On Thursday, March 2nd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Digital Media & Design Ken Thompson met with certified ECE DMD Instructors for an in person professional development conference.

The day included a variety of workshops and discussion sessions:

• Sound Capture/Engineering Workshop

Faculty: Catherine Masud, Assistant Profesor in-Residence, Digital Film/Video Production | Storrs

• Non-Linear Narrative Tools Workshop

Faculty: Ken Thompson, Assistant Professor in-Residence, Digital Game Design | Storrs

• Design Thinking and successfully leading a class full of creatives

Faculty: Ken Thompson, Assistant Professor in-Residence, Digital Game Design | Storrs

• Environmental Science Communication in Multimedia

• Faculty: Heather Elliott-Famularo, Department Head, Digital Media and Design | Stamford/Storrs

 

UConn DMD courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Friday, March 3rd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators from Spanish, Profs. Urios Aparisi and Nanclares met with certified SPAN 3178 and 3179 Instructors for an in person professional development conference.

After welcoming remarks by UConn Early College Experience Director, Christopher Todd, the group discussed their courses with the faculty and later heard from special guest speaker: Maria Lourdes Casas, Professor in the World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department, Central Connecticut State University with her talk ‘Less is more’/’Menos es Más.’

UConn Spanish courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, March 9th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Italian, Prof. Tina Chiappetta-Miller met with certified ECE Italian Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

After welcoming remarks by UConn Early College Experience Director, Christopher Todd, the group discussed their courses and ideas for student events with the faculty, and ECE Assistant Director Jessica Dunn. Later the group heard a presentation by Melina Masterson, Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at UMass Amherst (and a graduate of UConn’s ILCS Ph.D. program) who has recently co-authored and published an OER text of Italian called Tutt* a tavola!. She spoke about the experience of writing the text, what it has to offer, and why OER is important.

UConn Italian courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Friday, December 19^th, UConn Early College Experience and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Math, Associate Professor in Residence, Anthony Rizzie met with ECE Certified Math Instructors for their annual professional development meeting. After a short welcome and discussing the UConn Math courses offered through ECE including course schedules, expectations, and general updates the group broke into groups to discuss MATH 1030Q and 1131Q and 1132Q. Later the group had a discussion about AP Precalculus and AP Calculus AB and BC and their impact on UConn Math course offerings at their high schools and the other concurrent and dual enrollment programs high schools may have partnerships with throughout the state.

UConn Math courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, March 2nd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Educational Psychology, Prof. Joe Madaus met with certified EPSY 1100: Special Education Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Dr. Jason Irizarry, Dean of the Neag School of Education welcomed the group and then Dr. Madaus spoke to the instructors about the courses they are teaching in their high schools. Later in the afternoon we were joined by Patricia Wood, author of “Lottery: A Novel”: who spoke to the group. This text is used in the EPSY 1100 course.

UConn Education courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, February 16^th  UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators for Animal Science, Dr. Jen Nadeau and Dr. Amy Safran met with certified Animal Science Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Instructors met for a tour of UConn’s animal facilities including the voluntary milking system. Later, Drs. Safran and Nadeau went over guidelines for all ECE instructors including sample syllabi with course description and philosophy, required books, and course specific grading policies. The group discussed their courses and possible topics for future workshops before observing a UConn section of ANSC 1676: Introduction to Companion Animals where Molly Riser, UConn ANSC PhD student provided an overview of the domestication and breeding of dogs.

UConn Animal Science courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, February 16th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Library Liaisons and Student Success Librarians Zach Claybaugh and Kelsey Brown met with Library Media Specialists from ECE partner high schools for a training workshop.

Sessions included:

Jason Nicosia, Associate Systems and Technology Administrator (UConn Health Sciences Library)

“Linking Library Resources: An Overview”

An overview of how to integrate library resources such as articles, videos, and other electronic items into any course within a learning management system. Linking resources in Blackboard and Google Classroom was demonstrated.

Nancy Dryden, Research & Instruction Librarian (UConn Stamford Campus Library)

“How To: Using the Library General Search”

This presentation demonstrated tips and tricks for using UConn Library’s Articles + Online Catalog search tool. Participants learned how to search using the tool, and how to save items in their library accounts and how to request items available other UConn campuses or libraries.

Roslyn Grandy, Pharmacy Librarian (UConn Pharmacy Library)

“Strategies for Searching UConn Library Databases”

Participants learned the basics of using UConn Library’s discovery search as well as searching subject-specific databases on various platforms. Best ways to limit searches to identify most relevant resources was discussed.

 Theresa Palacios-Baughman, Interlibrary Services Associate (UConn Library, Storrs)

“Interlibrary Services for ECE”

An over iew of UConn’s Interlibrary Services which support academic research, learning, and professional growth. Participants were shown all things ILL including how to place requests for non-UConn materials using MyILLiad and how to request scans of chapters and articles from print resources in UConn Library’s collection.

Kristina Edwards, Electronic Resources Librarian (UConn Library, Storrs)

“Electronic Resources @ UConn Library”

The presentation provided a summary of what online resources and tools are available at the UConn Library and how they can be accessed. Information on the variety of ways access to electronic resources is provided through link resolver (UConn Full Text) and LibKey Nomad was highlighted.

On Friday, December 9^th , UConn Early College Experience and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Chinese Associate Professor of Chinese and Applied Linguistics, George Yang met with ECE Certified Chinese Instructors for their annual professional development meeting. After a short welcome with some general questions from the group and a discussion about recruitment of additional instructors, keynote speaker Dr. Phyllis Ni Zhang, Associate Professor of Chinese and International Affairs, George Washington University joined the meeting to share her research: “Optimizing the L2 Hanzi Instruction: The Facilitating Role of Typing in L2 Chinese”.

UConn Chinese courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Friday, December 2^nd, UConn Early College Experience and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) Associate Professor, Shannon Weaver met with ECE Certified HDFS 1070 instructors for their annual professional development meeting. After sharing ECE news and updates and celebrating past year successes the group spoke with Charles Super, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Human Development & Family Sciences Co-Director, Center for the Study of Culture, Health, & Human Development, University of Connecticut who shared his talk titled “Culture and Human Development”. Later, Darlis Juvino, Human Development & Family Sciences, UConn shared her research on “The Makings of Multicultural Identity and Expression”.  Instructors then broke into small groups to discuss incorporating culture into course topics.

UConn HDFS courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Tuesday, November 15^th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for History, Thomas Maulucci met with ECE certified HIST 1400: Modern Western Traditions Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Prior to the meeting Instructors listened to “As Ukraine Goes, So Goes the World: Thoughts on propaganda, violence, and democracy” a lecture by Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. Instructors were also to review two articles: “The World Putin Wants” by Fiona Hill and Angela Stent and “Ukraine Holds the Future” by Timothy Snyder. The lecture and articles provided structure for the day’s events.

ECE History Faculty Coordinator, Tom Maulucci spoke to the group about ideas for fitting Eastern Europe into HIST 1400 and discussed the Snyder lecture. Assistant Professor, Sarah Silverstein, from UConn’s History Department shared her talk on “Eastern Europe’s Invention of the West”. Later two of UConn’s Student Success Librarian’s, Zach Claybaugh and Kelsey Brown, gave an overview of library resources available to Instructors (with a special focus on the Ukraine).

 

UConn History courses offered through Early College Experience.