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www.zeroproject.org
office@zeroproject.org
088 - CONNECT, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, USA
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ONTACT
CONNECT Project, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
Ms. Pam Winton
USA
http://community.fpg.unc.edu/+ 1 919 9667180
pam_winton@unc.eduO
VERALL GOAL
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MISSION
The mission of CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge is to work with the early childhood
community to create a series of free web-based multimedia modules for early childhood faculty and instructors /
trainers to support early childhood professionals to learn about and implement specific evidence-based practices
associated with inclusion. More recently, CONNECT expanded its goal to reach the child care community directly by
repurposing the modules into credit-granting self-paced self-guided online CONNECT courses. These credit-granting self-
paced courses are offered at a low cost using a revenue-neutral model.
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HE SOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED
CONNECT was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs within the U.S. Department of Education between
2008-2014 to address the above challenges by developing free web-based, multimedia modules. Each module focuses
on a specific research-based practice (i.e., embedded interventions, transitions, communication for collaboration,
family/professional partnerships, assistive technology, dialogic reading, and tiered instruction in early childhood). The
modules have provided faculty, instructors and trainers with free access to the best available research on effective
practices in key content areas, as well as definitions, multimedia examples and demonstrations of practices, related
laws, policies, consensus documents and activities, all organized to scaffold and support learners’ abilities to apply the
knowledge to practice dilemmas related to inclusion. In addition, CONNECT has provided a template (the 5-Step
Learning Cycle) for organizing content into a learning sequence that faculty, instructors and trainers can apply to any
topic they teach. This framework helps early childhood practitioners make evidence-based decisions when they are
faced with daily practice dilemmas. All video clips in the modules also include closed captioning and transcripts.
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OUNTRY IN WHICH IT WAS DEVELOPED
:
USA
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OUNTRY
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COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS OPERATING
:
USA
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ACTS ABOUT SIZE AND SCOPE
Number of page views (Aug 1, 2010 - July 7, 2015): 2.86 million
Number of visitors (Aug 1, 2010 - July 7, 2015): 412,086