Teaching with Primary Sources Unconference 2020 – July 22 and August 13 (half-days)

The event website continues to be the main starting-point for sharing information about the schedule, updates, and all things unconference: bitly.com/tps20unconf

“My presence is my qualification,”
    said everyone who attended this unconference

Building Community in TPS: A Conversation – Opening Session Day 1

NOTES & SHARED RESOURCES from Day 1 Discussion Sessions on July 22
Group live-note-taking in google docs — all these links (except 2A) currently link to sections within the same big note-taking doc:
Session 1A Notes: Social justice and diversity topics
1B: Social justice and diversity topics for folks who identify as BIPOC
1C: Co-instruction (librarians/archivists/faculty collaborating)
1D: Exhibitions and Teaching with Primary Sources
1E: Community Partnerships
1F: Brainstorming on ideas for conveying materiality/physicality in a virtual environment
2A: Tech Tools Demos (videos recorded by our generous demo-ers!)
2B: Teaching with digital collections & online resources
2C: Asynchronous Learning Objects – how do we make ’em good?
2D: Teaching with Primary Sources in Cultural Organizations
2E: Teaching with Primary Sources in K-12
Details here about July 22 intrusion incidents

« ALERT »
Day 2 of the unconference has been rescheduled
Thursday August 13, 2020
1-5pm Eastern / 12noon-4pm Central / 11am-3pm Mountain / 10am-2pm Pacific
View the session topics and timings here »

« UPDATE »  On August 10 & 11, we sent emails with important instructions on how to register for individual sessions! Check your email, subject line: “TPS Unconference – Important Session Registration Info for Thurs August 13.” We sent the messages to the TPS Listserv — If you subscribe to the TPS listserv, the session-registration-details email will have come to you through the listserv. For those people not on the listserv, we sent info to you directly.

If you are signing up for the unconference for the first time after August 10, please register for the event here and before the event we’ll send you the sessions-registration info. Sorry for the multi-step process — part of the enhanced security measures (see just below).

Enhanced security procedures for the event require that you do the following:
• Re-register for Day 2 if you had already done so for Day 1 in July (and carefully follow the re-registration instructions).
• If you register for Day 2, just an FYI that we will send you additional information requiring you to register for each individual session that you plan to attend. If you haven’t received an email with additional directions for session registration from us before August 11, check your spam and look for additional details here on the website.
• Do not share or forward the schedule and/or Zoom links for this event on social media.

In addition to these previously planned sessions we also plan to organize a separate set of Zoom training & practice sessions for those who are interested (watch the TPS Listserv for more info…sign up here).

Do you Teach with Primary Sources, or want share and learn with other like-minded people with all levels and types of experience? Come join your colleagues for an informative and fun event, with a variety of attendee-driven conversations, covering all aspects of Teaching with Primary Sources!

« IMPORTANT »
A big part of TPS Unconference culture is that it’s up to you to make the event work for you! If that means attending for 1 hour each day or 1 day only or the whole 8 hours, or you’re active in 3 sessions and lurking in the others, that’s all good. The more you can partipate in discussions, the more you’ll probably get out of it, but we encourage you to do whatever works for you. This is a Zoom event — Kids? Pets? Fridge being raided in the background? Need to eat or drink or tap out an email? We welcome you to do what you need to do! Just do it muted, except when you’re talking!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Over 1000 people have registered for this free event. That makes it the biggest TPS-related event ever, by at least double! We volunteer organizers need to rely A LOT on participants — to moderate your own discussions, lend a hand, speak up, hold each other accountable, and all. We’re looking at a situation where over the course of the event, there will be over a hundred zoom breakout rooms across dozens of discussion topics (more on the event style below). We’re looking for two specific types of helpers right now. 1st, discussion facilitators to guide the sessions (whether or not you know anything about the topic!). 2nd, we’re in particular need of people to serve as zoom-helpers. If you think you might want to help with these volunteer roles, please sign up here (there are more details there about what you’re signing up for, training, etc.).

The 2020 TPS Unconference has gone virtual!
July 22 and 23  —  Both days:
1pm – 5pm Eastern
12noon – 4pm Central
11am – 3pm Mountain
10am – 2pm Pacific

Event & Topic Schedule is available  (July 13)
Please vote on & suggest additional discussion topics! (July 15)

Have you signed up for the new TPS Collective listserv, a place for members of the unwieldy but vibrant TPS community to share ideas and resources about all things TPS? Sign up here »
(not the unconference but well worth a plug!)

EVENT DETAILS
Who: You! If you Teach with Primary Sources, this is two half days for teachers, archivists, museum educators, librarians, and like-minded people to come together.
When: Wednesday and Thursday, July 22 and 23, 2020.
• Both Days: 1pm – 5pm Eastern | 12noon – 4pm Central | 11am – 3pm Mountain | 10am – 2pm Pacific
• But the TPS Unconference is always a drop-in/drop-out event and you don’t need to attend the whole thing.
• Kids? Pets? Need to eat or drink? We welcome all to do what you need to do! Just do it muted, except when you’re talking!
Accessibility: We want to make this an inclusive, accessible events that enables all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. Please contact us unconference@tpscollective.org
Event Schedule: times, topics, etc.
Where: This will be a virtual event, using multiple Zoom rooms and breakout rooms (more on the event style below)
Cost: FREE!
K-12 Teachers!: Depending on your state requirements, we may be able to help with PD/CE credit. Please contact us (see below)!
CONTACT: Email unconference@tpscollective.org with any questions, concerns, ideas, etc.

Event Style, Partial Recordings & Session Notes:
There will be two full-group sessions (the Day 1 Opening Session and Day 2 Closing Session) and we expect to record these. If you look at the event schedule you’ll see that the bulk of the event is made up of concurrent discussion sessions. Since the UN in the UNconference is about peer-to-peer discussions (and presentations aren’t allowed), and discussions become something else with more than 12-15 people (particularly on Zoom), the unconference organizers have decided that any Zoom session with more than 20 people will be split into Zoom Breakout Rooms. Over 1000 people have registered for this event! So, if you end up in a session with, say 150 people, you’ll then be put into one of 10 breakout rooms. You’ll be talking with 14 other people, while there will be 9 other groups having different versions of the same conversation you’re having. These Breakout Rooms will not be recorded (zoom restriction very-unfortunately), but every room will have access to a group note-taking google doc and we strongly encourage room members to take live notes — so others can benefit from your discussion, as a resource in the future, and also to help with accessibility (which is a challenge with this event, one we can all help out with).

We want to acknowledge that “Unconference Style” is not everyone’s cup of tea. If that’s the case, we encourage you to pick out the parts of the program that fit your style and just tune in for them. The wonderful thing is that there’s enough going on in the TPS Community these days that there are plenty of events and opportunities to choose from! The easiest way to stay on top of it is the TPS Collective Listserv, which you can sign up for here »

• Why should you be excited? See what happened in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.
• To get a feel for the TPS Unconference, check out 2019 Event Recaps in the RBMS Instruction & Outreach Newsletter and SAA Archival Outlook.
• What did we learn in 2018? Check out the Zine 2018 for the TPS Unconference »

Note that this 2020 virtual event is replacing the two cancelled in-person unconferences that had been scheduled for Bloomington in June and Chicagoland/Northwestern in August (due to covid19 of course). Get in touch with any questions (unconference@tpscollective.org). Be well. (updated June 9)

Can’t get enough TPS?
Check out some other events & opportunities and excellent resources on the TPS Collective website.