Challenge
Building flexible, equitable education for a diverse learner population
Research by Austin Community College (ACC)—one of the main gateways to higher education in Austin, Texas—indicates that 92% of people in the workforce require digital skills to thrive. However, students on traditional degree programs and working adults without a university education very rarely get the opportunity to learn digital skills.
In many cases, existing digital courses are too expensive, require a significant time commitment or take place during working hours. Keen to give learners an accessible and affordable way to gain the skills they need to succeed at school and work, ACC decided to launch a brand-new digital fluency initiative.
“Our vision for a digital fluency program started when we initially transformed 41 computer science courses into competency-based learning modules,” explains Linda Smarzik, dean of digital fluency & innovation. “At the time, our goal was to make it possible for learners to take shorter courses to improve the skills they required but might not have been explicitly taught through course content. Specifically, we looked to make basic tech training more available to our technology diverse student population, which includes both full-time students and part-time adult learners.”
Driven by a clear vision, course designers at ACC took to the drawing board. “We had written on a whiteboard this concept of building bite-sized, non-credit modules that could lead to credit later,” says Linda Smarzik. “Crucially, we wanted these modules to be available to a wide learner base—from military spouses looking to enter the workforce to our own faculty members planning to upskill. To be effective, the modules had to be affordable, but also help people apply new knowledge and skills in real-life scenarios.” When the team returned to the whiteboard, after the pandemic and two years later—they were happy to see that they had achieved almost everything written on the board.
Solution
Inspiring learners with micro-credentials
To give more learners the opportunity to enhance their digital fluency, ACC used D2L Brightspace to develop short modules that provide learners with certificates and micro-credential badges after successful completion. Designed with competency-based learning best practices in mind, these short courses teach practical tech skills in web building and data analytics, as well as how to use popular software used in post graduate roles, such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace solutions.
Each course takes between 20 to 30 hours to complete, is offered free-of-charge and can be taken in combination with existing degree programs or alongside other courses. What’s more, all students and faculty have access to these courses and micro-credentials by opting in.
Faculty that complete ACC’s digital fluency modules and achieve a score of 80% or higher have the option to become digital navigators. “To encourage broad user adoption within ACC, we created the digital navigator program,” says Karina Hernandez, associate dean of digital fluency & innovation. “Qualifying faculty members with a high score on our digital fluency modules open the option to grade students taking the same module and support them by providing useful feedback. Not only does this help to boost course adoption, but it also fosters a really strong sense of community around these micro-credentials.”
Keeping learners on track
After creating clear incentives for faculty to take digital fluency micro-credentials, ACC explored ways to boost adoption and engagement among its student body by leveraging intelligent agents in Brightspace.
“If a student hasn’t engaged with the digital fluency program or logged into our online learning environment for a few days, we use intelligent agents to automatically trigger an email to the student,” explains Karina Hernandez. “We send the mail on behalf of the course’s digital navigator, offering students information about their office hours and pointing them in the direction of additional support. This is one of the features that we find so powerful about Brightspace; we can use the platform’s strong analytics and reporting capabilities to get insights on where and when we need to act on course engagement.”
Result
Expanding engagement and student success
Today, over 10 faculty departments offer digital fluency micro-credentials. And while ACC’s digital fluency initiative is still in its infancy, it has already produced impressive results. For instance, ACC has achieved a 71% completion rate for students gaining the first competency level—a result that the college hopes to replicate with subsequent competency levels for all courses with micro-credentials.
“Our students are telling us about the real impact our digital fluency courses are having on their lives, and it’s really rewarding to hear,” reflects Karina Hernandez. “One nursing student told us that she wasn’t aware that her degree course would require her to do presentations, which she found daunting. After taking a Microsoft 365 digital fluency course, she now feels more confident in her ability to make engaging presentations. Similarly, a student who took our web design digital fluency module remarked that the micro-credential he earned is helping him to stand out from other candidates when he applies for jobs.”
Looking ahead, ACC plans to further expand its digital fluency initiative by offering a new set of micro-credentials focused on artificial intelligence (AI), and more. These additional micro-credentials will offer students further opportunities to gain specialized skills that are now increasingly in high demand.
“By offering micro-credentials through digital fluency modules, we’re not just preparing our students for success in the workforce—we’re creating a new model for higher education,” concludes Karina Hernandez. “A model that is flexible, equitable, and responsive to the needs of both learners and employers.”
INTERVIEWEES
- Linda Smarzik, dean of digital fluency & innovation
- Karina Hernandez, associate dean of digital fluency & innovation