Yesterday, I was privileged to attend the Western New York Higher Ed EdCamp at Daemen University. Except for a few visits to the gymnasium, I’d never set foot on the campus until yesterday. Soon after driving through the main entrance, I spied Duns Scotus Hall, which reminded me I was on the university’s campus rooted in the Franciscan Tradition. The conference took place in the Social Room of the John R. Yurtchuk Student Center, which is at the center of the campus. Registration for the EdCamp provided me with a parking pass, and after some driving around, I found a spot in front of the residence hall and just a short walk to the student center.
Upon entering the building, I was directed to the second floor and the large Social Room. As I walked toward the front of the room, I spotted a long-time friend, Dr. Katie McFarland. She greeted me warmly, and we soon shared our lives since the last time we met. EdCamp organizer Angela Stockman also came over and gave me a warm greeting and said how glad she was to see me. We had a nice lunch, and then the conference began with a keynote by Daemen University senior Maggie Burns, who shared her journey as a recovering perfectionist. Who can’t identify with that? She was poised and passionate and invited me to remember what I might have thought of that subject when I was her age.
At each of our seven tables, there were 3×5 cards for us to fill out areas we’d like to learn or share about. I was at table one with Katie, Maggie, and another Daemen senior who was also a special education major. Katie filled in the topics we picked among our several common interests and added them to the shared Google Doc displayed on large projection screens in the front of the room.
I came to the conference wanting to learn more about how other colleges and universities approached the hot topic of artificial intelligence. I wasn’t disappointed as I heard firsthand from experienced professionals what they were doing. The senior students also shared their positives about how AI helped them write lesson plans, differentiate instruction, and rewrite objectives. I found that most of the professional staff embraced the idea of AI in the classroom. There were concerns about privacy and plagiarism, but overall, I came away with the impression that AI is here to stay. I was pleasantly surprised that Daemen University has a position statement on the use of generative AI tools at the university. Further research after yesterday’s conference demonstrated to me that Daemen is a leader in this area in Western New York higher education.
The last session I attended was one I had proposed on how folks were using social networking to share what they were learning. How have personal learning networks evolved in the post-Twitter/X? I shared about the Fediverse and Mastodon, but no one else at our table was familiar with that platform. LinkedIn has become the platform of choice for sharing. I came away from the conference encouraged and hungry for more. I hope that this conference will continue and that I’ll be eager to attend. The EdCamp model is learner-centric and encourages the free flow of ideas. Thank you to Angela Stockman, conference organizer and thought leader, for her leadership.