SoTL: Asking the Right Questions
Nantahala Village Resort & Spa
February 22-23, 2008
WHEN: The first SoTL Retreat at WCU will be held at the Nantahala Village Resort & Spa (http://www.nvnc.com/index.php), about 30 miles from the WCU campus. The Retreat will begin at 3:00 pm on Friday, February 22, 2008 and end at 5:00 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2008. On Friday, welcome snacks, dinner and overnight accommodations will be provided. On Saturday, breakfast and lunch will be provided. All snacks, meals, and accommodations will be provided free of charge.
WHO: Participation will be limited to approximately 50 full-time members of WCU's faculty and EPA staff. All current full-time tenured and tenure-track members of the faculty, full-time members of the faculty with fixed-term appointments (including those with 80 percent appointments), and EPA staff with teaching or teaching support responsibilities are eligible. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis while space is available.
WHAT: WCU's Faculty Fellows for SoTL, Laura Cruz and John Habel, will lead the retreat with the support of selected SoTL practitioners from WCU and guest facilitators from institutions in the two CASTL (Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) groups in which WCU participates. The guest facilitators and selected SoTL practitioners from WCU will: 1) present concurrent sessions about developing, implementing and going public with a SoTL project, and 2) consult with participants who are developing new SoTL projects or forging ahead with projects already begun. Our guest facilitators are:
- Scott Simkins, director of the faculty center and member of the ecomonics department at NCA&T and collaborator with WCU in CASTL
- Scott Johnson, Associate Dean of University College and member of the criminal justice department at Buffalo State College and long-time collaborator with WCU in the Learning CASTL
- Cheryl Albers, director of the SoTL initiative and member of the sociology department at Buffalo State College and long-time collaborator with WCU in CASTL
WHY: The purposes of the Retreat are to provide opportunities, both in collaborative informal disucssion and in more formal concurrent presentations, for experienced SoTL practitioners and those who are new to SoTL to:
- Pursue new directions in SoTL research
- Broaden and deepen scholarship
- Critically examine teaching and students' learning
Given its theme, "SoTL: Asking the Right Questions," the Retreat will provide conditions that allow participants to formulate responses to the following questions:
- What is SoTL?
- How do I do it?
- What are the benefits of SoTL?
- Who can help me do a SoTL project?
- When and where can I share what I have learned?