Overview
The adverse impact of digital fluency gaps on employability has become increasingly evident over the past decade, becoming a major impediment to social and economic mobility for workers. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey reports that eight in 10 students say digital skills should be a bigger part of their college curriculum. Although a majority of ACC students work, their employment is often part-time, involving low digital skills, and is unrelated to their degree and certificate pathways. ACC’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), “Digital Fluency & Innovation,” seeks to close digital skills gaps for our students by offering noncredit microcredentials to all ACC students.
Accomplishments
- ACC’s QEP received national recognition through:
- The Aspen Institute’s “Developing Digital Fluency to Advance Equity: The Case of Austin Community College,” recognizing the college as a leader in developing its digital fluency initiative and commitment to Hispanic students.
- Inside Higher Ed’s report, “Adaptation Across the Higher Ed Landscape,” spotlighting ACC’s response to the challenges and pressures of today’s higher education landscape by addressing workplace digital fluency gaps through stackable microcredentials in high-demand job skills and professional competencies.
- UpSkill America—an initiative of the Economic Opportunities Program—and the Latinos and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, with support from Google, launched the Digital Skills and the Latino Workforce research project. “Pathways to Digital Skills Development for Latino Workers” features ACC’s QEP as a best and most promising practice to upskill the Latino workforce.
- Cross-functional partnerships with multiple stakeholders, including ACC’s Career Services (ACC GROW program), ACC Works, Career Scholars, Adult Education, Continuing Education, and instructional areas of study, have been established to embed the digital fluency concept and micro-credentials collegewide in an effort to scale equitable career outcomes.
Impact
Workers with digital fluency skills are more likely to be productive, competitive, and in-demand, leading to better employment opportunities, career growth, and economic stability. We are developing longitudinal data studies regarding career outcomes post-digital fluency attainment, as well as efficacy research to study the implications of using digital fluency as an intervention for marginalized populations for this new initiative.
Next Steps
Upon launch of the first five microcredentials:
- Incentivize student-workers through Career Services’ ACC GROW program to acquire digital fluency microcredential badges.
- Increase opportunities for students to apply digital fluency skills along with professional competencies in real workplace scenarios through ACC Works, internships, apprenticeships, and service learning opportunities.
- Target marketing and support to special programs and student organizations bolstering marginalized students: Ascender, BRASS, ACCess Autism, SWAP/Reentry, First-Generation, and Career Scholars to scale equitable career outcomes.
- Build partnerships with ACCelerators and Learning Labs to scale access to digital fluency training.
- Train academic advisors and success coaches to ensure students obtain the skills to successfully complete courses, attain credentials, and achieve equitable employment outcomes.