Overview
The Austin School is a lecture series that brings the world to ACC students in order to make understanding their world a little easier. Many students may rarely, if ever, leave the Austin area or have the opportunities outside of the classroom that are a part of being a well-informed citizen. The Austin School aims to close this gap.
Accomplishments
- Hosted more than 13 face-to-face lecture events over the past year
- Created and maintained a robust YouTube channel
- Showcased the scholarship of ACC professors from various disciplines, including Government Professor Dr. Roy Casagranda who has given many of the talks, and brought in news makers, legislators, and scholars from outside ACC. Outside speakers have included rabbis, scholars, legislators, and ambassadors.
- Showcased the work of several students
Impact
The Austin School expands curriculum in ways not available in the classroom. We give students the chance to engage with ACC faculty experts in their area of expertise. Students get to see faculty not only as instructors but as active scholars on par with faculty of any of the state’s leading universities.
The Austin School covers important topics that would not normally come up in the classroom, topics that shape the news every day. In addition, these lectures give students access to people that make the news. The Austin School has brought in legislators, religious leaders, ambassadors, experts and other news makers. We expose students to histories, stories and people that shape their current world and may have a long range effect on their future.
Next Steps
- Bring in more Texas legislators, faculty experts from across the institution, news makers, and thought leaders that shape students‘ world but to whom students would not ordinarily have access.
- Increase student attendance to pre-pandemic numbers. Prior to the pandemic the average attendance was around 80 students, with numbers for each event between 60 to 100. At least two events had 150 attendees. The currently average attendance is about 26; the highest attendance was 42 students.
- Create better marketing around the lectures. Currently there is a Youtube channel. We would like to build a marketing team to create Instagram shorts aimed at increasing news literacy for students and the community.
- Improve the Austin School video resources so that they can be used as Open Educational Resources, engaging material for classrooms and as a source for students to discover resources on topical issues that affect their lives, communities and the world at large.