From 2012 to 2019, face-to-face educamps became increasingly popular in Iceland as a method for teachers’ professional development as well as in teacher education (Jakobsdóttir, 2020; Jakobsdóttir et al., 2021). Organisation of technology training workshops as educamps, involve unstructured collective learning experience, reflect social networked learning ideas and could be considered connectivism in action (Leal Fonseca, 2011). Due to the COVID19 pandemic, when teaching and learning moved increasingly online, academic staff at University of Iceland – School of Education (UI) and at the University of Akureyri (UA) decided to experiment with moving this type of event online using Google (docs and sites) and Zoom. In this presentation we will describe the reactions and views expressed by participants of six online educamps attended by hundreds of teachers across Iceland. Participation was open and free. Three educamps were held in spring 2020 (focus on teaching at all school levels) and three in fall and spring 2020-2021 (two focused on university and upper secondary schools and one on primary and lower secondary school level). Participants were invited to complete a survey after each event. The majority thought the online educamps participation had been useful and liked this type of professional development very much. The majority expressed willingness to take advantage of this type of professional development in the future and several were interested in organising online educamps of a similar type themselves. By moving this type of professional development online synchronous sessions, it can be made far more accessible in terms of location and also in terms of time (when sessions are recorded). Technology changes are constant and there is increased need to develop digital competence of learners, teachers and other professional groups. In this regard, online educamps can provide a low-cost and sustainable model in life-long learning. They are here to stay, compliments to COVID!

1. DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE EDUCAMPS:
COMPLIMENTS TO COVID!
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
the third International Lillehammer Lifelong Learning
ICDE Conference 15-17 February 2023

2. Educamps:
Informal
Professional
Development
Face to face
Peer learning,
Teachers
teaching
teachers
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

3. Meet in large space
Create agenda togehter
Present, show, try, test, discuss
and learn in small groups
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

4. Forms which offer
• spontaneous reactions,
• peer to peer learning,
• informal learning and deliberating
• participant ownership
Educamps
≈ Unconference
≈ Open Space Technology
Connectivism in action!
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

5. Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

6. Educamps Online:
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

7. An Experiment
A good way to look forwards into
the future and learn what works.
“Experiments are what you do when you
don’t know what you can do; they’re ideal
for complex environments because they
yield clues about the systems we inhabit.
Transformative scenarios reveal and
develop unseen possibilities, changing both
people and problems through radical
diversity and confrontation.”
Heffernan, Margaret. 2020 Uncharted: How to Map the
Future (p. 7). Simon & Schuster UK. Kindle Edition.
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

8. Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

9. How did you like online educamps?
68
27
5
0 0
67
33
0 0 0
86
14
0 0 0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Very much Much Neither nor Not Not at all
Participants
%
How do you like this type of instruction/learning - how would you rate it?
Búðir 1 Búðir 2 Búðir 3
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

10. How much use did you gain from your
participation?
42
37
17
2 2
27
47
24
1
0
33
57
10
0 0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Very much Much Some Little No use
Þátttakendur
(%)
How much/little use did you have from your participation in the online educamp How
much/little use did you have from your participation in the online educamp
Búðir 1 Búðir 2 Búðir 3
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

11. Will you attend again?
53
39
9
0 0 0
38
48
15
0 0 0
57
43
0 0 0 0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Positive Very likely Likely Unlikely Very unlikily Not at all
Participants
%
How likely is it that you would attend potential educamps online in the future?
Búðir 1 Búðir 2 Búðir 3
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

12. Organize online educamps yourself???
12
13
28
41
6
19
14
33 33
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
very much much moderate little very little
Þátttakendur
(%)
How much/little interest do you have to organise yourself or with others
educamps online at your institutions with coworkers, students or others?
Búðir 2 Búðir 3
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

13. • Great for us who live in rural areas. Also good when you just want to
hear about one idea/technology. I would never travel for a half hour
presentation. But it is great to be able to participate online!
• This was wonderful. No problem with accommodation, driving around
toun, just listen and ask
• Really good in these times to get ideas for distance teaching. Gets one
going and testing oneself.
• Wonderful to be able to participate in such a learning event from my
livingroom
Examples of answers to open questions:
Comments about the usefulness of online Educamps
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

14. 1. Online Promotion: Online Communities of Practice
2. Live open agenda: Open, empty online document
with time slots and a few teasers
3. Presenters fill in their proposal
4. Use our own Zoom rooms
5. Welcome meeting
6. Parallel sessions
7. Happy Hour / Coffee room
8. Survey
9. Recordings online
Organisation – developed iteratively
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

15. More effort to get people to participate
Create a safe learning environment
• greeting warmly
• activate participants
• turn on cameras
• emphasize discussion
• start with getting all to use mic
Interactive presentation
• short
• informal
• leave open spaces
• create room for questions
• expect questions
Moderate discussions
• stop long speeches
• involve quiet participants
• etc
Didactics
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

16.  Choosing technological structures
 Skills for workshop leaders, presnters and participants
 Promotion
 Cost and workload
 External considerations: Laws, security, privacy, accessability, recordings
 Creating agenda, registering offerings and their classification
 Good examples
 Didactics: What is special about informal events like this
 Organisation: Beginnings, break our sessions, end
 Social aspects: Happy hours, coffee discussions
 Promotion of results (recordings)
Handbook - Content
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland

17. Some of our publications
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Hróbjartur Árnason, Kristín Dýrfjörð, Salvör Gissurardóttir, Sólveig Zophoníasdóttir og Svava Pétursdóttir, 2021, Menntabúðir í starfsþróun kennara –
Þær virka á netinu! Skólaþræðir 26/2 https://skolathraedir.is/2021/03/02/menntabudir-i-starfsthroun-kennara-thaer-virka-a-netinu/
Salvör Gissurardóttir og Sólveig Zophoníasdóttir. (2020). Hvaða form og skipulag er heppilegt fyrir fjarmenntabúðir – gátlisti. Erindi á Menntakviku – árlegu þingi Menntavísindasviðs,
Reykjavík. https://menntakvika.hi.is/malstofa/fjarmenntabudir-studningur-haskola-vid-skolastarf/
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2015). Educamps in education: Enjoyable “over-the-shoulder learning” to show and share ICT practices. Erindi og vinnustofa á EDEN 2015 annual conference: Expanding
learning scenarios, Barcelona. https://uni.hi.is/soljak
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2018). Educamps in distance education: professional development and peer learning for student teachers in ICT. Í A. Volungeviciene og A. Szucs (ritstj.), Exploring the Micro,
Meso and Macro: Navigating between dimensions in the digital learning landscape – Conference Proceedings of the EDEN 2018 Annual Conference (bls. 501-507). Genoa: European
Distance and E-Learning Network. http://www.eden-online.org/
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2019). ICT in teacher education: Educamps and peer learning. Í E. M. Varonis (ritstj.), International conference on information communication technologies in education –
proceedings (bls. 1-9). Chania, Crete: ICICTE. http://www.icicte.org/
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2020a). Menntabúðir í starfsþróun kennara: Geta þær virkað á netinu? Skólaþræðir, 9/4. https://skolathraedir.is/2020/04/09/menntabudir-i-starfsthroun-kennara-geta-
thaer-virkad-a-netinu/
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2020b). Fjarmenntabúðir í starfsþróun kennara: Viðhorf og reynsla þátttakenda. Erindi á Menntakviku – árlegu þingi Menntavísindasviðs,
Reykjavík. https://menntakvika.hi.is/malstofa/fjarmenntabudir-studningur-haskola-vid-skolastarf/
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Bjarndís Fjóla Jónsdóttir, Þorbjörg Guðmundsdóttir og Svava Pétursdóttir. (2014, mars). The Educamp model: experience and use in professional development for
teachers. Erindi á NERA (Nordic Educational Research Association), Lillehammer.
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Bjarndís Fjóla Jónsdóttir, Svava Pétursdóttir og Þorbjörg Guðmundsdóttir. (2015, október). Menntabúðir með margs konar hópum: Reynsla og þróun. Erindi á Menntakviku
árlegri ráðstefnu Menntavísindasviðs Háskóla Íslands, Reykjavík. https://uni.hi.is/soljak
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir og Hróbjartur Árnason. (2020). Development of online educamps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Í S. K. Softic, A. Teixeira og A. Szucs (ritstj.), Enhancing the human experience
of learning with technology: New challenges for research in digital, open, distance & networked education (bls. 59-63). Lisbon: European Distance and E-Learning
Network. http://www.eden-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/RW11_SPB_v5.pdf
Þuríður Jóhannsdóttir og Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2020). Fjarkennsla og stafræn tækni í framhaldsskólum á tímum farsóttar vorið 2020: Sjónarhóll kennara og stjórnenda. Netla, Sérrit – Menntakerfi
og heimili á tímum COVID-19. https://netla.hi.is
Hróbjartur Árnason and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir - University of Iceland