Campus Technology Insider Podcast June 2024
Rhea Kelly 11:41
Are the industry leaders involved in the actual teaching, or just, just faculty, or how does that work?
Antonio Delgado 11:45
That's a great question. Where, when you have something that is so unique, and you don't have books developed on these layers yet, yes, there are books about AI at large, but not necessarily about the application of AI and the speed that we're getting from a workforce development perspective. So we definitely need that strong connection at the beginning with industry not only giving us feedback on the skills and abilities that they're looking for, but also on modalities, where sometimes they become part of a class as a speaker, or they become consultants, really, at some point, to help upskill our faculty and, and help on the lectures that are needed. And sometimes it's just the support from companies like Intel, and, as an example, where they developed a program called AI for Workforce, and it's the whole curriculum developed for, in artificial intelligence, for community college faculty. So that's really an opportunity where our faculty learn from either the experts or these companies developing content that they can use and really leverage. When they don't have access to a book on these topics, they do have access to these materials and experts to help teach in the class. But overall, the teaching component remains on faculty, not necessarily on the industry experts. They can help at the beginning, but we are relying on upskilling our faculty to be able to deliver the training either as a full-time faculty or as an adjunct. And that's what really happens sometimes, where these industry experts, if they have the credentials to teach in higher education, they can become adjuncts by teaching part time. So that's what we're leveraging now, where we have a 50-50% distribution of full time faculty and practitioners that are, as adjuncts, coming to teach for our program.
Rhea Kelly 13:43
That makes me think about how there are so many different options out there for gaining AI skills, and you've got, like, Google certificates, training from industry sources outside of the college environment. So what's the best way for students to navigate all of those options or choose what's right for them in terms of, like, should they pursue a four year degree? Should they just go get a Google certificate?
Antonio Delgado 14:08
So first of all, we, we understand that not everyone is looking for a degree in artificial intelligence, and it's actually not even needed. Every person will have a different need, and depending on their needs, there are solutions for that. The way that we develop the program allows for anyone, wherever they are, whatever they need, to come to get what, exactly what they need. If you need just skills, you can come, get those skills, and go back. You don't need to continue the degree. But if you want to get a degree, every course and every skill that you took is going to help you get the degree. So connecting that to your question about what happened with everything that is available now coming out of Google, Microsoft, IBM, or even Intel, the reality is like, great, we're, we're living at a time where through internet and the tools available, you can learn by yourself, and that's true. You don't need to go to an academic institution if you can go through Coursera and learn the latest Google essentials, AI essentials course that was launched last month on Coursera. What is the difference? In order to go by yourself, through online, so you need to have very strong discipline and learning capacity, to first find the time and keep consistent with the learning process on every day or every week, to dedicate time to go and learn. But second is not just the discipline, but also the capacity, or even the resources. First, the capacity: Can you really learn, by yourself, topics like artificial intelligence? If they're very fundamental, maybe, like very, you know, just to understand, maybe, but to really apply AI, to really learn these topics and to work on a project and to be able to implement, that's when not everyone is able to do that. And that's assuming that you have the right internet connection, that you have the right device that is not just your phone, that you have a device where you can actually implement everything that you need. And that's where we feel that we have, we add value. Miami Dade College as an academic institution that has, first, the resources for those that don't have the resources at home, we provide the resources with the equipment, with the internet, with everything that they need to succeed, plus an instructor. That you're not learning by yourself anymore, you're learning with a community led by an instructor. And then the discipline comes from: You have classes at a regular time and your schedule, and you're going to make it work, and you have a timeline with a beginning and an end for every class. So then the question, so we're adding, we're providing what you don't have by doing it by yourself. But then the question is, okay, but Google is giving, this is from Google, and then what I'm going to learn your program? What we have done at Miami Dade College, we have partnered with every, every company that we have discussed, like Google, every student that comes without to, that enroll and register on any AI course at Miami Dade College, they automatically get access, for free, to the course of Google AI Essentials on Coursera. They get access automatically to the content that Amazon Web Services is making available as resources for anyone that want to learn about AI. They get resources to the Microsoft certifications about Azure AI Fundamentals as part of the content that they're learning. They get access to the Intel curriculum that is available as AI for Workforce. So our approach is to actually not to compete with the resources available online, we incorporate and we partner with all those companies to be able to create not just the environment of a classroom, but the extra resources for them to complete courses and certifications that are available online, but with the support of the faculty. So when you combine that approach, you're not only getting the skills and the support from a faculty you're also getting these extra resources from industry. It becomes like a perfect solution to help anyone, really, complete, understand the content, and complete it with the support of an ecosystem that can help you do it.