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Spring 2025 UConn ECE HDFS Instructor Workshop

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On Tuesday, May 13th, UConn Early College Experience (ECE) and the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) hosted their annual professional development workshop for all certified UConn ECE HDFS instructors. The event brought together educators from across the state to reflect on the past year, share best practices, and engage in meaningful professional learning.

The day began with a warm welcome and program updates from Dr. Shannon E. Weaver, Faculty Coordinator of the HDFS 1070 and Naomi Inman, Graduate Assistant. Attendees also heard from ECE Program Director, Chris Todd, who provided an important update about all things UConn ECE. Morning sessions included discussions on syllabi requirements and yearly evaluations, led by Dr. Weaver. A keynote presentation on Emerging Topics in Developmental Science followed, offering insights into current trends in the field/ After lunch, instructors participated in a session on evaluating textbooks and engaged in breakout roundtable discussions to share their reviews. The afternoon concluded with a larger group discussion and closing remarks from Dr. Weaver and Naomi Inman. The workshop provided a valuable space for collaboration, reflection, and continued growth within the ECE HDFS teaching community.

UConn HDFS courses offered through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE EDLR 2001 Instructor Workshop

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It was a beautiful day on Friday, April 25, when we were joined by a group of 15 EDLR 2001: Contemporary Social Issues in Sport instructors on the UConn Storrs Campus. Thanks to the continued efforts of Dr. Danielle DeRosa, Faculty Coordinator for Educational Leadership, this group has grown to include teachers from a variety of unique disciplines, including History, English, Health/Physical Education, and Social Studies. Each provides a unique lens through which to teach their students about the industry of sport. Instructors were given the opportunity to meet with Eric Schneider, Associate Director of Athletics and Compliance at UConn, to discuss the ever-evolving landscape of college athletics, including NIL (name, image, and likeness) policies.

The afternoon was topped off by a walking tour of several of UConn’s athletic facilities, including Gampel Pavilion, the flagship site of the “Basketball Capitol of the World”, along with the baseball, softball, volleyball, and ice hockey facilities. Many thanks to Dan Petrik, a Master’s candidate in Sports Management, for the exciting tour.

Thank you to all who joined us for the day’s events, and especially to Danielle for her continued collaboration with the ECE program.

UConn Education (EDLR/EDCI) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE Spanish Instructor Workshop

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ECE extends our thanks to the 85 certified Spanish Instructors who joined us at Friday, April 11th’s annual Professional Development conference. The group convened on the UConn Storrs Campus, joined by Professor Oscar Martin, chair for the Department of Languages and Literatures at Lehman College. Professor Martin delivered a lecture entitled “Estudiantes, hay camino y se hace camino al andar” (Translation: “Students, there is a path, and the path is made by walking”). Following the keynote address, instructors had the opportunity to work on a collaborative group project with their peers.

Thank you to all who joined us this past week, especially our wonderful faculty coordinators for ECE Spanish, Gustavo Nanclares, Ph.D. and Celines Villalba Rosado, Ph.D.

We look forward to connecting with you all again soon!

UConn Spanish courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE Art Instructor Workshop

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ECE welcomed our Art instructors for a virtual professional development experience this past Thursday, thanks to the tireless efforts of Cora Lynn Deibler, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Art. Attendees got the chance to be in community with two guest speakers, whose information can be found below!

Douglas Degges, Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing, University of Connecticut

Professor Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, University of Delaware

Thank you to all who joined us this past week, and for their continued support of the ECE Art program!

UConn Art courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE Italian Instructor Workshop

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Some of our favorite professional development experiences are when we get to take our instructors off-campus, to engage with their field of expertise in a more hands-on way. We got that opportunity this past Friday, April 4th, when our Italian instructors convened at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. We extend our thanks to Tina Chiappetta-Miller, Ph.D., our faculty coordinator for ECE Italian, for her tireless work to make this experience happen!

Our instructors were treated to a private guided tour of the museum, followed by a wonderful presentation by Stephanie Barnett, School and Teacher Programs Manager for the Wadsworth. We also got a lot of great photos of the event, which we encourage you to take a look at below!

UConn Italian courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE LMS Training

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On Thursday, March 27th, our ECE Library Media Specialists met for their semesterly training. Attendees were treated to a number of informative sessions which helped deepend their understanding of the resources that the UConn Library has to offer ECE students and instructors. The day’s schedule is attached below:

  • Government Information @ UConn Library – Kristina Edwards, Electronic Resources Librarian
  • Universal Design for Learning in One-Shot Instruction Sessions – Erica Charis-Molling, Instructional Design and Learning Librarian
  • Acknowledge, Cite, Evaluate: Your Usage of AI – Renee Walsh, STEM Librarian
  • Introduction to Zotero – Rob Walsh, Waterbury Campus Library Director

For all those who could not attend, information and recordings will be uploaded to the ECE LibGuide very soon. Check the link below for more details! Thank you to all who contributed their time, and to all those who attended this past week’s event! We’ll see you in the Fall.

UConn Library resources available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE German Workshop

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On Tuesday, March 25th, we welcomed our ECE German instructors to the UConn Storrs Campus, in collaboration with our ECE Faculty Coordinator for German, Dr. Anke Finger.

Instructors were treated to a tour of UConn’s own William Benton Museum of Art, before a keynote address by Isabel Avens, a PhD candidate in German Studies with a graduate minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Cornell University. Avens also earned her M.A. in German Studies from the University of Connecticut!

Thank you to all who joined us for an exciting professional development experience.

German courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE Allied Health Workshop

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ECE extends our thanks to our Allied Health instructors, who joined us on the Storrs Campus on Tuesday, March 18th, for their annual professional development experience!

Our instructors were welcomed in the morning by Professor Justin Nash, department head for Allied Health at UConn, before embarking on a series of conversations involving working through key challenges in teaching ECE courses, sharing best practices, and establishing a precedent of peer support and collaboration across ECE Allied Health.

We also offer a special thanks to our faculty coordinator, Professor Bruce Blanchard, for his tireless efforts to support our ECE Allied Health community.

Allied Health courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE French Workshop

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On Friday, March 14th, UConn ECE welcomed 37 of our French instructors to the Storrs campus for an invigorating professional development opportunity!

The morning consisted of a lecture on the theme of childhood and its manifestations in French cinema, led by Assistant Professor in French Studies, Dr. Raphaël Koenig. Then, in the afternoon our instructors were given the opportunity to visit UConn’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry for a tour and a lecture on puppetry in France and French-speaking countries led by Dr. John Bell, Director of Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and Associate Professor in the Dramatic Arts Department.

Many thanks, as always, to Dr. Florence Marsal, our faculty coordinator for French, for her tireless efforts to support our ECE Allied Health community.

French courses available through UConn Early College Experience.

Spring 2025 UConn ECE Earth Sciences Workshop

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We’re back from Spring Break, and onto the final stretch of the Spring semester! This past Monday, March 24th, ECE welcomed our Earth Sciences instructors to the Storrs Campus, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Thorson, our wonderful faculty coordinator for ECE ERTH.

This year’s workshop was titled Connecticut’s Sense of Place, and consisted of two educational activities (described below), followed by a brief walking tour of key teaching sites that Dr. Thorson (“Thor”) utilizes to teach his introductory geoscience classes.

A brief overview of each workshop session:

PART A – Our Land

A dialogue slide show featuring ten places in CT that, taken together, provide an solid overview of how the geology influences our sense of place. This approach was summarized in an article in UConn Today by Elaina Hancock titled “Appreciating the Bones of Connecticut’s Landscape.” This article covers a series of ten mini-essays published together in a cover issue of Connecticut Magazine titled Our Land.

PART B – Teachers Responses to Connecticut’s “Sense of Place.”

The teachers were assigned a series of four short essays that collectively narrate how the Connecticut landscape came to be. These are: Part 1 – Making Connecticut and Part 2 – Connecticut’s Glacial Gifts and Part 3 – Exit Ramp Culture and Part 4 – Losing Ground. During this part of the workshop, Thorson highlighted each essay before the teachers shared their responses with each other.

Many thanks to all who joined us for a wonderful morning!

Earth Sciences courses available through UConn Early College Experience.