR EDCAMP

• Check with your district about PD funds or visit with local businesses about donating prizes. Can you pay presenters or attendees as an incentive? Can you use a school building? Are there particular dates to avoid so that you don’t conflict with major pd or camps that would affect the teachers you want to serve? Can you incentivize attendance with a prize raffle? It's a great idea to try and get donations for breakfast since the first bit of edcamp is getting to know each other and signing up to present or host discussions. Having breakfast and some raffles gives people something to do while they mull over what they want to attend or present. 
• Register with Edcamp if you want to follow the true tenets of an edcamp. They also have an edcamp in a box to help you get started building your own edcamp.
• (at least) 1 Month before - Get Attendees. It’s time to advertise!  Remember, ed camps do not have a set schedule of sessions to sign up for and requires attendees to give impromptu sessions on the spot (though it is a good idea to secure at least a few volunteers to guarantee a session!) Many people have never been to an ed camp so it is important to include some explanation of the set up in your flyers, Facebook event, email invitations, etc. Again, I would suggest using Eventbrite for attendees to register. 
• 1 Week before - Reminders and final details Eventbrite will let you export class rosters with all pertinent information. Pulling emails from the sheet allows you to send reminders to your participants so that the event is well attended! You will also want to give final numbers to your district or businesses who are helping to fund either payment or prizes for your event. You’ll also need to be sure you know what type of technology you have in each room so that presenters can sign up for a room that suits their presentation. Create signage to help attendees find the rooms easily and export your rosters for a sign in sheet and you are all set!
• The Event! ​On the morning of the event, be sure all the rooms you are planning to use are unlocked and the lights are on. Set up a sign in area which could include a raffle, breakfast, a photo booth, and more. When attendees start showing up, someone should greet them and show them what they can do until the first session. About 5-10 minutes after the scheduled start time, get everyone's attention and show them the master time sheet with available time slots and room numbers. Explain how the edcamp works (that people need to sign up to present about a topic or host a discussion) and then release them to sign up to lead a session! From this point until the end, it is about helping suggest sessions or leading one if you need to. At the end, you can conclude with the raffle or closing remarks about the day! You made it!

If you are in the Joplin area, no need to organize your own edcamp, sign up for the August 4th Edcamp at Joplin High School here!