In our eighth class, we started with a brief lesson on digital curation and personal management before doing an EdCamp activity. I never thought about how important it is to organize and store teaching resources online until this class. As future educators, we’ll constantly be collecting videos, articles, lesson plans, and even past assignments. Putting them in a secure and accessible place makes them easy to find and use later. It was also a good reminder to back everything up and use clear, recognizable names so nothing gets lost.
The highlight of class for me was the EdCamp activity. I loved how it gave us choice over our learning. As a group, we came up with a list of topics we were interested in discussing, like outdoor education, making phonics fun, AI’s role in university classrooms and building a strong teaching portfolio. After voting on a few options, we would split into smaller groups based on the topics we were most interested in talking about. There was no limit to group size, so you could go to any topic. What I really enjoyed about how this activity is set up was that you could switch groups halfway if you wanted. This kept the discussion fresh and engaging.
I found the EdCamp style really effective because it allowed me to connect with peers who shared similar interests. It was a great way to hear different perspectives and expand my own understanding of the topic. It also made the learning feel more meaningful and relevant since we were discussing things we genuinely cared about. I could see this being a great classroom activity in the future, as it encourages students to collaborate, share ideas and take ownership of their learning.