Campus Technology Insider Podcast June 2024
Listen: Building Florida's First AI Degree Program
Rhea Kelly 00:08
Hello, and welcome to the Campus Technology Insider podcast. I'm Rhea Kelly, editor in chief of Campus Technology, and your host.
Florida's Miami Dade College recently announced the launch of a new bachelor's degree in applied artificial intelligence — the first such degree in the state and one of the first in the country. At the heart of MDC's approach is the conviction that education in artificial intelligence is for everyone — people at all levels need understand how to apply AI in their lives and careers. For this episode of the podcast, I spoke with Antonio Delgado, vice president of innovation and technology partnerships at Miami Dade College, about how the degree program was developed, the foundational AI skills that students need to succeed, and creating spaces that bring people together around AI. Here's our chat.
Hi Antonio, welcome to the podcast.
Antonio Delgado 01:09
Thank you for having me.
Rhea Kelly 01:11
So I thought maybe we should start by you telling me a little bit about your role at Miami Dade College and your background.
Antonio Delgado 01:19
Well, I'm the vice president of innovation and technology partnerships at Miami Dade College, and this is one of the largest colleges in the nation, if not the largest — we have over 125,000 students every year. And my background is really to, is technology, I'm passionate about, you know, how to use technology, how to adopt technology, but also about how to help people. So these, my role is a unique intersection where I have the opportunity to leverage technology and changing the life of many people in Miami that go through our programs, creating pathways to economic mobility, really.
Rhea Kelly 01:57
So with "innovation" and "technology partnerships" in your title, what are your goals for MDC in those areas?
Antonio Delgado 02:04
Well, basically, we see how education is evolving at large. We see how education plays a key role on creating the professionals of today and the future. But really it is, how do you get the skills? You get the skills through a degree, or you get the skills through a MOOC, online, YouTube, like how, like people can get skills now in many different ways. So as, as education continues evolving in the way that, you know, that you can become a long life learner, your whole life you can continue learning, how the institution, how, my role is to see how Miami Dade College can continue innovating to remain relevant for today and the future, to help our community. We are a community-based institution thinking on creating the pathways and the opportunity for anyone in Miami to get the skills that they need to be successful in their professional career and also in their personal life as well. So we try to find ways to continue, again, remaining relevant with especially using technology and innovating about being an asset for anyone, the ones who upskill or reskill, and they still consider Miami Dade College as an option.
Rhea Kelly 03:27
So you all recently announced the launch of a new bachelor's degree in applied artificial intelligence, the first in the state of Florida, I understand. So what were kind of the main considerations that went into the development of an AI degree program?
Antonio Delgado 03:44
Yes, definitely the first degree, we have the first bachelor and the first associate degrees in artificial intelligence in the state of Florida, and really one of the first in the nation, in terms of the applications of AI. So usually we see four-year institutions, the ones that have been leading the charge in artificial intelligence, mostly from a research perspective, mostly from graduate programs, masters, PhDs. And we saw the opportunity, again, thinking and remaining relevant and transforming education, we saw that artificial intelligence is really evolving in a way that is not just for masters and PhDs. Everyone should know about artificial intelligence. And everyone, from the perspective of regular high school students that continue to college, they should learn about artificial intelligence, not to become AI experts necessarily, but to understand how to apply AI. So when they get to the workforce, they come with the skills to be useful, beneficial for the society, by, and their specific work role, when they know how to apply artificial intelligence. But the reality, we started working on this over three, four years ago, before ChatGPT became, you know, what everyone knows today, and how it really provided access to AI to everyone. That happening, you know, especially last, starting last year, is not just about the future students coming to college. It's about everyone in our society, everyone in the community needing to upskill and reskill in artificial intelligence. And that's what we have seen, that we have created a program, or let's call it a stackable credential pathway. It's not just one program, it's multiple programs that you can just come and take classes, a certificate, and then you go back to your workplace to implement, to adapt and use those skills. Or you can go for a full associate degree in artificial intelligence, or you can continue and actually complete a four-year program in artificial intelligence. So that's, that's really what we have developed, a stackable credential pathway that you can come in or out at any point, but you can get skills that are ready to be implemented in the, in the workplace,