Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association
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Educational Research & Development Journal
Summer 2024, Volume 27, Number 1
Strengthening the effectiveness of writing retreats in ODeL institutions |
| Babalwa Ceki, Adeyemi Adebayo, Vusi Msiza |
Abstract |
| This study aims to determine the challenges and recommendations of an effective writing retreat, investigated from the attendees' experiences and the facilitators of writing retreats held by an accounting college of an (Open distance e-learning) ODeL institution from 2016 to 2022. The study purposively sampled sixteen researchers for interviews from the attendees of the writing retreats, namely – four proven researchers, four emerging researchers, eight developing researchers – and two organisers. The researchers captured the participants' responses during the data collection and wrote memos in this paper. The findings reveal that writing retreats face budget approval issues, undefined objectives, noise, and unfocused attendees. Recommendations for effective writing retreats are: Organisers need timely budgetary support from the organisation, researchers need subject experts, ongoing support, accountability, clear retreat objectives, and attendees setting pre-retreat goals to improve the retreat's success. Additionally, a far-from-home venue can help avoid leaving during the retreat. |
| Full Text: PDF |
ISSN: 1526-8659