#edcamp Detroit An unconference for educators

As people sign up for sessions this morning, we’re updating the schedule in real time here.

This year, Wayne State has donated parking space to us in one of their lots for free! That is great news. We have parking Lot #31 (Click Here for directions) available for attendees during the day. If that lot becomes full, there wil be parking available across the street in Structure 2 (Click Here for directions). Structure 2 costs $6.00 and requires a credit/debit card for payment.

We are excited to see all of you on May 4! Get ready for some amazing learning and sharing.

We’re happy to announce that Michigan’s very own TechSmith is once again one of the primary sponsors for edcamp Detroit! I gotta tell ya, these folks not only donate funds for the main event, but they’re the sole reason we can even have an after party for attendees to wind down and reconnect after the sessions are over. Since year one, they’ve supported us, asking, “What do you need?” and then consistently over-delivering.

But that’s not where their dedication to education ends. When not making incredible events possible for educators, I want to tell you how TechSmith supports me every day in my education practice. If you’re heavy into the flipped classroom model, you may have heard of Camtasia, ScreenChomp, and Coach’s Eye, to name a few of my favorite tools. Those are all TechSmith. They’re the world leaders in making recording and editing instructional videos on a computer, iOS device, or Android device, as easy as possible.

Here’s an example below of a video I made to walk one of my senior classes through signing up for eBay. With Camtasia, I increased the size of the mouse to make it more visible, made rings appear when I clicked, and had it smoothly zoom and pan to focus on areas of the screen I was working in – all in about 2 minutes.

Even in classrooms that aren’t flipped, I consider this an essential tool in my teaching arsenal. The above video, for example, wasn’t made for a flipped classroom. It was made just in case some students needed a little more help with that step. It helps everyone work at their own pace, even when working alongside in a class, as if I had five assistant instructors working by my side to pick up the slack.

If that sounds like something you need, please do yourself a favor and check out TechSmith and all that they do. Their apps for mobile devices are especially affordable (and sometimes even free) if you’re just looking for a tool to test the waters.

ABCya.com and Educreations have decided join us this year, helping to make Edcamp Detroit 2013 a reality once again. Our very own Erin Klein uses ABCya.com herself for her elementary classroom and shares her experience below:

ABCya.com is a terrific site for your elementary classroom! I enjoy going to this site for several reasons:

• the content is organized by grade level
• the site is easy to navigate
• the games are rich in quality
• ummm… freebies!
• the games are tied to standards
• the apps and games fit the content I teach
• parents love the reinforcement at home
• it’s fun for teachers and students
• there are so many options to choose from
• everything is in one place

Just see for yourself, click here to connect.

For more, check out the rest of Erin’s post on her blog, Kleinspiration.

Guess what’s stuck in my head? An amazing rap about edcamp, courtesy of Flocabulary. Check it out here and share it with educators who respond better to mad rhymes and smooth beats! We like to accommodate all learning styles in our recruiting.

What a great year! We had a lot of difficult discussions, shared a lot of resources and experiences, and I personally feel a lot more empowered, connected, and validated than I did before Edcamp.

I know I’ve gained new connections and friends that I’ll continue to learn from over the next year. It doesn’t have to end at the event though. One our most passionate participants, Brad Wilson, has put together a VoiceThread Media Mashup where we can continue the conversation and more deeply reflect on what we’ve learned and where we plan to go from here.

It already includes some great videos, pictures, and audio – the kind that make your skin tingle as you remember the passion, innovation, and sometimes even tears that these educators poured from themselves, in order to make Edcamp Detroit 2012 unforgettable. I definitely encourage you to participate and lend your own thoughts!