Retreat Synopsis

E-Learning Retreat March 29-31, 2001 Dillard, Georgia

The first E-Learning Retreat of Kennesaw State University was developed and coordinated by Dr. Leon Combs, Dr. Harry Lasher, and Dr. Chris Horne under the direction of Dr. Bill Hill. There were 24 attendees including four speakers. The program began with a sign-in and welcome from 5:00 - 6:00 PM followed by dinner. The after-dinner speaker was Dr. George Manners, Professor, Department of Leadership & Professional Development at KSU. Dr. Manners gave an inspiring talk concerning some realities of e-learning such as some myths and the need to be knowledgeable in instructional design.

On Friday morning we began with an unbelievable breakfast at the Dillard House and then waddled over to the conference room for an exciting day of learning and interaction. The first speaker was Dr. Jessica Somers who is Director of Academic Innovation in Advanced Learning Technologies, Office of Academic Affairs, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia. Dr. Somers gave a very supportive talk about some of the programs at the BOR pertaining to e-learning including MERLOT and the e-courses being developed. Following her talk there was a panel discussion and a question and answer session with Dr. Somers, Dr. Combs, Dr. Farnsworth, Ms. Leigh Funk, and Dr. Lewis as panel members. We then went back to the Dillard House restaurant for a mid-day feast.

Friday afternoon began with an inspiring talk by Dr. Thomas Reeves of the Department of Instructional Technology, College of Education, The University of Georgia. Dr. Reeves talked on "E-Learning and the Scholarship of Teaching". He talked about current research in e-learning and the need for a new research agenda based upon the "Pasteur's Quadrant" view of research with some suggestions for design research. After his inspiring talk there was another panel discussion and question and answer session involving panelists Dr. Reeves, Mr. Karl Aldag, Dr. Matthew Laposata, and Dr. Brent Weaver (Faculty Associate, Advanced Learning Technologies).

Friday night there was a poster presentation session with food for the attendees. Dr. Leon Combs, Dr. Beverly Farnsworth, Ms. Leigh Funk, Dr. Matt Laposata, Dr. Gary Roberts, and Dr. Kerwin Swint presented posters and led discussions around their displays. Many people made very favorable comments about the value of the poster session as they were able to see actual best practices of e-learning being done on our campus.

Saturday morning began with a talk by Dr. Steven Sorg, Assistant Vice President for Distributed Learning, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. Dr. Sorg talked on "Institutionalizing Distributed Learning: Models of Practice". This was an excellent talk emphasizing institution-wide collaboration, technical infrastructure, faculty and learner support, and evaluation. After the talk there was another panel discussion and question and answer session with panel members Dr. Sorg, Dr. Gary Roberts, Dr. Jessica Somers, Dr. Kerwin Swint, and Dr. Brent Weaver. We then broke into four small groups to discuss future directions to be taken by KSU in e-learning. The groups made posters of their recommendations and then presented the results to the entire group. A synopsis of these presentations will appear on the KSU e-learning web site.

The KSU e-learning web site (http://erkki.kennesaw.edu/elern) has the meeting agenda, power point presentations of the talks, campus web sites, recommended literature, and a listing of the KSU e-learning community members.

Attendees:

Mr. Karl Aldag, Dr. Leon Combs, Dr. Beverly Farnsworth, Ms. Leigh Funk, Dr. Rick Garner, Dr. Todd Harper, Dr. Hillary Hight, Dr. Bill Hill, Dr. Ron Holloway, Dr. Matt Laposata, Dr. Harry Lasher, Dr. Gary Lewis, Dr. George Manners, Dr. Elsa Nystrom, Dr. Tom Reeves, Dr. Gary Roberts, Dr. Marlene Sims, Dr. Jessica Somers, Dr. Sabine Smith, Dr. Steven Sorg, Dr. Kerwin Swint, Dr. Sheb True, and Dr. Brent Weaver.