Welcome to the Second Annual Great Online Teachers Retreat
I want to welcome all of you to our second Great Online Teachers teaching retreat. We are expecting over 40 participants representing Los Angeles Valley College, East Los Angeles College and hopefully those from other colleges in our district . The picture you see at the top of this blog is the UCLA Conference Center at Lake Arrowhead. It is the most magnificent conference center in California with a great, supporting staff making sure all our needs are met. You will also be enjoying some great meals. You will not be disappointed.
This retreat will be using a format called The Great Teachers, developed by David B. Gottshall. The basic premise is instead of bringing in “experts” and having them lecture to us, instead we ourselves will be exploring the successes and challenges of teaching online. By sharing our experiences we will improve our understanding of online teaching. We will meet in large groups and small groups for a total sharing of ideas and approaches to online teaching.
Besides the Great Teachers Format, the President or “Lady in Charge” of the Etudes Organization, Vivie Sinou will be joining us on the last day to give us a preview of the future of Etudes and her insights in distance learning.
I will be posting a schedule shortly to give you an idea of the exact format of the conference. For this conference we will have built in afternoon and evening breaks where we can relax, informally talk to each other, and if you are currently teaching online, you can check in with your class.
As the retreat moves along, we will be placing photos, resources and ideas here on this blog that all of us can use when we return to our colleges. On this site you can find many of the resources from past retreats including a video we made. We are going to be recording ideas that emerge from our sessions and we will be making this a real depository of great ideas.
If you have any comments or reactions, please feel free to leave a post. (If you are the first to leave a post, just click, “Comments” below).
Online Teaching Retreat 