Donation Takes Okafor’s Legacy Beyond UConn Sports Record Books

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Photo caption: Emeka Okafor greets children at Hartford’s Clark Elementary School in 2007. UConn Foundation
Photo caption: Emeka Okafor greets children at Hartford’s Clark Elementary School in 2007. UConn Foundation

Celebrated NBA and UConn basketball standout Emeka Okafor doesn’t just believe in the power dreams, but in the importance of every young person having them—which is why he recently donated $100,000 to Husky Sport. His gift is an extension of an initial donation of $250,000 to the program in 2007.

Okafor’s first gift allowed for the expansion in the number of trips per week Husky Sport could take to Hartford.  Since 2007 the yearly enrollment in the service learning courses associated with Husky Sport went from 40 to 100.

“These students engage in a curriculum on sport based youth development in low income neighborhoods with a strong infusion of cultural competency education,” said Jennifer Bruening, Ph.D., Husky Sport director and associate professor of educational leadership. “These students typically say that their experience with Husky Sport evolves from believing that they have something to give, to expressing that what they’ve given pales in comparison to how much they’ve learned from the class and their time with the kids in Hartford.

Founded in 2003 by UConn’s Neag School of Education, this far-reaching community engagement initiative provides children in Hartford’s North End with a broad range of in-school, afterschool, and weekend programs focusing on sports, physical activity, nutrition, academic enrichment and life skills.

Led by UConn faculty, staff and student mentors and conducted in partnership with the City of Hartford, several Hartford Public Schools and community agencies, Husky Sport encourages kindergarteners to 12th-graders to become not just their best selves, but to believe in their best selves. Its school-day programs focus on academic success, while afterschool and weekend programs tackle topics as broad and essential as accountability, sportsmanship, conflict resolution, college preparation and community pride.

“There are many avenues to success,” said Okafor. A No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, he graduated from UConn with a 3.8 GPA and bachelor’s degree in finance in just three years. “It’s OK if you don’t play for the Rockets. You can be a rocket scientist. It’s OK if you don’t play for the Rams. You can be a veterinarian.”

It’s these kinds of ambitious, but attainable, dreams that Husky Sport encourages, Okafor said, and why he’s so committed to the program. Since his initial gift to Husky Sport, Husky Sport has expanded its service learning course opportunities in Storrs, the number of UConn students involved in Husky Sport, and the number of programs operated in Hartford.

Since its founding, Husky Sport has provided more than 100,000 hours of academic, health and other support services to more than 1,500 Hartford schoolchildren. Among its many successes is the Read & Raise school-based reading program that offers youth who participate incentives like extra recess time, healthy food parties and trips to UConn.

Although the program has the potential to expand to other areas of the state, staff have purposely kept it focused on children living in the Clay Arsenal, North East, Blue Hills and Upper Albany neighborhoods of Hartford’s North End. “The goal is for the program to provide a concentrated and continuous presence, and to show youths—as well as their families—the successes and possibilities that can come from focusing on academics, personal and social growth and healthy lifestyles,” said Bruening.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the program is when former participants become UConn or other college grads, Bruening said—though for many young people, dreams of college are not the draw: “Often, it’s the association with sports, particularly UConn sports that gets kids initially interested.”

Indeed, UConn sports are extremely popular in Hartford, where many young people and their families follow the careers of alumni like Okafor, who currently is in his ninth NBA season as a starting center for the Washington Wizards. Before that, he spent three seasons with the New Orleans Hornets and five with the Charlotte Bobcats. At UConn, he was an NCAA Tournament Outstanding Player, two-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year and Big East Player of the Year.

Many youths also get excited when they hear that Okafor’s fellow 2004 UConn NCAA basketball championship teammate Justin Evanovich, Ph.D., is Husky Sport’s assistant director. But then they learn the program provides countless other aspects to get excited about, too, including how they’ll benefit from:

  • Improving their academic and physical abilities
  • Working with mentors and peers
  • Connecting with their community
  • Applying the skills they learn from Husky Sport to all aspects of their lives
  • Believing in themselves and their abilities

“Sports is the initial bond, but then we use it as the common denominator to teach, bring people together and to build positive, lasting relationships between people from very different lifestyles and backgrounds,” said Evanovich. “Since everything we do at Husky Sport involves collaborating with a school or agency in some way, there’s a lot of power sharing going on. We at UConn bring our strengths, the school or agency brings its strengths, and together we give the kids something really powerful to take away.”

That idea of being “powerful”—that every young person has the power and potential to become his or her best self—is something Okafor also believes in, and that his continued support of Husky Sport proves.

“Connecticut is a big part of who I am, and who I have become,” Okafor said, “and I’m privileged to be able to help in any way.”

Information from a Courant story was used for part of this story. 

Neag Researcher’s Work May Prevent ACL Injuries

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Effectively preventing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries is a critical focus of sports medicine, because ACL injuries often require surgery, followed by an extensive period of rehabilitation, there are high-rates of re-injury to the ACL, which keeps the knee stable, and because ACL injuries often lead to the early development of osteoarthritis.

Recent research studies have determined significant risk factors for ACL injury and suggest that exercise-based interventions help to prevent such injury, but pressing questions remain.

Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Lindsay DiStefano, a new Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) Principal Investigator (PI), recently was awarded a one-year grant from the National Athletic Trainer’s Association (NATA) Research and Education Foundation (REF) to implement a lower-extremity injury prevention intervention in a high-risk population – nearly 1,200 incoming United States Military Academy (USMA) cadets.

Specifically, Dr. DiStefano, who is also a faculty member in the Neag School of Education, is in the process of determining if a single dose of such an intervention is sufficient and if a “train the trainers” approach could allow for the effective and widespread dissemination of lower-extremity injury prevention programs.

“Can the intervention be delivered one time, like a vaccine, with the effects sustained over time, or does it need to be repeated every season or year?” asked Dr. DiStefano. The intervention typically lasts between six and eight weeks, or an entire sports season, she said.

Dr. DiStefano began working with USMA as a University of North Carolina doctoral student.

She was part of the research team that conducted JUMP_ACL, an R01 clinical trial to determine risk factors for ACL injury, from 2004 to 2009. Involving more than 6,000 cadets from three major U.S. service academies (U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy), it remains to date one of the largest prospective sports medicine studies ever conducted, Dr. DiStefano said. This large study led to the development of the evidence-based injury prevention program currently being evaluated.

Since 2010, Dr. DiStefano has been studying the effectiveness of the lower-extremity injury prevention program for ACL injuries and for stress fractures. Her research team has shown preliminary success reducing these injury rates and modifying risk factors associated with ACL injury.

This past summer, when her new NATA REF grant began, Dr. DiStefano’s research team implemented the 10-minute neuromuscular intervention, comprised of balance, plyometric, and strengthening exercises, approximately three times a week during the cadets’ six-week summer training.

Delivered as a warm-up before their physical training, the intervention is designed to help the cadets improve the way they control their bodies while performing various tasks, Dr. DiStefano said. Her research team taught half the cadets in the study how to decelerate their bodies more efficiently, how to land more softly, how to help their bodies absorb the force of landing better, and how to keep their bodies aligned properly with their bases of support, she said.

The other half of the cadets make up the study’s control group, which was led in a standard warm-up prior to their physical training this summer, Dr. DiStefano said.

The USMA at West Point provides an ideal setting for this study for several reasons, Dr. DiStefano said. Because of the amount and intensity of their physical activity, the cadets are at increased risk for ACL and other lower-extremity injuries. For instance, every cadet must participate in an organized sport in addition to their basic physical training. The military setting also offers Dr. DiStefano’s research team advantages in that they are working with a controlled active population and they are part of a closed medical system, she said.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention over time, Dr. DiStefano returned to West Point in October and December to collect follow-up measurements. She returned two more times, in March and again in May, collecting more data for the time series panel study.

Her research team uses a standardized test to collect its follow-up data – having cadets jump off a platform onto a force plate they put into the ground.

“If a cadet just stands on the force plate, it measures his or her weight,” Dr. DiStefano said. “But, if he or she jumps on it, it gives more information – the force with which the cadets land, the angle of their landing, and how fast the force is absorbed.”

The research team also is video-taping the cadets jumping onto the force plate, which, combined with the force plate data, improves the ability to understand how the cadets are controlling their bodies.

“This study is novel in that it is simultaneously collecting injury data and risk factor data,” Dr. DiStefano said. “We’ll not only be able to tell if the cadets’ rates of injuries are reduced – we’ll be able to see if those reductions in injuries are because of changes in the way an individual moves.”

The other key component of Dr. DiStefano’s study is determining the best way to disseminate an effective lower-extremity injury prevention program.

The program was designed to be delivered as a 10-minute warm-up routine with dissemination in mind.

“The amount of time the intervention takes to implement is key to its successful dissemination, particularly in a military academy setting, where cadets have scheduled activities most minutes of the day,” Dr. DiStefano said. This is also true when working with sports teams where every minute of practice is considered critical, she added.

Training people to implement the intervention effectively is another critical piece of its successful dissemination, she said.

During the summer, Dr. DiStefano’s team trained the cadre at USMA, the upper-class cadets who orient the incoming cadets, how to implement the intervention during their warm-up exercises.

Half of the incoming cadets who received the intervention had their warm-ups led by the cadre while the other half had their warm-ups led by members of Dr. DiStefano’s research team. This will allow the researchers to determine if the cadre implemented the intervention correctly and the “train the trainers” approach is a viable model for future dissemination of the intervention.

In addition to the NATA REF funding, this study also has been supported by a University of Connecticut Faculty Large Grant, an internal grant at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and the Department of Defense.

Dr. DiStefano’s research team includes investigators from USMA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.

Greenwich’s Joseph Williamson Plans on Being a Social Studies Teacher

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Williamson130402e009-headshot-225x300It’s not much of a stretch to say Joe Williamson was born to be a teacher.

His mother, grandmother, and grandfather were all teachers. And even as a teen at Greenwich High School, he spent much of his free time helping and nurturing others. He volunteered as a music camp counselor, interned at a middle school, and spent much of his senior year teaching underclassmen the practical and interpersonal skills needed to publish Greenwich High’s yearbook, of which he was the editor.

Almost as natural were his decisions to apply to UConn’s Neag School of Education and focus his coursework for the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Teacher Preparation Program on social studies.

“My mother is a Neag graduate, and social studies has always been my favorite subject,” says Williamson. “I’ve been reading history books and biographies for as long as I’ve been able to read.”

Williamson, who graduates with his bachelor’s degree in education this May and will study for his master’s degree next year, has made the most of both the academic and the extracurricular activities offered at UConn. In addition to being on the dean’s list, he is a four-year member of UConn’s Marching and Pep bands.

“Not every university gives education students the kinds of opportunities that Neag students receive,” he says.

Since September, he has been student teaching at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs. “This semester, I’ve worked full-time as a teacher, creating lessons, teaching them, and working alongside educators who provide critiques and guidance that will only make me stronger and better in the future. All of the education I’ve received has been great, but the student teaching experience has made all the difference, as it’s given me the chance to bring the lessons I’ve learned from my professors to life.”

That idea of bringing lessons to life and making learning real, is something Williamson not just appreciates, but works to achieve when he’s at the head of the classroom. A Connecticut history buff, he made learning about Mansfield-area history one of his priorities when he arrived at Storrs as a freshman, and now incorporates it into his social studies lessons.

Because of this, the E.O. Smith freshmen and juniors he teaches now know that the Eagle Manufacturing Company on South Eagleville Road produced rifle parts during the Civil War, and that Mansfield was once the silk-making capital of America.

“When you’re teaching students who like social studies, it doesn’t matter as much whether you’re a good teacher or a terrible teacher, because they’re going to be interested. What I’m working to do is create lessons for the kids who don’t like history – to get them excited and engaged, and to make the learning experience interesting and meaningful for them,” Williamson says.

Williamson credits his Neag professors for not just telling him what it takes to succeed as an educator, but showing him as well: “Neag professors are role models. Their lessons are creative, interesting, and serve as great examples of effective teaching. I’m confident that because of the education I received at UConn, there will be a job for me when I graduate, and I’ll be well-prepared to succee

Education Law Expert Preston Green III Joins UConn Faculty

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GreenPrestonStudying law and education issues side by side might not seem like an obvious combination, and that perception, says Preston C. Green III, can lead to dire consequences for how children are educated.

Green is a nationally recognized education law expert who will join the University of Connecticut faculty in the fall from Pennsylvania State University. He will be the Carla Klein Endowed Professor of Urban Education in the Neag School of Education. Green will also have a joint appointment with the UConn School of Law. He has devoted his career to studying the sometimes surprising ways in which law and education intersect, with an eye toward helping legislators and others make better decisions when it comes to developing education policies.

“What I’m trying to do is to get people to understand the legal implications of the policies they wish to adopt,” says Green, who has both a JD from the Columbia University School of Law and an Ed.D. from the Teachers College at Columbia. “In many cases, they just don’t think about those implications.”

For example, Green cites charter schools. While charter schools have become an increasingly polarizing item near the top of the national education reform agenda, all that attention has shed little light on some basic questions about how the schools operate, he says.

“It’s really unclear whether for legal purposes, charter schools are what we call ‘state actors’ in the way that traditional public schools are, meaning that they have to comply with the Constitution,” he says. “If they’re not, you might have situations where students are being suspended or expelled with no recourse to due process protections, which is something we should all be concerned about – especially persons of color, since black males in particular have been disciplined at much higher rates than white students in traditional public schools.”

Inspired by Brown v. Board of Education

Although interested in law and education since he first read about the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision as a child, Green came about his specialty through a terrible trauma: While he was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, one of his cousins was murdered by a 16-year-old working on behalf of a drug dealer.

“I remember thinking when it happened, just how did this kid take the turns that led him to this?” Green says. “And I actually wrote about that in college, when I was applying to law school: I am going to try to use my interest in education and law to help kids like him have other options.”

First at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and then at Penn State, Green has subsequently been at the forefront of research and policy on a host of crucial education issues, ranging from school vouchers and charter schools to teacher evaluation systems and school finance litigation.

“I know people take sides and get polarized, and I certainly have my own opinions, but what I really want to see is good schools,” he says.

That pragmatic approach has led to projects like the policy paper he co-wrote last year for the National Education Policy Center, “Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Equal Educational Opportunity,” which examined ways in which states can create charter schools that reduce the problems of racial inequality in education settings.

“Charter schools are here, and they’re going to stick around, and so what we pointed out in our brief is there are ways to create mechanisms that will prevent charters from adding to the problem of racially isolated schools,” he says.

A pre-eminent scholar

Green plans to continue his focus on education and law at UConn, saying he hopes to provide training for educators, administrators, and attorneys in a way similar to a summer institute he created at the Penn State Law School that brought attorneys, professors, and education professionals together to learn about legal issues in and out of the classroom.

“Dr. Preston Green is one of the pre-eminent scholars in the nation in the field of law and urban education as well as in educational policy,” said Neag School of Education Dean Thomas DeFranco. “His expertise and scholarship in the areas of equity, race, and school reform uniquely qualifies him to advance our efforts in closing the achievement gap in Connecticut and across the nation.

Another initiative he’d like to explore is creating a joint degree program in education and law, similar to the one he developed at Penn State, to allow students to pursue career paths ranging from think tanks to school administration to law practices, a multidisciplinary approach that basically didn’t exist when he was in graduate school.

“I became really attracted to UConn because I thought the University would give me the opportunity to develop those ideas,” he says.

UConn stands out nationally, Green says, because of forward-thinking initiatives like President Susan Herbst’s plan to hire roughly 300 additional tenure-track faculty members at a time when many other universities are cutting back or retrenching.

“For the kind of work I want to do, I need to be at a vibrant institution, one that’s really on the move, really willing to take bold steps and innovate,” Green says. “Those are the kinds of places where great things happen, and I really want to be a part of that.”

Neag School of Education Hosts 2013 Commencement

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Commencement_No1
The entrance procession for the Neag School of Education commencement ceremony held at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on May 12. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

The Neag School of Education recognized graduates from the Class of 2013 during two ceremonies the weekend of May 11-12. The Neag School undergraduate commencement took place at the Jorgensen Auditorium on Sunday, May 12. Commencement for Neag School graduate students, including sixth-year students, took place Saturday, May 11, at Gampel Pavilion.

The Graduate School commencement speaker was Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Corp. In additing to addressing students during the ceremony, Immelt received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Immelt was named to his current position at General Electric in 2001, following a nearly 20-year career with the company in increasingly responsible roles. Among many activities and achievements, he serves as a trustee of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library, as well as chair of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He was named Financial Times’ “Man of the Year” in 2003 and has been named one of the “World’s Best CEO’s” three times by Barron’s.

Commencement WallyThe undergraduate ceremony featured nationally acclaimed author and Neag alumnus Wally Lamb ’72 BA, ’77 MA, as commencement speaker. He also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. President Susan Herbst introduced Lamb and led the conferring of his doctorate.

“As Neag School of Education faculty and alumni well know, stories have the power to educate and inform; to entertain and engage,” said President Herbst. “Told fearlessly and honestly, stories can move us, heal us, inspire us and make us feel alive. They can teach us about others and, perhaps most importantly, teach us about ourselves.”

“For his exceptional ability to use stories as a means to spark not just learning, but understanding, we are privileged to honor author and educator Wally Lamb,” she continued.

Lamb is the heralded author of such fiction best-sellers as She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Lamb was the director of the Writing Center at Norwich Free Academy from 1989-98 and an associate professor of creative writing in the English Department at UConn, where he also originated a student-staffed literary and arts magazine, The Long River Review. He currently resides in Mansfield.

Later in the ceremony, Lamb welcomed the audience and enthusiastically started his commencement message.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” he began. “Happy Mother’s Day to my mother, Ana (pointing to the sky), and my beautiful wife, Kris, who is the mother of our two kids and with me today.”

He opened his speech comparing rock stars who trash their hotel rooms to notable authors on tour, who are more quiet, solitary souls. Recalling a book tour from two or three years ago, his most memorable moment was in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio, when he heard a question from Alex Trebek.

He was channel surfing and stumbled across the quiz show Jeopardy just at the moment when his name surfaced. “He wrote the novel, ‘She’s Come Undone’,” said Trebek.

“In the torturous pause that followed (audience laughter), the three contestants stood there lock-jawed and unable to press those thumbs to those buzzers,” said Lamb.

Lamb continued, “I uttered in a sheepish voice, ‘Who was Wally Lamb?’ ” More laughter from the audience.

Lamb went on to talk about his 40-year education and literacy career, weaving in touching and personal stories that kept audience members enthralled.

He also offered words of support and advice for the graduates as they chart their careers, concluding with “five things this teaching author and father has come to know.” To hear the five things, along with the rest of the speech, visit here.

Prior to Dr. Lamb’s speech, but before the more than 200 graduates received their diplomas, the platform party was introduced, and the Neag Alumni Society president offered a welcome. In addition, faculty member and University Teaching Fellow Dr. Alan Marcus was recognized with university-wide honors.

Commencement marcusAn associate professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Marcus has gained high respect from both colleagues and students for his scholarship and teaching. He presents a role model for teaching excellence, creating a student-centered learning experience, collaborating with peers and colleagues here and abroad, and continuously seeking student feedback.

Marcus’ success as an instructor exemplifies his special ability to reflect deeply on his teaching, to meld research and practice, to honor the profession, and to inspire students to aspire to be effective teachers and academic leaders.

Dr. Linda Pescatello, another Neag faculty member who received university-wide honors, was recognized at the graduate ceremony with the Board of Trustees Distinguished Professorship – the highest academic award UConn bestows —for her exceptional distinction in scholarship, teaching and service. Pescatello, who holds three degrees from UConn and has taught here since 1998, is an internationally recognized scholar on blood pressure response to exercise among people with hypertension.

Commencement PescatelloA lifelong athlete, Pescatello is also studying the influence of exercise on cancer survivors, and is in the early stages of new research on the use of yoga to help manage stress and reduce substance use among veterans who attend college and methadone users.

After both ceremonies, graduates, family and friends were treated to receptions at the Gentry Building, offering a time for celebration and reflection.

For a slideshow from May 11, visit here. For a slideshow from May 12, visit here.

Well-Designed Video Games Can Enhance Problem-Solving Skills and Make Learning More Effective

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video games

The tragic December deaths of 20 first-graders and six school staff members in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, along with the Boston Marathon tragedy and other recent attacks, have brought the decades-old debate over the behavioral effects of video games back onto legislative floors throughout the nation. Citing the fact that gunman Adam Lanza, 20, played violent video games, members of the U.S. Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force detailed their plans to address “our culture’s glorification of violence” through media, and commentary stemming from reports like Katie Couric’s May 2013 video game violence exposé has highlighted the need for greater clarification of how we should read and interpret video game research.

Clearly, it’s a complex and emotional issue further complicated by discussions that focus almost exclusively on the negative effects of gaming. The reality, however, is that there’s little research outlining whether or not violent video games beget actual violence: many existing studies, like one described in a recent edition of the UConn Today, focus on aggression without explicitly acknowledging the complex relationship between cognition, transfer, and real world behavior. This has led to two major problems, the combination of which throws a wrench in the socially and politically-charged rhetoric surrounding violence: 1) the dismissal of other, more influential factors common to violent criminals—biological predisposition to mental health issues, instability at home and/or work, lack of positive role models, having no one to confide in, access to weapons, and in-the-moment opportunity versus need; and 2) neglect for how learning in all types of games—violent or not—actually happens.

While the first problem may better fit sociologists and psychologists who have direct experience with individuals who commit violent crimes, the second is something that we as teachers, administrators, and researchers can tackle head on. There’s general consensus in the educational psychology community that the nature of environment-learner-content interactions is vital to our understanding of how people perceive and act. As a result, we can’t make broad assumptions about games as a vehicle for violent behavior without attending to how environment-learner-content interactions influence transfer—the way learning and action in one context affects learning and action in a related context.

It might help to think of transfer in terms of what we hope students will do with the information they learn in our classes. For example, you might teach geometric principles in your math class thinking that those techniques will help your students craft a birdhouse in shop. However, one of the most well-cited studies of the subject (Gick & Holyoak, 1980) showed that only one-fifth of college students were able to apply a particular problem solving strategy—using ‘divide-and-conquer’ to capture a castle—in another, almost identical context less than 24 hours after exposure to the first. Even with explicit direct instruction explaining how the same strategy could be used to solve both problems, fewer than 50% of students were able to make the connection. Though links between situations might seem self-evident to us as teachers, they usually aren’t as obvious to our students as we think they should be.

This gives us reason to believe that, regardless of subject, students—or in the case of video games, players—are rarely able to take something they’ve used in one context and independently apply it in a totally different one. Put another way, even if violent gaming raises general aggression, increased aggression doesn’t automatically translate to real world violent behavior. Gamers might use more curse words while playing Call of Duty, but they won’t learn to steal a car solely by playing Grand Theft Auto—there needs to be a mediating instructor who can provide well-guided bridging between the game and reality, especially for in-game activities that aren’t isomorphic with real world action (i.e., firing a gun).

This relationship between environment-learner-content interaction and transfer puts teachers in the unique position to capitalize on game engagement to promote reflection that positively shapes how students tackle real-world challenges. To some, this may seem like a shocking concept, but it’s definitely not a new one—roleplay as instruction, for example, was very popular among the ancient Greeks and, in many ways, served as the backbone for Plato’s renowned Allegory of the Cave. The same is true of Shakespeare’s works, 18th and 19th century opera, and many of the novels, movies, and other media that define our culture. More recently, NASA has applied game-like simulations to teach astronauts how to maneuver through space, medical schools have used them to teach robotic surgery, and the Federal Aviation Administration has employed them to test pilots.

To be clear, this is not a call for K12 educators to drop everything and immediately incorporate violent games like Doom or Mortal Kombat into their classrooms. Instead, it’s a call to consider how we can take advantage of game affordances (including those of violent games) to extend beyond predictable multiple-choice materials that leave students wishing they could pull out their smartphones. It’s a call for legislators to give greater consideration to the role of transfer before passing sweeping bans on violent video game play. It’s a call for all of us to use games as a vehicle to talk about racial, social, gender, and other inequities that are very much a part of the world we live in.

It’s a bold idea that can feel scary, but the potential benefits are beyond exciting. Research generated by people like Kurt Squire, Sasha Barab, and James Paul Gee suggests that interactive games can be used to teach children about history, increase vocabulary, challenge them to set and achieve goals, and enhance their ability to work in teams. They expose students to culturally diverse casts of characters in addition to providing instant feedback about goal-oriented progress. Most importantly, perhaps, they can be powerfully engaging, giving students a reason to pursue learning beyond the classroom.

To maintain a positive trajectory, teachers looking to make the most of the instructional affordances of video games should keep an eye out for games they feel comfortable playing alongside and discussing with their students, take advantage of opportunities to participate in university game-based learning research studies, and remain open to modifying their instructional approaches. Parents should connect with teachers for up-to-date research coming from organizations like Games+Learning+Society and have their children reflect on material they’ve been exposed to during play—for example, social and cultural stereotypes, gender roles, and ways of thinking presented in each game. Legislators should consult university researchers in both communications and educational psychology to get a wider perspective on how play and learning merge to generate behavior in the real world.

Our collective understanding of game-based learning is evolving at lightning speed, and we need to dispel false information that ignores how games actually affect player thinking and action. More work, involving teachers, administrators, researchers, designers, parents, and politicians, is needed. The next step is to enhance our collaboration by working to create multi-disciplinary games that incorporate not just academic content but educational practices that lead to broader critical thinking and problem solving. Though far from complete, our combined effort has the potential to move beyond the swamp of video game violence and excite kids about school before they say “game over.”

Stephen Slota is doctoral candidate in educational psychology at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education as well as an unashamed gamer. An educational technology specialist and  former urban high school teacher, he has a bachelor’s in molecular and cellular biology and Master’s in curriculum and instruction. His research interests include the situated cognition underlying play, the effects of gaming on student achievement, and prosocial learning through massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

 

 

Accolades: Read About the News and Accomplishments from our Students, Alumni and Faculty/Staff

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104516017-hands-clapping1-300x2001Accolades – below are news and notes from our alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We are proud of all the amazing accomplishments by our Neag family. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items (and story ideas) to shawn.kornegay@uconn.edu.

Students

Husky Sport was first runner-up for the Ignite Challenge among UConn organizations participating in the fundraising competition and received an award for $2500. A total of 394 donations helped them raise $8,484.15 to UConn. They were also recognized with the “Best Social Media Marketing” award. Thanks to everyone for their support.

Students from the Sport Management Program organized and hosted a tailgating event before the UConn football spring game for alumni and students (grad and undergrad) to mingle and network.

The Neag Graduate Student Association is pleased to announce the recipients
of the Spring 2013 Travel Awards, each receiving $140 towards their travel:

  • Rachel E. K. Larson
  • Jon J. Rizzo
  • Yan Wei
  • Amy Gaesser

  • Craig Marroquin

  • Janice Kooken

  • Riana Pryor

  • William Adams

  • Lesley Willis

  • Ji Yeon Jung

  • Michael Mudrick

  • Raymond Cotrufo

  • Kelly Pagnotta

  • Jessica Martinez

  • J. Luke Pryor

  • Douglas Jensen

  • Garret Ash



Students from the Renzulli Academy earned some outstanding honors:

Hartford’s Creative Youth Essay Award Contestants & Teachers

Grades 7th & 8th

  • 1st Place ­ Kay Clark (Teacher, Ms. Albro)
  •  2nd Place ­ Chadd James (Teacher, Ms. Albro)
  • 3rd Place ­ Larry Starks (Teacher, Ms. Lyons)

Grades 9th &­ 10th

  • 1st Place ­ Shaila Murdock (Teacher, Ms. Plaganis)

National History Day State Competition — Natiel, Xaniyah, Dezia & Tiara took 1st place in the Junior Division for their Group Website on the Little Rock Nine’s influence on education and the Civil Rights Movement.  This group has qualified for the National Competition in June at the University of Maryland!

Adam Apicella, a fifth-year secondary math education student, proposed and organized a class trip to the Museum of Math in NYC. Around 23 students – including a mix of elementary and secondary math – visited the newly opened museum and enjoyed numerous mathematics exhibits.

Luke Belval was recently awarded a 2013 Undergraduate Research Excellence Fellow from the American Physiological Society. He’s one of six students selected nation-wide to receive this honor. He will spend the 10-week fellowship conducting a research study at the Falmouth Road Race in August 2013, looking at the effects of fitness on body temperature changes during intense exercise in the heat.

Tanesia Beverly has been chosen to receive one of the Outstanding Multicultural Scholar Awards from the Graduate School for the 2013-2014 academic year. The award consists of a service free fellowship equivalent to a half-time graduate assistantship plus a half-time graduate assistantship for three years provided by the Graduate School. She will have professional, social and mentoring opportunities throughout her academic career.

The Connecticut Association of Reading Research (CARR) has awarded Elena Forzani and Cheryl Maykel the $1,000 Wirth-Santoro Award for Outstanding Literacy Research for their study, “Evaluating A Representative State Sample of Seventh-grade Students Ability to Critically Evaluate Online Information.”  They are doctoral students who work in the New Literacies Research Lab.

Jennifer Kowitt, a special education doctoral, was elected secretary of the CT Subdivision of the Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT). DCDT is a division of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Margaret Seclen was recently honored as a 2013 Alma Exley Scholar at a reception in West Hartford. According to Dr. Santosha Oliver, assistant principal of O’Brien STEM Academy, “This outstanding future teacher had some compelling things to say about culturally responsive teaching practices and her experience in applying these practices in her student teaching in Hartford. I know she has a bright future ahead of her as a dedicated teacher.”

Alumni

Wiley Blackwell, the online publisher for the International Reading Association, reports that an article by our New Literacies Research Center was the most downloaded article in 2012 from the IRA publication, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. The journal had 492,810 full-text downloads in 2012. The article is: “The new literacies of online reading comprehension: Expanding the literacy and learning curriculum” featuring work of the following:

Greg McVerry is a doctoral graduate in Cognition and Instruction and assistant professor of education at Southern Connecticut State University; Ian O’Byrne is a doctoral graduate in Cognition and Instruction and assistant professor of education at the University of New Haven; Carita Kiili was a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab and is currently assistant professor of education at the University of Jyvaskyla in Jyvaskyla, Finland; Lisa Zawilinski is a doctoral graduate in EDCI and assistant professor of education at the University of Hartford; Heidi Everett-Cacopardo is a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab and masters student in Cognition and Instruction; Clint Kennedy is a doctoral student in CILT (EPSY) and a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab; and Elena Forzani is a doctoral student in CILT (EPSY) and a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab.

UCAPP alumni organized (led by Hannah Ruede) and hosted a scholarship reception to honor Earle Bidwell, their clinical instructor and mentor, and to expand their newly established scholarship in his honor.

Laurel Brandon, Three Summers 2013, uses origami to teach geometry.

Plato Karafelis, who led Wolcott Elementary School in West Hartford for 25 years, is retiring this year. “For 25 years, the people of the Wolcott community have delivered a bounty of love to my family and me,” Karafelis wrote in a letter to parents. “We feel so blessed to have known each and every one of you.” He earned a MA and Ph.D. from the Neag School in the 1980s.

Jennifer Klimis, Three Summers 2014, was one of six finalists for the Outstanding Educator Award in Pinellas County, Florida. She uses Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, which was included in her nomination packet. Klimis reports that although she didn’t win the Outstanding Educator award, it was fun and she felt honored to be in the top six.

Karen List, superintendent of West Hartford and past Neag Alumni Outstanding School Administrator, was our recipient for the 2013 UCEA Educational Leadership Award. The UCEA Educational Leadership Award is in recognition of practicing school administrators who have made significant contributions to the improvement of administrator preparation. This is a much-deserved honor and merely a small token of appreciation for her substantial service to UCAPP over the years.

Two alumni, Deborah Riebe and Carol Ewing Garber, were elected to national offices with American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Garber, who is president-elect of ACSM, is director of the graduate program in applied physiology at Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Riebe, a trustee of education and allied health with ACSM, is professor and chair of the URI’s department of kinesiology.

Kathleen K. Reardon, ’71, has been selected to receive the Humanitarian Award from the UConn Alumni Association. She will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony in October. She’s a professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

Kaitlin Roig, ’06, a first grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, launched a new initiative, Classes 4 Classes. Its purpose is to connect students in classrooms across the country by offering them an online space where they can help one another in a variety of ways, teaching them care and compassion along the way.  After the horrific tragedy, Roig is taking action in the most positive way imaginable.

Barry Spiering, PhD, recently started as director of physiology at Nike in Oregon. Prior to that, he was a scientist at the US Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) in Natick, MA. As a doctoral student, he was honored as an “Outstanding Doctoral Student Research Award” by the Neag School.

Carol R. Virostek, PhD and former adjunct, is getting recognized by American Association of University Women (AAUW) with a national award at their convention June.

Faculty/Staff

Service awards to the University were recently hosted by HR. Congratulations and thank you to the following individuals for their length of service and dedication.

  • Wendy Glenn – 10 years
  • Tutita Casa – 10 years
  • Betsy McCoach – 10 years
  • Jennifer Bruening – 10 years
  • Lisa Muller – 10 years
  • Christine North – 15 years
  • Richard Schwab – 15 years
  • Richard Bohannon – 25 years
  • Thomas Kehle – 25 years
  • James O’Neil – 30 years
  • Kathy Ivey – 35 years

Close to Home Campaign – we are currently at $58,296 with almost 50 Neag faculty/staff members supporting various causes across the university. Last year we collectively donated a little over $64k through your generous support. We have two months left to beat last year’s donations. Thanks to everyone who has donated thus far.

Husky Sport has received generous support of $100k from Emeka Okafar (former UConn center). This is in addition to $250k he gave in 2007 to support the program.

EDLR is establishing formal partnerships with the Hartford Public Schools and the Queen Rania Teacher Academy in Jordan to create and deliver context-specific leadership development programs. Richard Gonzales is overseeing the HPS-Neag Preparing Leaders for Urban Schools (PLUS) initiative. Diane Ullman is leading the Jordan project. More information to follow.

The leading journal in the educational leadership field, Educational Administration Quarterly, will make its official transition to Neag and EDLR in May 2013. Casey Cobb will serve as editor with Morgaen Donaldson, Anysia Mayer, Richard Gonzales, Sarah Woulfin, Richard Schwab, Kim LeChasseur and others from Neag and across the country will serve as associate editors.

EDLR will be a main player in the forthcoming State Leadership Academy. Bob Villanova will be the head of the Leadership Academy, which is a major State Department of Education initiative designed to enhance the preparation of school leaders in the Commissioner Network Schools and Priority Districts.

Congratulations to our Department of Kinesiology for winning the ACSM College Bowl this year.

The Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) has honored three individuals with KSI Lifesaving Awards for their outstanding work in helping prevent sudden death in sport. The honorees received their awards during the KSI’s annual fundraiser, hosted this year by the NFL Players Association in New York City. This year, the KSI honored Kevin Guskiewicz, a national leader in sports-related concussion research; David Csillan, a high school athletic trainer whose leadership helped enact the nation’s first statewide heat acclimatization guidelines for secondary school athletics;  and Beth Mallon, founder of Advocates for Injured Athletes. The event raised $30K to benefit KSI’s work.

Sandy Bell co-authored “Newcomer adjustment among recent college graduates: An integrative literature review” for Human Resource Development Review. She also co-authored “Social network structures among groundnut farmers” Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. She hosted a professional development session for agricultural educators at the 2013 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference in Denver. The title of her session was “Learning that Leads to Change: Best Practices in Farmer Education.”

Jennifer Bruening has in press “Early Adolescent Male Development: A Study of a Sport-Based After-School Program in an Urban Environment” for Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport. She also co-authored “Are your values mine?:  Exploring the influence of value congruence on responses to organizational change in a Division I intercollegiate athletics department” for Journal of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Laura Burton served as a reviewer for the University’s large faculty grant competition – for social science grant applications. She was also selected as a co-editor along with Jon Welty Peachey (Texas A&M) for a special issue – “Ethical Leadership in Intercollegiate Sport” for the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport to be published in 2014.

Maryclaire Capetta has completed her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of St. Augustine.

Doug Casa was elected as a trustee for “Basic & Applied Science” with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Tutita Casa was recently invited to be a member of CT’s Smarter Balanced State Leadership Team. Smarter Balanced is one of the two Common Core related assessment consortia. The eight-member team is guided by the belief that the effective use of a balanced assessment system can improve teaching and learning.  She also published “Capturing thinking on the talk frame” in Teaching Children Mathematics.

Sandra Chafouleaus was invited by the National Association of School Psychologists for a Congressional Briefing on how schools can improve student outcomes by implementing evidence-based effective discipline that results in safe and supportive conditions for learning. She provided expert testimony about the research regarding effective behavioral practices.

Casey Cobb has been elected as a member of the University Senate’s Constituency Relations (education constituency). It’s a three-year term.

Cristina Colon-Semenza gave a presentation at the Watermark (assisted living facility) Parkinson’s Support Group. She also talked about a research project that she is conducting at the university and invited individuals to participate.

Cristina Colon-Semenza and Susan Sullivan Glenney have been accepted as UConn Service-Learning Faculty Fellows for 2013-2014. They will participate in faculty development activities and events and collaborate with ITL in designing a new course or embedding service-learning into an existing course.

Morgaen Donaldson and CEPA team members presented preliminary findings from the educator evaluation study to Connecticut’s Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC). She also published and presented two reports at the Center for American Progress: Teachers’ Perspectives on Teacher Evaluation Reform.  Washington, DC: Center for American Progress and Reforming Teacher Evaluation: One District’s Story.  Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. Donaldson interviewed for the following articles and radio news show: Where We Live. WNPR.  Interviewed by host John Dankosky for Connecticut’s National Public Radio station for segment on teacher evaluation; The Hartford Courant.  Interviewed for “State Board of Education May Slow Roll-out of New Evaluation System” and The Huffington Post, “Once Upon a Time, a Judge, a Pastor and a Writer…”

Morgaen Donaldson, Casey Cobb, Sarah Woulfin, Kimberly LeChasseur, Rachael Gabriel, A. Makuch and D. Goodwin presented to PEAC at CSDE on the first found of findings for the research project on SEED. Their findings were well received and the state has revised SEED based on them.

Michele Femc-Bagwell presented at the 20th Annual International Conference on Parent Education and Parenting. She presented a session entitled: “The A.S.P.I.R.E. Survey: Six Factors for Engaging Parents in Schools.” The session focused on the use of a web based application to identify the “parent capital” associated within a school’s community.  The conference was held at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. She also presented a session at the ASCD 68th Annual Conference in Chicago entitled:  “Taking Back Bassick: The Collaborative Transformation of a Failing Urban High School.” The presentation focused on the changes at Bassick High School based on the implementation of the CommPACT process.

Rachael Gabriel has had two books published this year, Reading’s Non-Negotiables: Elements of Effective Reading Instruction and Performances of Research: Critical Issues in K-12 Education (Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education)

Katherine Gavin and Tutita Casa co-published with two other academics “The impact of advanced geometry and measurement curriculum units on the mathematics achievement of first-grade students” in Gifted Child Quarterly.

Richard Gonzales co-authored “Activist teacher leadership: A case study of a Programa CRIAR bilingual teacher cohort” for Journal of School Leadership. He also gave a presentation “A Conversation about the Future Principal in CT” for the Connecticut Association of Schools.

Robin Grenier was named a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Iceland in Reykjavik for spring 2014.

Liz Howard is coordinating a new policy/advocacy group for higher education faculty across the state interested in ELLs, as they are some of CT’s lowest performing students. More information coming soon on the CEPA website.  She also participated in a panel discussion about creating a dual language magnet school in Hartford.

Jason Irizarry gave the keynote address for the University of Massachusetts Language, Literacy, and Culture Graduate Student Conference. The presentation was based on his book, The Latinization of U.S. Schools.  

Orville Karan has been invited to lead an implementation project with the Turkish government to help transition citizens who have intellectual disabilities into the community. In the past, these individuals would have their IQ tested and then based on the results, be sent to straight an institution. Turkey has new laws and policies that emphasizes better alternatives than just being institutionalized. They want a better environment for their citizens and have turned to Karan for the solution. He just returned from speaking at a national conference in Turkey on “Children During Transition from Institutions to Community.”

Alan Marcus has been recognized by UConn’s Institute for Teaching and Learning as a Teaching Fellow.

Anysia Mayer was recently awarded funds from the University of Connecticut’s Faculty Small Grant Program to support her work with the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Dr. Mayer is currently conducting a study of 12 International Baccalaureate Programs across the U.S. that serve a large proportion of Hispanic students to learn how these programs encourage students to maintain their cultural and linguistic heritage while supporting high academic achievement.

Linda Pescatello gave a presentation on “Obesity from Bench to Bedside: Potential for Cross-Campus Research Collaborations” at the UConn Health Center.

Eliana Rojas participated in a professional development program at Berkley that focused on Hispanics in higher education and leadership roles for Latino women.

Sue Saunders was the keynote speaker at the New York College Student Affairs Association in Syracuse, NY. She was also a professional development speaker: Northeast Regional Conference; National Association of Campus Activities.

Richard Schwab was elected to the UConn Committee of Three for a three-year term.  The Committee of Three is the final hearing level on PTR and reports to the president. He was appointed to the Review Committee for Dean Raheim of the School of Social Work and chair of the committee to write the standards for selection and appoint the next Philip Austin Chaired Professorship. Rich was one of two invited national experts to critique the draft CAEP standards before the National Task Force that is designing the new CAEP Standards for Accreditation (which is replacing NCATE and TEAC) and he was appointed to NCTAF Board Task Force to design the framework for next NCTAF Major Report on the Future of Education. In addition, he was appointed chair of UConn’s Academic Vision Committee.

Sarah Woulfin was accepted to participate in the William L. Boyd National Educational Politics Workshop for emerging scholars. The workshop was held prior to AERA. Her mentors were Professor Knapp from the University of Washington and Professor Sipple of Cornell University. The Boyd Workshop consisted of two sessions. The first of two breakout sessions matched mentors and emerging scholars on the basis of research interests. The second provided an opportunity for mentors and emerging scholars to discuss a specific topic. She also won the Organizational Theory SIG’s best paper award at AERA.

Come Reconnect with UConn Alumni!!!

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alumni weekend

Neag School of Education alumni, family, friends, and community members are invited to attend “A Taste of UConn,” part of Alumni Weekend 2013 on Saturday, June 8 from 12pm-3pm on the South Campus lawn and patio.

Stop by the extra-large Fun House Bouncer for FREE Neag School of Education Give-Aways!!! Participate in some fun Husky Sport activities!!!

Free UConn Event: Live music by The Cartells, Jonathan the dog, t-shirts with the new Husky dog from Webster Bank, a photo booth, and a balloon artist. Kids (and adults) can climb on fire trucks, emergency vehicles, tractors, and more at the Touch-a-Truck event. Additional activities include inflatables, animals, a fossil exhibit, a climbing wall, additional school and college displays and activities, and door prizes to round out this family-friendly festival-style event.

Food tent: Enjoy delicious edibles at the food tent from the new Storrs Center restaurants and other local favorites including Lizzie’s, Dog Lane Cafe, Baja Cafe, Hosmer Mountain Soda, Sweet Emotions, Faddy’s Donuts, Insomnia Cookies, Dairy Bar Ice Cream, and more!

Also, judge our pulled pork slider cook-off hosted by UConn Catering Services. Four units will go head to head, and attendees can try them all and vote for the winner!

UConn Farmers Market will also be on-site. Please note that they are accepting cash only for their products.

Admission for the food tent: adults: $20, kids: $10, 5 & under free. Visit the link below for additional information and show your Husky pride by registering today for the “Taste Of UConn!”

www.uconnalumni.com/alumniweekend

 

Teaching History With Museums

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“When you see it, you’ll become a believer. It’s almost impossible not to feel that way.” Those are the words of Meaghan Davis, a social studies teacher at Conard High School in West Hartford and disciple of UConn Professor Dr. Alan Marcus’ approach to teaching history.

Marcus, associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the Neag School of Education, has written a book called Teaching History with Museums: Strategies for K-12 Social Studies. He and co-author Walter Woodward, Connecticut state historian and associate professor of history at UConn, presented a workshop on the book at one of the museums featured in it: The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford.

The book outlines strategies for making history come alive through visits to museums and interaction with primary sources and artifacts. It shows teachers how to plan effective educational experiences at the following kinds of museums:

  • Artifact and display museums
  • State history museums
  • Historic forts
  • Historic house museums
  • Living history museums
  • Memorials and monuments

Each category of museum gets its own chapter, complete with information on the relevance and focus of that type of museum, opportunities for learning specific skills outlined in the Common Core State Standards, case histories of actual class field trips, and resources. The book shares examples of previsit, during-visit, and postvisit activities and offers advice for how to develop your own activities. The information can be applied to any museum that fits into the category covered in that chapter. Museums offer experiences kids can’t get in books or in the classroom.

“Museums can do things we can’t do in the classroom. They can do things books alone can’t do,” Woodward told the teachers gathered at the Twain Museum.

He pointed out that museums offer authentic pedagogy, connect the present with the past, and help students develop historical empathy—the ability to recognize that people who lived in another time thought about and felt differently about issues than we do today.

Studies have shown that Americans trust museums as authoritative sources of knowledge. But it’s important, Woodward cautioned, for students to understand that museums also interpret history. They have their own agendas and make subjective decisions about what to include in their exhibits—and what to leave out. Those decisions are influenced by the times in which we live.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Aside from providing an overview of the benefits of teaching history with museums, the Twain House workshop took participants through case studies from actual field trips to two types of museums. The first was a trip to an artifact and display museum—The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Previsit activities included exploring personal stories and creating parallel timelines for World War II and the Holocaust. Students could choose only six events for each timeline. Their teacher compared this to the way museums must choose which artifacts and events to include in their exhibits.

During the visit, small groups of students were given a particular perspective and focus on (1) perpetrators and liberators, (2) survivors and rescuers, (3) bystanders and resisters, and (4) collaborators and victims. Postvisit activities included discussing what students learned about these perspectives and having survivors come in and speak to the class.

9/11 memorials The second case study involved visits to 9/11 memorials. According to Marcus, monuments and memorials offer many benefits for teachers, including the fact that they are widely available and free. Monuments reflect the time and place in which they were built, as well as the viewpoint of the organization that erected them. Many have generated controversy, which can be educational for students to investigate.

As part of his presentation, Marcus divided workshop participants into groups and had them perform the same postvisit activity the students in the 9/11 case study did. They were told that they had been selected to participate in a National Park Service competition to create a monument/memorial to commemorate the events of 9/11. Each group had to choose a location, write the text, and describe the design aesthetics for its monument while representing one of the following perspectives:

  • Women
  • First responders
  • Officials from the Saudi Arabian embassy in New York
  • Wall Street bankers
  • U.S. government officials

The process was as engaging for the workshop participants as it was for the students. One teacher’s commitment to teaching with museums Meaghan Davis studied under Marcus at UConn. In a class taught by him, Davis traveled to Europe and studied at various historic sites. “That experience literally changed my life,” she said. As part of her studies at UConn, she also interned at The Mark Twain House and Museum, where she served as a guide and helped develop curriculum and outreach activities. There she witnessed firsthand how powerfully students can respond to museum exhibits and is now committed to using museums in her own teaching.

“To see how powerful it can be has changed my whole educational philosophy,” she said. “Sometimes when you give the kids an opportunity, it’s amazing how they can impress you.”

Davis plans to take her students to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

Reprinted with permission. CEA Advisor, April 2013

Assessment Activities at Neag – What’s in the Works and on the Horizon

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Novel initiatives, along with the usual assessment-related activities, are underway at the Neag School.  With diverse projects such as the first time administration of school-wide exit survey and second Alumni in Connecticut Public Schools report, the Office of Assessment is pleased to report that the culture of assessment is thriving.  Here is a summary of what to expect as the semester comes to close, and a few things on the horizon for fall.

End-of-Semester Student Evaluations for Field Experiences.  End-of-semester evaluations will soon be completed and reported for Teacher Education students now completing their student teaching experiences. Students from the UCAPP, School Counseling, and School Psychology programs will also be receiving end-of-semester evaluations for their practicum and/or internship experiences.

Clinic/Cooperating Teacher Surveys.   Every two years, we solicit feedback regarding the school-based clinic experiences offered to Teacher Education students from the perspectives of the both the students themselves and those they work alongside in the schools. These will be issued this year to all IB/M and TCGCP students, and their clinic teachers, cooperating teachers, and school supervisors.  The surveys are not intended for evaluation; rather, they have allowed faculty to assess the strengths and needs and adjust accordingly to make the clinic, student teaching, and internship experiences more meaningful for Neag students.

School-wide Exit Surveys are Coming!  For the first time, a common exit survey will be extended to students school-wide.  While a few programs have developed and used their own exit surveys for some time, the new Neag School-wide Exit Survey is aligned across all programs, departments and the Teacher Education unit.  Common items will be related to students’ general educational experiences and the survey then branches into more department or program-specific sections that will only be presented to students from the respective program and/or department.  The purpose of this survey is threefold, as it provides the following:

  • An up-to-date database of contact information for all students.
  • Immediate feedback regarding students’ educational experiences at Neag.
  • Immediate feedback regarding department-related issues.

Alumni in Connecticut Public Schools. The first report on Neag alumni working for Connecticut public schools, “Where Are Our Alumni?” was produced in 2010-11.  The updated report, Alumni in the Connecticut Public Schools, is now in production. It captures employment data of all 3,412 Neag alumni graduating since 1984 who are now working among Connecticut’s 166 districts. Colored maps generated using ArcGIS software from UConn’s Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) are included to aid in visualizing this information.

Staying on PAR.  Faculty from each program and concentration area are in the process of working on Program/Concentration Assessment Reports (PARs).  Included in the report are the mission, goals, and objectives developed by each program; measures chosen to assess progress and data tied to the measures; and a summary of the information provided.

Assessment Colloquia Series: Open for Suggestions! If you have a great idea for a fall 2013 session, topic, or presenter, please contact mary.yakimowski@uconn.edu

Below is a list of the sessions that were offered in the spring.  Additional information about each of these sessions and the presenters is available on the Neag Office of Assessment website.

Popular Music and Informal Pedagogy in Music Education

Presenter: Dr. Joseph Abramo

Adolescent Literacy Assessment: Observing and Coaching Evidence-Based Instruction in Discipline Specific Classrooms

Presenters: Dr. Faggella-Luby. Mr. Joshua Wilson, and Ms. Yan Wei

How New Core Arts Standards Will Impact Common Core, Assessment & Evaluation

Presenter: Dr. Scott Schuler

Grant Writing for School Leaders: How to Select a Fundable Idea, Conceptualize a Proposal and Write a Competitive Grant Narrative

Presenter: Dr. Stan Shaw