EdCamp Milwaukee begins to buzz well in advance of May unconference

EdCamp Milwaukee doesn’t take place for another six months, but Twitter’s already abuzz about the education “unconference” slated for Saturday, May 12, 2012 at South Milwaukee High School.

The one-day event is organized locally by Chad Kafka – a middle school computer teacher and district technology coach at Franklin Public Schools – Tami Lind – a tech coach in South Milwaukee – and Christopher Reuter, who is associate principal at Forest Park Middle School in Merton.

What’s an unconference?

It’s an event that draws educators, who then set their own agenda for the day. There are workshops, networking and breakout sessions, but no keynotes and no set schedule.

According to the edCamp Milwaukee website, “The day is planned during the kick off at the beginning of the day where any participant can propose a session idea/topic to the Idea Board.  All sessions are laid out and then everyone attends sessions they want during the rest of the day.”

You can learn more by checking out the short video about edCamp.

As an unidentified speaker in the video notes, “The purpose … is to put a lot of really smart people together in a room … we’re trying to amplify each others’ ideas, really leverage those that help improve what we do and that’s teach kids.”

EdCamps are taking place around the country – and beyond – and in the next few months, unconferences are slated for, among other places, San Diego; Washington, DC; St. Louis; Chicago; Vancouver Island; Stockholm, Sweden and Santiago, Chile.

You can sign up for email updates here and follow #edcampmke on Twitter @EdCampMKE.