About EdTech PlayDate Professional Development

The "EdTech PlayDate" model of educator professional development traces back to an innovative group of Chicago-area educators who attended the ISTE (International Society for Technology Education) conference and needed to answer a simple question: How are we going to make time to meaningfully learn about some of the best websites and resources we just learned about at this conference?

Instead of traditional "sit and get" professional development, "EdTech PlayDate" meetups are organized in a similar spirit to BarCamps, EdCamps and TeachMeets. PlayDate style PD involves teachers "playing with media / websites / educational technology software" and sharing their learning with each other. Many past PlayDates have included "resource guides" for different educational technology tools, to jump-start educator playful learning.

Learn more about the PlayDate model on the "BackStory" page of the PlayDate OKC website. These articles also provide more background:

1. Education Week article from January 22, 2013: "Teachers Need to Play Too: Playdate 2013"

2. Post by Jennie Magiera from November 8, 2013: "PlanePlanning: The Birth of #PLAYDATE13"

Past EdTech PlayDates organized / facilitated by Wes Fryer include:

1. May 2014 (John Marshall High School, Oklahoma City)

2. October 2014 (John Rex School, Oklahoma City - Minecraft focus!)

3. April 2015 (The Div, Edmond, Oklahoma - Coding and Minecraft focus)

4. Dec 2023 (Online via Zoom, AI Edition!)

5. Jan 2024 (Providence Day School, Charlotte, NC - AI Edition!)