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Providing STEM-focused Professional Development for Community College Faculty - 07.16.2014

The Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence – Technology and Engineering for Knowledge (COSEE-TEK) has supported two professional development (PD) opportunities for community college faculty. In keeping with the goal of COSEE-TEK, the PD focused on relating how ocean technologies enable ocean science and discovery. The PD featured hands-on training with ocean technologies and exploration of how technology derived data could be used in the classroom with community college students. While these activities did not involve Connecticut Community Colleges, it is easy to see how these interventions could be developed within the Connecticut college system.

The EVA-BOB Teacher Technology Experience

EVA plates
COSEE-TEK partnered with Dr. Penny Vlahos, UConn Department of Marine Sciences, to develop a TTE that combined her passive sampler technologies (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate, EVA) with basic observation buoys (BOBs). The TTE was a four-day workshop that was attended by high school teachers and community college faculty that included background information on ocean science and technologies, passive samplers and biodiversity settling plates, plus hands-on building of the BOBs and preparation of the EVA samplers. Each faculty member built their own BOB and were provided EVA samplers to deploy in their local waters. Faculty from Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and Montgomery College in Maryland attended the TTE.

COSEE-TEK and COSEE Pacific Partnerships - Summer 2013 Community College Faculty Institute on Marine Technology

Community college faculty workshop
During the summer, 2013, COSEE-TEK partnered with another COSEE – Pacific Partnerships whose goal was to provide opportunities for 2YC’s (two-year colleges) to provide technology-based PD for community college faculty. Building upon COSEE-PP’s track record with 2YC’s and COSEE-TEK’s technology-based workshops a five-day workshop was held at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, part of the University of Oregon. The workshop provided hands-on opportunities for faculty to build their own BOBs and hydrophones, assess biodiversity settling plates and learn about observing systems and sound in the sea. The workshop was attended by a dozen faculty from community colleges around the country, including Florida, California, Michigan, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington. The workshop featured scientists and technicians from UConn, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Western Washington and Rutgers Universities.

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