Month: April 2023

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Earth Sciences Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Earth Sciences Workshop

On Wednesday, April 26th UConn Early College Experience Earth Science Instructors met with faculty from UConn’s ERTH Department. ECE Faculty Coordinator for ERTH, Dr. Robert Thorson led a walking tour around campus. After leaving Rowe, they headed east to Augustus Storrs Hall, the oldest masonry building on campus, which set the precedent for the campus layout in 1906 to follow the glacial grain. Crossing Swan Lake, they examined in sequence: the Stone Pavilion, a rubble of glacial slabs, the local bedrock (the Paleozoic Hebron Gneiss), and ended the walking tour with a walk up to experience the view from Horsebarn Hill. Returning to the center of campus, the group stopped in Beach Hall—home to UConn’s Earth Sciences Department. They toured the building, visited teaching labs for introductory geoscience courses, research labs, and met with Department Head, Tracy Frank.  After lunch the group engaged in presentation by Prof. Thorson on the Connecticut Landscape. Thor shared an article from CT insider that he wrote and highlighted the Climate Underground podcast.

UConn Earth Sciences courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Art Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Art Workshop

On Wednesday, April 26th, UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Art, Prof. Cora Lynn Deibler, met with ECE Art instructors for their virtual professional development session. Dr. James J. Hughes was invited to speak with the group about AI in the art world. Dr. Hughes is an American sociologist and bioethicist. He serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and as Associate Provost at UMass Boston. He is the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future, co-edited Surviving the Machine Age, and writes and speaks often on topics of bioethics, technology, and Buddhism. Dr. Hughes holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago, where he served as the assistant director of research for the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Dr. Hughes lives in Willington CT with his wife, UConn professor of art Monica Bock.

The group listened to Dr. Hughes’ presentation and engaged in a lively conversation discussing the rise of technological art-generating tools that use artificial intelligence. While students are interested in new AI tools, established artists are skeptical – even fearful. The group discussed strategies for talking about, contextualizing, and using or discouraging use of AI artmaking in our classrooms.

 

UConn Art courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Environmental Science Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Environmental Science (NRE) Workshop

On Tuesday, April 25th UConn Early College Experience Environmental Science Instructors met with faculty from UConn’s NRE Department. ECE Faculty Coordinator for NRE, Dr. Morty Ortega invited Dr. Cynnamon Dobbs to share her talk, “Urban Forests for a Resilient Future” with the group.

Dr. Dobbs is an Assistant Professor in Urban and Community Forestry with University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on urban forest ecosystem services and its link to the sustainability and resilience of urban areas. She uses quantitative data from biophysical and social factors to distinguish drivers of change, and to produce evidence for improving urban decision making. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Ecology at the University of Melbourne, Australia; her MS degree at the University of Florida; and her BS at the Universidad de Chile, Chile. Dr. Dobbs has a large number of publications in scientific journals, book chapters, and extension journals. As a teacher, she has instructed courses such as Forest and climate change, Urban ecology, Landscape ecology, and many others.

After the presentation, the group discussed class activities to teach about Urban Forest and their courses as they are dealing with post-covid student behavior and other struggles.

UConn NRE courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE English Conference

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE English Conference

On Tuesday, April 18th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for English, Profs. Scott Campbell and Jason Courtmanche, and GA Maddie Gehling met with certified ECE English Instructors at this professional development conference.

Topics for the day included, reading in ECE English, using UConn library resources, and building text into the course inquiry. After a working lunch a brief Q&A period occurred before the day concluded.

For additional details see: https://ece.english.uconn.edu/spring-2023-conference/

UConn English courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Medieval Studies (HIST 1300) Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Medieval Studies (HIST 1300) Workshop

On Monday April 3rd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for HIST 1300, Prof. Sherri Olson met with certified ECE History Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Guest speakers: Professor John Sexton, Bridgewater State University and Professor Andy Pfrenger, University of Mississippi presented to the group on “The Viking Sagas – and Board Games”.  They spoke about the game hnefatafl and its history and place in Viking culture and the sagas. Later the group learned how to play using gameboards and pieces.

After lunch, Prof. Olson led a discission on the stories of Ragnar Loðbrok with focus on the folkloric elements of Ragnar's saga; the historical elements embedded in the text (and how to read such a text for historical reconstruction); the place of hnefatafl in the story; and some of the historical details buried in the stories, especially the Krakumal, a poem supposedly recited by Ragnar at his death c. 900.

To learn more about Profs. Sexton and Pfrenger and their podcast Saga Thing see: Saga Thing | a podcast by Saga Thing (podbean.com). 

UConn History courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Educational Leadership Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Educational Leadership Conference

On Tuesday, April 4th, UConn Early College Experience and the faculty from Educational Leadership met with EDLR 2001 Contemporary Issues in Sport Instructors for a virtual professional development meeting. UConn Adjunct Faculty member, Doug Glanville, discussed contemporary issues in sports and held a short question and answer period with participants. Later the group discussed EDLR 2001 and course updates.

UConn Educational Leadership courses offered through Early College Experience.