On Saturday, June 6 at Huntsman Hall on the University of Pennsylvania campus, HigherEdCamp will commence. HigherEdCamp is an un-conference format open to event participants with no scheduled presentations or panels; nothing but a blank white board to start the idea generation for session topics. HigherEdCamp is focused on bringing individuals involved in academia and technology together to share best practices and strategy for open collaboration, helping to usher in efficient implementation of higher education technology in learning, teaching, and research. HigherEdCamp is completely free, but registration is required. Attendees represent schools all over the Greater Philadelphia region as well as those from New York, Maryland, and Michigan.
Dave Konopka and Karen Leary, a web developer and IT Project leader from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, are the co-organizers for HigherEdCamp.
The motivation behind HigherEdCamp is to connect the often disparate campus environments, sharing past projects, troubleshooting techniques, and future ideas to speed up the process of technology incorporation in higher education. HigherEdCamp’s website, higheredphilly.com, features an open posting of session topics where participants can vote on what they are interested in discussing. Though the issue of higher education technology encompasses a multitude of topics, some of the more popular discussions revolve around cloud computing, collaboration, and social media. For example, one proposed topic asks how hard it is make use of cloud computing resources, piggybacking off of the way the major players, like Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft are leveraging what seems to be the future of computing. For a more detailed and entertaining discussion of cloud computing, Joyent produced a lovely montage chock full of famous tech people at the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNuQHUiV3Q).
Another topic of interest at HigherEdCamp is discussing effective collaboration tools used by both faculty and students. “There is a lot of lag in turn around time between the collaboration tools people use in their personal life and what they use in their work life,” says Dave Konopka. “Many of us in higher education technology want to know what others are doing, find out what works and what doesn’t. Setting up collaboration tools, social media, or other communication channels is like putting together puzzle pieces and can be very time-consuming.”
For a first-time un-conference participant, HigherEdCamp’s session topics and format may seem too broad, but Dave Konopka points out that the sessions are driven by what people want. “Sometimes it seems like the un-conference format can run away, yet it is self-regulating. If the session topic is clearly not valuable or not organized enough for the participant, he or she is encouraged to move on to another session. The un-conference format creates space to collaborate and build relationships.”
In addition to the HigherEdCamp’s higheredphilly.com website, HigherEdCamp will also have a mobile website to facilitate communication during the day of the un-conference (http://higheredphilly.com/m/). Attendees can follow session schedules as well as see if new session topics have been posted on the whiteboards.
At its core, HigherEdCamp is driven by technology. Those outside of academia, but interested in developing, connecting, and working with technology are encouraged to attend. With the help of events like HigherEdCamp and through the idea generation of entrepreneurs, business owners, and recent graduates exposed to the latest technology developments, the Greater Philadelphia Region will continue to grow its reputation as a solid technology hub.
After the un-conference sessions, HigherEdCamp will move to World Café Live where attendees will enjoy cocktails, food, and informal networking. To find out more about HigherEdCamp or to register, visit www.higheredphilly.com.