This post’s first draft was crafted by Autumm Caines with significant input taken from an outline by Carla Vecchiola. Subsequent draft revisions were made based on comments and feedback by Jessica Riviere and Belen Garcia de Hurtado
Our team from the Hub for Teaching and Learning Resources at UM-Dearborn recently had an incredible professional development (PD) opportunity to come together for a writing retreat and we wanted to share some about the experience. We know that many of our readers are others working in Teaching and Learning or Pedagogy Innovation Centers and we thought a reflection on this unique approach to professional development could be of use to some of you. The experience was made possible thanks to generous support from the UHR Career Development Fund for Staff, but in total cost less per person than registration to many conferences, so it would be possible to build it into a Center’s PD budget.
We designed the retreat, which ran from August 5-7, to serve two main purposes: making significant progress on an ongoing research project and fostering in-person team rapport. Besides our team we also had a virtual facilitator, Nancy Chick, to help us stay on task, offer us informed feedback, and prompt us in the right directions. Here’s a look back at our journey, some of the activities we engaged in, and the lessons we learned.
Advancing Our Research Project
Our working hours on retreat were dedicated to a collaborative research project about some focus groups we’ve been running the last few years around student impressions of course modalities and technology (specifically GenAI). And, yes we all mentioned how there seemed to be layers of context going on – here we were, a remote team, gathering in person, with a virtual facilitator, to reflect on course modalities of online, in-person, hybrid, hyflex, etc. It was all very meta.
We have been holding these student focus groups/interviews, and reflecting on an institutional survey that they are connected to, for some time now. We have even presented on the analysis of them a few times, once at the ISSOTL 2023 conference and then locally at the Enriching Scholarship conference (link only works for UofM) here at University of Michigan, but we have been wanting to write about them and needed some dedicated time for the process.
Our schedule was tightly packed and we arrived early to get started right away. So early in fact that our retreat location was not yet ready for check-in. We all met up for lunch and then headed over to a coffee shop to get started.
After a few hours at the coffee shop, settling into our retreat couldn’t have been nicer – it was not only cute but lent itself very well to our productivity. A little lakehouse in rural Ohio with shiplap walls and charming “Lake Life” signs provided the perfect space for our retreat. Though we were not right on the lake; it was just a short walk down the street. A big enclosed front porch let in plenty of light, and the spacious dining room table doubled as work space but was also ideal for shared meals (and for sharing the birthday cake we picked up at the grocery to celebrate all of our birthdays for the year). Two common spaces with TVs were easy to screencast to via Roku for our shared collaborative writing times and for the video call check-ins with our virtual writing facilitator.
Being guided by a virtual writing retreat leader was extremely helpful. As we began our writing sessions, prompts from Nancy to got us oriented. At first, it was basic stuff—finding the information we needed and reflecting on what we knew and where we wanted to go. Later we would go deeper and there was structured time for individual writing and then collaborative writing. For the individual writing time we were scattered around the house in our own little nooks and then we would come back together in the common spaces for collaboration which felt incredibly productive. We engaged in structured sessions that provided both accountability and feedback. Our regular check-ins (video call sessions) with Nancy kept us on track, and the structured schedule ensured that our time was used effectively. By the end of the retreat, we had developed a strong collective understanding of our project, complete with an outline and early drafted paragraphs. We left with a great start which will enable us to continue our work asynchronously more productively.
Team Building: Strengthening Our In-Person Connections
Another one of the primary goals of the retreat was to bring our hybrid team together in a physical space for team building. Our down-time/social bonding was just as much of a development experience as the writing time and I would be remiss if I didn’t reflect on it. We are all great at collaborating virtually; I’d say we even thrive working this way. Three of the four of us are local and see each other in-person a little more frequently but we mostly work remotely and one of us is out of state. There’s something uniquely valuable about face-to-face interaction and so we wanted to gather together in physical space. Our time together was essential for reinforcing our connections and understanding each other beyond the confines of a screen.
We shared meals and laughter over stories and activities. We learned about professional competitive surfing while watching the Olympics because Carla was excited to see Brissa Hennessey competing for Costa Rica – Carla’s country of family origin. Belen taught us all how to make horchata from scratch and also shared some Abuelita hot chocolate. Jessica brought us little cross stitch kits and gave us guidance on how to get started. As for me, in poking fun about why we shouldn’t go kayaking with the potential of a pending storm, I shared the short film Paddle to the Sea from my childhood which was heavily influenced by Canadian television growing up in the Detroit area.
Lessons Learned: Crafting a Successful Retreat
Creating a tailored retreat experience was essential because due to the small size of our unit it was cost prohibitive for us to purchase a more formal retreat experience. If someone were interested in doing this with their own team these are some of the takeaways we would recommend.
We found that we naturally distributed ourselves into roles that contributed significantly to our success. Each of us took on specific responsibilities, such as managing technology, logistics, budgeting, and organizing social activities. If you have these kind of skills present in your team you may be okay just jumping in as we did but if not you might want to have people specifically take on those roles.
The presence of an external virtual retreat leader proved crucial for us. Initially, some of us were unsure about the need for an external leader, considering our own experience in running productivity workshops. However, the external leader provided accountability, thoughtful tasks, and critical feedback that were instrumental in our success.
Selecting the right venue was another key aspect. We chose a rental house that offered individual bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, ample writing space, and the necessary technology for teleconferencing. This setup allowed us to work comfortably and efficiently, with quick meal preparations in the well-equipped kitchen and nearby restaurants for team-building social meals.
Final Thoughts
Our writing retreat was a resounding success, blending productivity with team bonding. The time we spent together not only advanced our research project but also strengthened our team dynamics. We returned to our regular work inspired, connected, and ready to tackle our next challenges with renewed vigor. We are grateful to the UHR Career Development Fund for Staff for making this retreat possible and look forward to more opportunities to grow and collaborate as a team.
All photos used by permission