Archived Webinars

Dr. Christine Hancock, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Special Education at Wayne State University

Early On Center Coursework Connections Webinar - Partnering with families is an essential but complex part of early intervention. Service providers often need support to identify and disrupt subtle power dynamics that can impede their efforts at collaboration with families. Drawing from a study with Early On providers who engaged in video-based reflection on their practice with families, this session offers practical strategies to integrate meaningful reflection about partnerships and power into pre-service and in-service preparation activities.

Dr. Holly Hoffman, Professor, Central Michigan University

Early On Center Coursework Connections Webinar - This presentation highlights opportunities for learning and research gained through the 2022 Early On Center for Higher Education Faculty Grant. The purpose of this project is to build knowledge and experiences utilizing mindfulness practices to develop sustainable and research-based programming for young children in early intervention, as well as their families and professional support teams. Highlights of interventions used with children by professionals and family members are provided, as well as a summary of data collected of the impact of mindfulness interventions as reported by professionals and families.

Gina Garner, Higher Education Consultant, OEE, MDE

This webinar will examine the revised Michigan certification structure through the lens of early childhood certification. We will talk about changes to the overall structure and then how those changes interact with early childhood teacher preparation programs.

Dr. Jessica Grimone-Hopkins, Assistant Professor and Dr. Christina Mirtes, Associate Professor, Eastern Michigan University

Early On Center Coursework Connections Webinar - With support from Early On Center for Higher Education, the presenters recently conducted a research study examining how confident Early Intervention Specialists feel in their skills and how prepared they believe they are to work with infants and toddlers (birth to age three) with disabilities and their families. Based on their findings, they developed a concise guide for higher education institutions. This resource focuses on key aspects such as designing coursework, incorporating hands-on field experiences, encouraging collaboration across disciplines, and providing professional development opportunities for faculty. This session aims to familiarize participants with the resource, encourage its use in practice, and inspire attendees to share it with colleagues and institutions.

Dr. Christina Mirtes, Associate Professor and Dr. Jessica Grimone-Hopkins, Assistant Professor, Eastern Michigan University

This Early On Center Coursework Connections webinar will provide an overview of the new Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Birth through Kindergarten, what the standards are, how they are to be used to guide high-quality practices within programs and to support children’s development. Presenters will focus on how early childhood professionals can use these standards as a coaching and professional learning tool, a tool to share with families, and a guide and inform early childhood courses and programs within higher education.

Gina Garner, PhD, Michigan Department of Education

What do you know about the new Early Childhood General and Special Education (ZN) endorsement? This webinar provides information about the requirements for the new ZN and how the state will phase out the ZS.

Julie Ricks-Doneen, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Oakland University

Learn how one professor develops assignments to incorporate shared instructor and student learning while using technology to expand student choice and voice across multiple courses and content areas. Examples will be provided of assignments from undergraduate and graduate courses in an early childhood program that was intended to increase students' connections to real-world and contextualized problems of practice with children, families, and early childhood providers by incorporating technology such as website design, podcasts, virtual family-child experiences, and survey development.

Tamesha Harewood, Michigan State University, Danielle Savory Seggerson, Lansing Community College, and Kalli Decker, Montana State University

Participants learned about a framework for enhancing knowledge, dispositions, and skills for preservice students who are preparing to work with infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities by implementing the KiDS-WITS Instructor Guide. This framework can be used to align course content to learning goals and student outcomes. Hear from faculty on how they used the KiDS-WITS Instructor Guide within their courses.

Michigan Persona Project Team

Faculty and presenters: Do you like the examples you use in your courses and presentations to be engaging, current, and relevant? Coaches, mentors, supervisors, and other leaders: Would you like some fresh and effective examples for supporting educators to learn about and implement evidence-based practices? Hear from Members of the Michigan Persona Project Team and other current users as they share their experience and examples of ways to incorporate the Michigan Personas.

Audrey Farrugia, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Eastern Michigan University

Ready for an equitable change in your teaching and learning practices? Learn how one professor did away with traditional grading and focused on competency all the while involving community practitioners in early intervention higher education. This session will explore competency based course design, community involvement, and student perceptions.

Katie Emerson-Hoss, Ph.D, Higher Education Outreach and Implementation Manager, EarlyEDU Alliance

Learn about EarlyEDU Alliance's website, resources, and ideas for faculty to use in their early intervention/early childhood coursework.

Keri Davis, M.Ed., Assistant Professor at Grand Rapids Community College and Adjunct Professor at Grand Valley State University

This webinar explored the changes made to an Infant/Toddler course (CD 210 Infant and Toddler Development) through the collaboration with a higher education grant. This course now utilizes more inclusive terminology and practices and has new content specifically related to licensing rules and regulations. Discussions also include how this course transitioned the 2 hour a week in person lab to a virtual learning opportunity during COVID. 

Audrey Farrugia, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Eastern Michigan University

Description: Speech-language pathologists play a pivotal role in early intervention. However, due to the wide scope of practice, varying state mandates, and limited job positions, the work of early intervention speech-language pathologists remains a mystery to many. This presentation will explore themes from the reported roles and responsibilities of 13 early intervention speech-language pathologists throughout the state of Michigan and their suggestions to faculty for preparation to enter the field. Particular attention will be paid to discussions of initial eligibility/diagnosis of autism with families.

Hosted by: The Early On Center for Higher Education, Michigan Division of Early Childhood, Mi-ACCESS, Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children, and Great Start for Higher Education. Participants will get access to free, evidence-based resources for supporting each and every young child and their family.

Denise A. Ludwig, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, FNAP, Professor, Assistant Department Chair, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, GVSU

Leaders of early intervention programs are required to understand a complex set of legislative, curricular, personnel, and assessment regulatory and best practice content. An early intervention leadership training program developed for IHE educational leadership programs was developed to include modules aligned with requirements of IDEA Part C Programs. Administrators, service providers, parents, and community members may benefit from this presentation.

Camille Catlett, FPG Child Development Institute

Effective assignments need to provide learners with opportunities to both acquire and apply knowledge and practices. This webinar will share examples of tools for examining your assignments for these important dimensions and will feature multiple examples of assignment makeovers. Emphasis will be placed on preparing learners to support children of diverse cultures, languages, and abilities and their families AND on using evidence-based practices. 

Gina Garner, Higher Education Consultant, Education Preparation Unit, Office of Educator Excellence

Noel Kelty, Director for the Office of Early Childhood Development & Family Education

Presentation Includes: Revised Certification Structure; What is the Birth-Kindergarten (B-K) Grade Band?; Standards Overview; B-K Implementation Timeline; Program Application Process; and Supports Available

Tricia Foster, OTR/L, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Eastern Michigan University

This webinar presented a view into everyday practice based on findings from the 2018 Early On Faculty Grant research study of early intervention services in Michigan. Using wearable video cameras, service providers recorded their home visits; videos were then analyzed for the routines/contexts utilized throughout the visit, as well as parental role and engagement. Implications and opportunities for practice were discussed.

Julie Ricks-Doneen, Assistant Professor, Human Development and Child Studies, Oakland University

In this webinar, instructor and students together provided an overview of a project that students developed in the undergraduate Professionalism, Leadership and Advocacy course in the Early Childhood Program. Building on prior course experiences, the students developed a website focused on diversity that provided resources for families and teachers. Students worked in teams to develop sections of the website.

Kalli Decker, PhD, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education & Child Services, Montana State University presented the Early On Center's Coursework Connections webinar on the topic of preparing undergraduate students to enter the field of home visiting. Kalli taught a semester-long course ‘Home Visiting for Families and Young Children’ in spring of 2020. She provided an overview of the course, including successes and lessons learned. The syllabi used to guide this course, resources, and other ideas will be shared for those interested in incorporating preservice home visiting preparation into a semester-long course or as part of portions of other courses.

Early On Center for Higher Education Web Event: Birth-Kindergarten Grade Band: Standards Deep Dive presented by Hope K. Gerde, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Michigan State University Cheryl Priest, Ed.D., Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Central Michigan University, Christina Mirtes, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education, Eastern Michigan University, and Gina Garner, OEE, MDE.

Early On Center for Higher Education Web Event: Birth-Kindergarten Grade Band: Clinical Experiences Requirements with presenters:

Gina Garner – Office of Educator Excellence: Professional Preparation

Noel Kelty – Office of Great Start: Early Childhood Development & Family Education Pat Sargent– Office of Great Start: Preschool and Out-of-School Time Learning, Great Start Readiness Program

Rita Trinklein – Office of Great Start: Early Childhood Development & Family Education 

Lisa Wasacz – Office of Great Start: Preschool and Out-of-School Time Learning, Preschool Special Education

Danielle Savory Seggerson, Professor, Child Development and Early College, Lansing Community College

As courses shift to the online learning format, higher ed faculty are presented with a unique opportunity for fostering relationships and engaging students in ways that are different from those in the face-to-face classroom. This session will provide strategies to cultivate instructor-student and student-student relationships, as well as to plan with community-building in mind. Strategies suitable for both synchronous and asynchronous environments will be shared.

Bite-Sized Learning Webinar recordings are one-hour professional development opportunities focused on important topics that are relevant for early intervention practitioners.