Edcamp Design for Learning Series: A New Bridge Between Research and Professional Learning

Abstract

In the face of a worldwide pandemic, educators rose to the challenge of engaging students and families remotely to not only continue learning but also to provide as much normalcy as possible at a time of chaos and uncertainty. Many educators were looking for quick, meaningful ways to learn new skills to effectively teach remotely and connect with learners from afar. The Edcamp Community by Digital Promise saw this as an opportunity to further demonstrate how the Edcamp model of professional learning paired with learning sciences research could quickly meet the needs of educators and create spaces for shared learning and networking. The Edcamp team created the Edcamp: Design for Learning (DfL) series. Supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and in partnership with Transcend, a national nonprofit organization focused on innovation in school design, we refined our model for online Edcamps to emphasize bringing together learning sciences expertise within Digital Promise and educator context and pedagogy expertise from the Edcamp Community to co-design a series of four online Edcamps. This report shares the key lessons learned from that series.