UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 34, Page 3
June 9, 1994
Educational getaway; Teaching retreat enhances skills, understanding
While many employees were strolling ocean side boardwalks or
hosting backyard barbecues during the Memorial Day weekend, more than
20 University faculty were involved in an intensive, three-and-a-half-
day retreat on the banks of Maryland's Elk River.
The Sandy Hill Conference Center, south of North East, Md., was
the site of Wakonse East, the University's second annual teaching
retreat. The name of the retreat comes from the Lakota Indian word
meaning "to teach" or "to inspire."
The idea originated two years ago, when five University faculty,
funded by a grant from the Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE),
attended a similar teaching conference in Wisconsin. The result was a
weekend teaching retreat held in 1993.
The annual retreat is designed to:
* Highlight the significance of the teaching mission at the
University,
* Contribute to the institutional environment that promotes
excellence in teaching,
* Provide an opportunity to learn through collaborative
exchange of talent, ideas and resources,
* Explore teaching approaches, styles and philosophies and
* Renew interest, support and understanding of what it means
to be a college teacher.
This year's sessions, which were conducted by University
participants, focused on creative teaching, using multimedia,
videotaping a course, relating a course to life, how to handle
problems and mistakes, using case studies to increase intercultural
understanding, designing tests, teaching large classes, group-based
learning and a 20-year comparison of students.
Judy Greene, associate director of CTE, said the ongoing campus
demands during the year from fall Convocation through spring
Commencement make it difficult to focus primarily on teaching in an
atmosphere free from distractions and allowing enough time to explore
strategies and philosophies in depth.
The retreat, away from the traditional campus setting, allows
participants an opportunity to meet educators outside of their
immediate departments, learn from their colleagues and become exposed
to new information.
"The participants develop a network of colleagues," Greene said,
"who are there to help each other when they return to campus. We also
find that this experience helps reduce the isolation that so often
occurs in an academic atmosphere."
Participants at this year's retreat ranged from experienced
excellence-in-teaching award winners to a relatively new instructor.
Based on comments from several participants, all in attendance-whether
they were long-time educators or newcomers to the profession-received
practical information that they intended to use in their classrooms.
Araya Debessay, professor of accounting and a University
excellence-in-teaching-award winner, said the retreat provided
information that would make him more effective in the way he relates
to his students and conducts his classes.
There is a misconception among some faculty, he said, that those
who participate in programs at the Center for Teaching Effectiveness
or attend the retreat are in need of teaching assistance or remedial
training.
Debessay stressed that the opposite is true. The retreat, he
said, "is an excellent vehicle to learn from the experience of others
and enrich our own teaching experience. I was impressed with a number
of new ideas from faculty from other colleges, and I intend to
incorporate them into my own classroom design."
Nursing instructor Judy Bradley signed up for the retreat because
she wanted to improve her teaching skills and find out what her
colleagues in other colleges do.
"The rejuvenation of talking to faculty from other colleges that
we never, ever, get to interact with is enlightening," Bradley said.
"I think it broadens my scope of the University, and I can see how
different departments can work collaboratively together."
Bradley admitted the skepticism she initially felt when she
noticed Debessay, an accountant, was scheduled to conduct a session on
active learning within a group. Thinking that such business types as
Debessay only work with numbers, Bradley said she was delighted with
what she learned and that she planned to recommend that Debessay
present the program to faculty in the nursing college.
Larry Peterson, associate professor of music and chairperson for
this year's retreat planning committee, said several of last year's
faculty retreat participants were asked to present the programs they
gave at open campus teaching workshops sponsored by CTE during the
year.
According to Peterson, participants said they were inspired by
the presentations. "There is no need for outside consultants," he
added. "We have the talent and are impressed with the professional
capabilities of our own faculty."
This year, Peterson said, three sessions on team building were
conducted by Roger Spacht, associate director of recreation and
intramurals. These proved to be informative and popular and increased
the participants' understanding of the importance of cooperation, he
said.
Another satisfying discovery at the retreat was the common
understanding and interest among educators from such diverse
disciplines as music, biological sciences, marketing, food science,
geology, political science and international relations, foreign
languages, animal science and agricultural biochemistry, educational
studies and nursing.
"There are a lot of common things to share," Debessay said. "We
all are teachers who share and communicate ways to help our students.
There is a common ground on what makes a successful teacher and what
bad experiences we have had and need to avoid."
The 1993-94 planning committee included Peterson, Debessay and
Ron Cole, assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics; Paul
Sammelwitz, associate professor of animal science and agricultural
biochemistry; John Madsen, associate professor of geology; Georgia
Pyrros, instructor in mathematical sciences; and Evelyn Hayes,
professor of nursing.
Cole and Madsen will co-chair the 1995 planning committee and
retreat.
"I think people need to go away for renewal," Greene said, "and
they get a great deal out of the process. It's like a potluck dinner.
Here, the participants provide the program. And when everyone
contributes something to the whole, they each feel a part of it and it
becomes very important to them."
-Ed Okonowicz
Editor's note: For information on next year's retreat, scheduled May
31 to June 2, call Judy Greene at 831-2027.