Showcase for the December 2006 Innovative Teaching Strategies Faculty Retreat Participants test

When I initially applied to attend the faculty retreat last December, I had a variety of conflicting desires about how to manage and improve a course I regularly teach.  Some of the issues I face with the course are that it can vary from 35 to 150 students, it is an introduction to our very broad field, there is not a textbook that I particularly prefer for the course, and I wanted to make the WebCT Vista aspects of the course more relevant and accessible for the students.  So with these problems in mind I visited Raleigh Way’s office before the retreat to try to sketch out what I would do and how far I could possibly get in effecting change for the course.  We mapped out a strategy for objectives that I could pursue and decided which would probably be better left to another time. 

I really had no way to know what to expect from the retreat before going in, but I just knew what I did and did not want.  I did want to have the time and focused energy to accomplish the goals that I had outlined in my earlier one-on-one meetings – something hard to come by during the crush of the semester; I did want to be able to work independently, but with support if necessary; I did want to be able to learn some new things about instructional methods; and I did want to come away from the retreat with at least a clear vision (as well as the basic infrastructure) of where I could go with the course.  I did not want instruction in the uses of WebCT, with which I am well familiar; I did not want to spend all of my time in group activities during which I felt like I really could be somewhere else accomplishing more; I did not want to be overwhelmed with work made up and assigned by someone else; and I did not want to spend a week of my winter break on campus and not feel like I had really made some changes in my course and my perspectives on it.  I arrived at the retreat anxiously looking forward to getting to work.

I am pleased to say that the experience was all of the things I wanted, very few, if any, of the things I didn’t want and that there were completely unexpected aspects of the retreat that I was pleased to participate in.  In the end I learned some instructional methods that were unfamiliar to me, I planned and began to re-design my WebCT shell for the dreaded course (that I now look forward to) and I made some new friends through sharing the experience (and lots of good food and coffee!) with my colleagues from other departments and colleges.

My initial intent for participating in the December 2006 “Innovative Strategies for Teaching and Learning” Faculty Retreat was to develop appropriate assessment tools for the teaching effectiveness and student performance in an introductory Digital Electronics (DE) course.  Much to my surprise, my intentions were not only met, but were far exceeded by the end of the retreat.  I learned about course design and development, different teaching strategies including effective online instruction, and various assessment methods.  Though my individual goals emphasized assessment methods, I gained a wealth of knowledge on course design and incorporating online methods of instruction which I can (and did) apply to many of my other teaching assignments.  

As the faculty retreat progressed, I realized that in order to design effective assessment tools, I needed to have a better understanding of how the assessments can be used to improve instruction.  After several discussions with the Faculty Retreat Facilitators, we developed the idea of implementing an extended classroom which would be completely online using WebCT.  Using WebCT to create an “extended classroom” would provide a means of communication for participants outside of the classroom through several types of discussion areas.  Additionally, online assessments (formative and summative) would be administered through WebCT for participants to provide daily feedback and overall feedback about the course.  Figure 1 shows the WebCT page that I developed for this Digital Electronics course.  The Home Page includes the Welcome page, Café and Lounge, Online Office Hours, Chat Room and the Training Session Overview.

The Welcome Page was created to be warm and inviting, it sets the tone for the course, and it provides an overview of the online resources available to participants.  I designed several discussion areas that provide mechanisms for participants to communicate with each other and the instructor during and outside of the classroom (Café and Lounge, Online Office Hours, and Chat Room).  The Training Session Overview module provides:

• A schedule for the 2 week training session
• Additional campus resources
• Overview of DE course and materials
• Feedback through formative and summative assessments

The entire extended classroom was designed and created during the faculty retreat.  It deserves to be noted that the assessment tools initially intended as my deliverables became only a fraction of my actual retreat experience outcome.  I was able to design a practical and valuable course that included my original objective of creating appropriate assessment tools.  In addition, I’ve already begun to incorporate other aspects of the retreat into my other courses.  In summary, my experience was very rewarding and invaluable to my professional development as a productive faculty member.

When I applied to the December Faculty Retreat, I was excited about the opportunity to work on revising my Adult Health course, but unsure about what to expect in terms of the retreat itself.  The retreat far exceeded my expectations for the experience.  The workshops that Ludy, Raleigh, and Steve conducted provided exactly the information I needed to be successful in accomplishing my goals for the retreat.  I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet with them individually for additional mentoring regarding my course revision. 

Prior to the retreat, I had prepared some of my course materials so that I could focus on reorganization of the content, more than content development.  With the tools provided by Raleigh, I was able to organize my course content so that students would be able to see a weekly calendar of what would be covered in a particular unit.  I also began working on my unit materials to ensure that all of the activities of the unit were designed to enable the student to meet the unit objectives. 

Upon completion of the retreat, I had one unit of course content almost completely prepared.  I had also outlined the organization of the rest of the content for the entire semester.  The faculty retreat was absolutely the best experience I have had in the past few years in terms of the retreat meeting my development needs so that I could accomplish my goals for the retreat.  I would recommend this retreat experience to all faculty. 

With the conclusion of Fall Semester 2006, I awaited with a good deal of eagerness, but at the same time with a certain trepidation, the start of the CET's retreat for which I had been accepted. Soon after it started it became clear that it would be a valuable experience.

I had applied for the retreat because I had become dissatisfied with the "Business German" course I was teaching, more particularly, with its content and the materials I was using (I produce my own course packs). I wanted to implement changes and had concluded that I needed time to both reflect on which changes these would be as well as time to then start to carry them out. I was optimistic that the retreat would provide a conducive environment, mainly because one requirement was to attend for the complete four day block set aside for it. Another factor was that I expected that simply being able to break away from my usual routine and to work at a different location would help me to gain a different perspective as well as provide inspiration. Additionally, the fact that support staff would be on hand if needed was most enticing.

Little did I know that I quickly would find out that both causes and answers to the dissatisfaction that had led me to apply lay elsewhere. So instead of assessing the situation and determining what needed to change, and then working on this, I ended up doing mostly thinking. This lead me to first question the usefulness and place of this particular course within our curriculum, and this is turn then lead me to contemplate our entire curriculum in German. I came to the conclusion that this was where part of the problem actually originated. To get perspective, I went online to investigate the curricula at various other universities. The result of this process was a tweaking of our curriculum to make it more cohesive, along with an ultimate reconfirmation of the place of this course within it. I felt that for the most part I went on a long detour that ended up taking me around almost in a circle. Once I arrived back close to where I started, I did begin charting a plan for a revision of said course which still required some changes as some material used in it had become dated. By that time the retreat was about to conclude, though. In some way I felt quite frustrated as--unlike my fellow participants--I did not succeed in producing much of a tangible "deliverable" (although I have been working on this since the beginning of this term as I am currently teaching this class, and the new version of the workbook is under development). Initially, I had anticipated that I would be able to promptly figure out what needed to be done and then produce a plethora of materials and units, posting many of them in WebCT--however, it became obvious that the course would not benefit from being moved fully online (it is partly online in its current form--using WebCT as a depository for certain materials--and will stay that way). On the other hand I know that my time was spent productively and usefully in that I succeeded in appraising the big picture and gaining a better understanding of what we need to do and offer to better address the needs of the students' in our program (I guess this could be viewed as a form of backward design). I have since discussed my proposed curriculum changes in the department, and we plan to submit the respective revisions and paperwork this Fall.

While I ended up not working on what I expected to do I feel I accomplished significant goals. I found out that it can be meaningful to take the effort to affirm the status quo. I am glad I could participate in the retreat. It provided a highly stimulating environment for four days of contemplation, and an invaluable opportunity for development. And before I forget: another benefit has been that I feel re-energized in a general way, and that is always a desirable result. I heartily recommend to all colleagues to seriously consider applying for a future retreat. Thanks, CET!

My intended purpose for the retreat was to redesign my undergraduate nursing research course which I have faithfully and consistently taught the last 6 years since appointment at Georgia Southern. Although, the idea to make this course completely online had lingered for years, the hesitation to do so had been attributed to my own fears and questions with unexplored solutions. Among some of the questions were: Will online teaching be effective as classroom teaching? Can I manage 30 or more students online and be effective with the traditional classroom method of delivery? How will I engage students in learning? Will students’ appreciate this method of learning and be held to higher standards including ethical conduct, accountability and responsibility?

What the retreat did for me was it gave me the confidence to overcome my fears and to embrace technology to use it well to enhance teaching effectiveness and student learning. I also learned how to effectively use tools such as the chat room, chalk board, and others to engage students and have fun teaching online.

At the end of the 4 day retreat, I had produced an online hybrid course taught in spring 2007. Most important, I learned more about WebCT Vista. The learning experience gained from the retreat was valuable, the food was great, the environment was collegial, and the CET staff was wonderful.

8:30
Continental
Breakfast

8:30
Continental Breakfast

8:30
Continental Breakfast

8:30
Continental
Breakfast

9:00
Introductions
& SoTL

9:00
Organizing
Content in
VISTA

9:00
Assessment
& Evaluation

9:00
Individual
Work
Sessions

Break

11:30
Lunch - Provided

11:30
Lunch - Provided

11:30
Lunch - Provided

11:30
Lunch - Provided

1:30
Work
Sessions

1:30
Work
Sessions

1:30
Work
Sessions

1:30
Work
Sessions

4:30
Meet - Report
Progress