Year: 2023

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 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.

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 English Workshop: Infographics in ENGL 1007

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE English Conference

On Wednesday, March 29th, UConn Early College Experience English Instructors and faculty from the English Department met for a virtual professional development workshop. The topic was “Infographics in ENGL 1007”.  Infographics can be a powerful tool for remediating one’s original written work, can be used to interpret data or other textual information, or can stand on their own as a way to present information to the audience in an engaging way. Visual design is a broad topic, and infographics can include anything from maps and graphs, to illustrated recipes, to collages! The group discussed these diverse examples and what tools/platforms can be used to design infographics, the affordances, and limitations of visual genres, and what it means to do visual in the composition classroom.

UConn English courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Political Science Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Political Science Workshop

On Wednesday March 29th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators for Political Science, Department Head and Associate Professor Oksan Bayulgen and Assistant Professor Evan Perkoski met with certified ECE Political Science Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

After introductions, a panel of UConn Political Science Faculty spoke with the group about "Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching Introductory Political Science Courses”. Panelists included Associate Professor Thomas Hayes, Professor Jeremy Pressman, and Associate Professor Fred Lee.

After lunch the group engaged in an interactive conversation with Professor Tom Deans on “AI in Academic Writing”.

 

UConn Political Science courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE German Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE German Workshop

On Thursday March 23rd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for German, Professor Anke Finger met with certified ECE German Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

The group discussed Intercultural Literature in the German Classroom and discussed their UConn courses.

UConn German courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Classics Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Classics Workshop

On Tuesday, March 21st, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Classics, Associate Professor Sara Johnson met with certified ECE Classics Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Associate Professor Roger Travis spoke with the group about UConn’s CAMS 1103 course and discussed the process for certification to teach the course in a partner high school. Teachers must audit Prof. Travis’ course and work with him to develop a version of the syllabus that works in the high school classroom.

After a short break, the group discussed “Circe” by Madeline Miller.

 

UConn Classics courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Anthropology Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Anthropology Workshop

On Thursday, March 10th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Anthropology, Dr. Alexia Smith and Dr. Noga Shemer, Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Anthropology at UConn met with certified ECE Anthropology Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

This workshop focused on practical strategies for teaching anthropology today. The focus was on some of the recent changes within the field, “hot topics,” participation agreements, accessibility issues, and engagement modalities.

Dr. Alexia Smith serves as an Associate Professor of Anthropology, the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Anthropology, and the ECE Anthropology coordinator. She regularly teaches Anth 1500 Great Discoveries in Archaeology which includes ongoing discussions of cultural heritage.

Dr. Noga Shemer served as a guest facilitator for the workshop. Dr. Shemer is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Anthropology at UConn, where she also serves as an Affiliate faculty member of El Instituto (Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies) and as an Assistant Director of Faculty Development at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is a cultural anthropologist who has many years’ experience teaching Anth 1000W, a writing intensive version of Peoples and Cultures of the World, Anth 2000W Social Anthropology, Anth 3152 Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, Anth 3029 Caribbean Cultures, and Anth 3251 Psychological Anthropology. She provides workshops across the university focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom and has published journal articles focusing on her use of person-centered ethnographies to build empathy.

The group explored “Teaching Anthropology Today” through guided discussions, interspersed with mini-presentations/responses from Dr. Shemer. The workshop concluded with a more open-ended discussion regarding teaching experiences and questions from the instructors.

UConn Anthropology courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Italian Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Italian Workshop

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.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Spanish Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Spanish Workshop

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.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Digital Media & Design Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Digital Media & Design Workshop

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.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Educational Psychology Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE EPSY Workshop

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.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Animal Science Workshop

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Animal Science Workshop

On Thursday, February 16th  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.

Spring 2023 UConn ECE Library Media Specialists Training

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Spring 2023 UConn ECE Library Media Specialists Workshop

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.