Education Camp UVIC was awesome! The “unconference” format was engaging, inquisitive, and enlightening. I enjoyed the opportunity to share ideas with current professors as both teacher and learner while engaging with other first and second year education cohorts. It was encouraging to listen while conversations unfolded. The humility demonstrated during collaborative discussion appealed to personal uncertainty which spurred me to share and receive critiques or redirections without causing embarrassment or indignancy. As a teacher candidate I relished the opportunity to synthesize and share personal knowledge, anecdotes, and opinion on relevant topics. From the perspective of a future professional it was fantastic to witness my mentors modelling positive personal relationships and community building.

The facilitator ensured we stayed on track by interjecting when we strayed too far into passion, but also allowed garden paths to unfold long enough to easily drive redirected conversations into deeper learning. Masterful facilitation like this enabled other participants clear entries into conversation and stimulated dynamic digressions into personal pedagogy, life experience, resources, and networking opportunities. I look forward to participating in conferences with similar design throughout the rest of my career.

Regardless of video conference formatting, I felt connected to people in the room. I understand that traditional education camps take place in person throughout multiple classrooms while enjoying drinks, snacks, and further discussion outside topic rooms. Although the times disrupted some possibilities, the brilliance of this design continues to inform my developing professionalism through twitter and exploration of educators online. Moving forward, I anticipate experiences like education camp will continue forming the foundation and framework I build my practice upon. Without collaboration as constructive as this I cannot imagine pursuing a lifelong career of educating and learning. I encourage those who hesitated to jump into conversations willingly to take the leap, if only to find yourself immersed in the flowing river of other educators’ intellects. Perhaps you will find your current can cause shifting waters in even the most experienced individuals.