I attended the Great Online Teachers’ Seminar on From April 26 to 28, 2007 in San Marcos, California. It was a terrific seminar. It was put on by Dr. Kay Weiss of San Bernardino Valley College. There were fifty fellow instructors from community colleges in California and Nevada. The expertise regarding online experience ran the gamut from very, very experienced with online teaching to no experience at all. The point was that we could all learn from each other.
To prepare for this conference we all were to bring a one page description of our online teaching successes and a one page description of our online teaching challenges which we all shared. For most the success of online teaching has to do with its convenience and accessibility. Also, the wealth of resources makes teaching online a great success. Perhaps the biggest challenge for many is how to involve students in group work.
We also all brought a book to share and at one point over the course of the seminar discussed the book and why it was important to us.
As is true with most seminars, over the course of a couple of days we spent time discussing and exchanging ideas. The seminar was organized so that we broke up into groups to discuss various topics. Each time we broke into groups, however, the combination of people was different. By the time the seminar was over we had all been in groups with almost everyone.
The facilitators from San Bernadine Valley College were terrific. They kept things moving and it was never boring. We met lots of people and exchanged lots of valuable information. The location is beautiful—-an excellent choice for a retreat (Lake San Marcos Resort) and not too expensive. I would definitely attend another seminar put on by San Bernardino Valley College.
We have not as yet received the website with all of the information that was collected but should soon and when we do I will forward it on.