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Online Training Opportunities

First Connections

First Connections is a multifaceted, comprehensive telecommunications project offering education about infants and toddlers to teachers, caregivers, and parents across the state of Nebraska and beyond.

First Connections is designed to make exemplary technology-based training opportunities available to early childhood care and education personnel working with infants and toddlers, including those with special needs, primarily in home-based child care.  The argument for high-quality child care is strengthened by recent research that highlights the importance of early environmental experiences on the developing infant's brain and ultimately on the child's overall development.  Specifically, this research stresses the importance of positive responsive caregiver-child interaction on the young child's cognitive and psychosocial development.

School Age Connections

School-Age Connections is a comprehensive, interactive, Internet-based training project providing information about working with school-age children. The training is designed to assist providers in the development and implementation of school-age programming for before and after school, during non-school days, and during summer vacation. The 15 modules cover a wide range of topics, and are designed to be used individually or as a group, as determined by the participant's needs. Each module contains a wealth of information, several interactive activities, and a review, as well as links to additional resources on the topic.

Each module will provide two hours of in-service credit (for Nebraska participants) and will take approximately two hours to complete.

A certificate of completion can be mailed to Nebraska participants after the completion of each module. To request a certificate, please e-mail tammi.hicken@nebraska.gov. Make sure to specify which module(s) you have completed and give a current mailing address.

These training modules are offered to you at no cost.