Monthly Summary
August was a huge outreach month. In addition to marketing and tabling events to promote the Fall microcredential sessions, the team also created a newsletter highlighting accomplishments for the first two years of the program. Several meetings were held to discuss the DFI program within and outside of the college. Finally, further discussions were held with stakeholders about the collaboration between DFI and CSIT to develop AI microcredentials and a credit course pathway, leading up to a Level 1 Certificate.
The major revamp of the Web Builder microcredential was completed and the Advanced PowerPoint microcredential development continued.
Highlights
Outreach
- Created a poster and ordered rack cards for ACC Military Families Center Biz Tech Clinic event to promote DFI microcredentials to military spouses.
- Created marketing content to go in September BRASS, Riverbat Echo, and Faculty & Staff newsletters.
- Promoted DFI microcredentials for Fall 2024 Back to School Welcome Event at SAC and HLC.
- Created a “Two Year in Review” newsletter to be sent to DFI mailing list highlighting data and accomplishments for the first two years of the program.
- Created certificates to award to Nonprofit Austin Students and to Hybrid model students
- August 2 – Met with Manal Mahmoud (TLED Badging Coordinator) and Nina Means (Chair of Badging Committee) to discuss the process of approving microcredentials.
- August 2 – Met with Kathy Dowdy (Dean of Adult Ed) to discuss DFI Microcredentials.
- August 8 – Met with Venancio Ybarra (Dean of Computer Science and Information Technology CSIT) and Mary Kohls (Chair of CSIT) to discuss a collaboration between DFI and CSIT to build an AI microcredential and credit program.
- August 13 – Met with Foundation Communities for ongoing collaboration
- August 15 – Met with Dr Erasmus Addae (Assoc. VC of Distance and Alternative Learning) to discuss moving the DFI program to his division for supervision and support.
- August 18 – Met Nancy Lyons (Interim Director of the Bioscience Incubator grant) to discuss DFI microcredentials and the history of the Student School to Business Center.
- August 19 – Met with Military Families to review poster and rack cards created to promote DFI microcredentials to military spouses at an upcoming Biz Tech Clinic event.
- August 20 – Met with Patricia Hernandez (ACC Communications and Marketing) to discuss a hybrid delivery model for the Problem Solving with AI microcredential at their staff development retreat.
- August 26 – Met with Barry Silverberg (NonProfit ACC) to discuss a paid model of delivering DFI microcredentials to his clients.
- August 27 – Met with Delphine Gonzales (Director of Continuing Education Operations and Contracts) and Vanessa Errico (Manager of Military Spouses and Families program) to discuss building a process for registering military spouses into DFI microcredentials.
- August 28 – Met with Foundation Communities to discuss MOU for partnership in delivering DFI MCs to their clientele.
- August 29 – Met with Melissa Mahoney and Joanna Han (D2L LMS) to discuss DFI program.
- August 29 – Participated in White House briefing on the Digital Equity Competitive grant to learn about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s grant program.
Microcredentials
- Advanced PowerPoint microcredential development continued.
- Revamp of Web Builder microcredential completed (changes were made to offer two branching options to accommodate student needs: a free, starter site on WordPress.com, and a custom site using WordPress.org and purchase of a domain name and web host). Changes were also made to syllabus, web site, and Suitable badging to reflect new pathway options.
- Updated all Master Syllabi and Master Microcredentials to clarify when students should expect to receive badges.
Data
- Updated Data Dashboard to include Summer Completion stats.
- 126 badges were awarded for the Summer 2024 session, up from 56 badges awarded for the Summer 2023 session.