Holly Clark: Ready and I will go ahead and I will turn it over to Lisa to get us started.

Lisa Le Fevre: Thank you very much, Holly. And again, welcome everyone, to our webinar. This is part 3 of a webinar series that focuses on Accelerated Learning Approaches. The last webinar addressed how programs worked with programs to identify, develop, and implement their accelerated learning programs.

Today, we're going to be exploring continued improvement and evaluation to support data-informed program improvements or decisions. Again, we hope that during each of these brief webinars, you will also be able to share your knowledge and your expertise as we do intend to build a community and knowledge as we go along through shared learning. Next slide, please.

OK. So-- oops, I'm sorry. Just one above. I skipped too much. [chuckles] All right. I'm going to do a little bit of introductions. As our team introduces ourselves, please take a moment to introduce yourself in the chat with your name, role and organization.

I'm Lisa Le Fevre, a Senior Program Associate at WestEd. WestEd is a non-profit organization providing education, research, technical assistance, and development. I'm joined by my colleague, Dr. Toso, an expert in the adult education field. We'd also like to take this moment to recognize the Chancellor's Office CAEP team, Mayra Diaz and Cora Rainey, and the CDE team-- Dr. Carolyn Zachary and Neil Kelly, as well as Diana Battista, who support this type of work.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank SCOE Tapp, who have helped to make events today possible. We're really always appreciative of their efforts and their organization. They really make things run smoothly and are a joy to work with. That said, I am going to pass it to Dr. Toso.

Blaire Wilson Toso: All right. Thank you, Lisa. Can we go to the next slide, please? So I just wanted to upfront mention that we have got a lot of people who are joining us here and have helped make this webinar really concrete for you all to learn from their experiences.

As you can see, we've got people from Sutter County Adult Education. We have both Trevi Hardy, who's the Program Director of Adult Education and GED, who from the Idaho Division of CTE, who has helped to lead the program before going to her current position, who worked with Sarah and Heidi at the College of Western Idaho.

And lastly, we have dean, Michelle Gray and Kelly Henwood from San Diego College of Continuing Education. Each of them are going to present on their programs so that we can learn from their examples and ask questions of them. And we are going to focus on continuous improvement for today. Next slide, please.

As I mentioned, we're going to first just do a really quick look at accelerated learning approaches with a focus on continuous improvement design. This will be just simply to set the context and help us to start thinking about it. We will be creating some resources that will support you to do continuing improvement design, which will be sent out along with the remediated slides. And they'll be sent out directly to you from SCOETab.

Then we'll move from there once we're all thinking about it into voices from the field, as I said, and looking at our generous guests will be presenting on their work and we'll move them from discussion and closing. Next slide, please.

So our goals are really to-- in past ones, we're to remove, we're to review models and approaches that support accelerated learning, identify some key strategies for delivering this, and then identify really in this one components of continuous improvement design.

And then going on those models, really that those are going to be presented so that we can learn about these strategies that other programs are using. And particularly to think about refining and delivering data informed, accelerated learning. Next slide, please.

So what is accelerated learning? Really we are talking about approaches that support learners to do more than one thing at the same time so that they can achieve their goals more quickly. And those are offered through these integrated learning experiences or the accelerated learning approaches. Next slide, please.

So here it is. We talk about that. You can see that instead of the linear model that goes from the bottom up where students achieve their goals, this is really where we're threading across and seeing that interweaving, which can be including a job. It focuses on transitions, to training, education and employment. So even something like a bridge program, this is really important because it reduces the time and cost for adult learners.

And then it also creates access for underrepresented populations-- for populations who may not be able to access those traditional pathways. And then the other piece that it does is it encourages partnership, right. It's difficult to offer all of these components simultaneously. And so you'll hear about each one of our programs talking about their pro-- partnerships to help make this approach a possibility. Next slide, please.

So we talked in our past two webinars. We've gone into examples of accelerated learning programs. We'll review them very briefly here. So we've got the integrated education training and the integrated English literacy, civics and integration, more commonly known as IET and ILC.

We also have dual enrollment, which serves those populations as well. Co-enrollment with WIOA partners, pre-apprenticeships, work-based learning and contextualized bridge programming. We put it out for everyone to add those ideas that they have or that we might have missed. And in our last webinars, somebody talked about micro credentialing. Another one talked about another couple people mentioned credit for prior learning or experience.

So if you have an example of an accelerated learning approach that is not built on this slide, we'd love to hear it in the chat. Please post it and we can add it to the programs that we know and can offer up as models for everyone. Next slide, please.

So the last webinar, we identified some initial key considerations for designing and implementing the accelerated learning program. So when that gets posted, if you weren't in that one, you might want to check through it. And we really talked about identifying those key pieces using your data, the need, the target population, your partners, and any opportunities that already exist. So you don't duplicate your efforts. Rather, you build on what's already been designed.

Or you improve on that. Identifying that program structure-- which of those models are going to work best for you. Who do you want to help you design your program? Can be everything from your instructors, your employers, career navigators, administrators. You'll hear people talking about that today. Really important to identify your program goals.

We tend to look at them at just about the program. So we support also thinking about what are your learner goals and what are your stakeholder goals. So that people's needs are met as well as identifying measurable outcomes with each of those goals. Because that way you can really engage in some continuous improvement.

Establishing approvals and communication processes amongst those partnerships, or so that compliance and collaboration can move forward smoothly. And people-- those goals that I talked about in four are met and then co-developing that curriculum. So as I said briefly, that's-- in a building, that design program. In a nutshell, we'll be sending out a resource which will amplify that. Next slide, please.

So let's talk about one of the more well-known continuous improvement design approaches, which is where you identify your questions. Then you plan, execute, analyze and review. And we're going to look at each one of these briefly. Next slide, please.

So when you're thinking about identifying what's going on in your program, what outcomes will you use to identify success? And what questions do you have about your programming? When you're talking about continuous improvement, it's not just about what are our outcomes and are we meeting them. But it's more like, well, how is that career planning component that we put in there?

Or do our learners-- are they responding to what we're doing? How are our partners doing. Is our programming doing what it says it's going to do? So it's not just about retention or attainment, but those are really excellent ideas as well. But this can be any of those questions and not simply about the outcomes that you're doing. Next slide, please.

The planning part is something that we suggest you do upfront as you're designing your program and not after the fact. A lot of times we don't have a lot of time to think about it thoughtfully as we design our program.

But anytime you can begin to put in continuous improvement or an evaluation plan, whether formative or summative upfront, it really allows you to support your programming and ensure that your programming is designed towards those key components that you're really interested in.

So when your planning, you're also thinking about what data do I collect? When do we collect them? What's the timeline? Oh, who need to be involved? Is it just you? Is it your instructors? Are your partners engaged in that? So really, essentially, what activities do you need to collect to explore your questions and identify a solution. Next slide.

Here are some. I wanted to make sure we briefly touched on some different types of data. I'm sure most of you are familiar with those, but your learners are key informants for your evaluation or your continuous improvement. Then you can also get their portfolios, find out how their career navigator check-ins are going, and also those assessments that we are generally attuned to for being able to report our outcomes.

Ensuring that you check in with your stakeholders, your employers, if they're engaging with them, or if you are placing learners with them. And staff-- ensuring your staff are engaged. Surveys, just discussions like those informal ones. And then that will also help you identify any needs for PD in training to make sure that you can create that continuous improvement and then stick to your plan. Next slide, please.

So the execution. Now we carry out your plan, but there's always should be some scheduled check-ins. Do you need to adjust or augment your activities? At some point in the time, you might think, whoa, that's not getting us the information we want. We should probably rethink this.

So just because you've set out your plan, continuous improvement works for continuous improvement plans to. Adjust them and make them work for your needs so that you are getting the answers that you're looking for, or that you're interested in thinking about. Next slide, please.

And then there's analyze and review. You take your data, you sift through it, and then you, think about what do you know now? And then-- but not just what do you know. it's really important on how do you know? So many of us rely on-- OK, I know this because I see it every day.

Sometimes it's become the more important things. And we don't really-- we don't have the data to support that. So if-- if you want to say, you know something, you need to be able to say, how do you know what? Show me, show me the data, show me the money. That one. But we use data here.

And then as you do that, are there changes that need to be implemented? And if you find something and it's working really well, you do not need to change it just because you've done a continuous improvement or evaluation. If it's working well, keep it there.

And generally there's some other things that you can focus on. What are your next steps? If that continuous improvement showed you that what you're doing is working well, what's next? What else do you need to look at? Or what other kind of evaluation do you want to take? Next slide, please.

All right. So I told you. And believe it or not, I actually stuck to my time this time. We really are moving to the meat of the program, which is the voices from the field. As I said, we've got some really generous presenters here. We've had them in the past, and we know that that's where people are really gaining experience and learning and able to share ideas. So let's move to the next slide, please.

So partnering with your One Stop Center County Adult education, I'm just going to give them a shout out. They've been on every single one of our webinars and we've been able to see how they've transitioned and really been able to do a deep dive into how they've partnered and what that means across their programming. So I'm going to turn it over to Jake Holmes and Lorilee Nielsen to talk a little bit about their programming.

Jacob Holmes: All right, good morning. Thank you for having us. I'm Jake Holmes. I'm the Director of Career and Adult Education here at Center County Superintendent of Schools. Thank you, Blaire, for the introduction.

We have been on the two previous ones, so I don't want to go back too far. But for those of you that have not been on the webinars before, I've touched on a little bit of how we have a common course catalog between our One Stop and our Adult Ed program, which I'm finding is an anomaly throughout the state.

This is my third year with adult education. So I don't know anything any different than this. But I'm finding that it is unique situation. So a couple of programs that we offer with our One Stop. We offer a medical assisting program, a dental assisting program, CNA-- Certified Nursing Assistant program, licensed vocational nursing, cosmetology, and then our high school diploma, our HiSET.

Some of you may offer the GED-- it's a high school equivalency test, and English as a Second language. There is not a program that we offer that the One Stop is not a part of. And then vice versa. The adult Ed side is intertwined with each of these.

We have a great working relationship, open communication. And we're very fortunate to have the One Stop to support our students. And in turn, we support One Stop's clients. So a little bit on how continuous improvement works under Sutter County Superintendent of Schools. We actually have a continuous improvement coordinator.

And each of our departments have chosen a topic this year. We began in the fall, and we've worked all the way through into the spring to evaluate each of our programs and what we're doing well and what we are not doing well. So for adult education, we're looking at persistence rates. We have One Stop individuals that participate in this.

I also sit on our HR piece for continuous improvement. And we're revamping our evaluation process here at Sutter County Superintendent of Schools. So there's not an area that we are not intertwined. Our catalog is the exact same. A client can walk into One Stop and get the exact information that they need on the education side.

Or a student can walk into our adult Education Office here and we can push them over the One Stop to get them the services they need to overcome any barriers that they may have. So that's my quick introduction. I'm going to pass it over to Lorilee.

Lorilee Niesen: Thanks, Jake. And I just wonder what happened to my document that I had. So, the title is partnering with your One Stop. And so what we really focus on is really building those partnerships. And so we have-- as Jake said, a great working relationship with our One Stop, but we work hard to maintain that with open communication.

And so just to give you an example, we received a CAI a California Apprenticeship Initiative grant, and we really needed the support of our One Stop to do that intermediary work, where it was connecting the employers partners for the apprenticeship side.

We had contracted out with an agency to do the pre-apprenticeship training. We weren't doing that in-house, but we really needed that intermediary support. And that's when our One Stop really stepped up. And so, even though it's a small distance between buildings, just being able to walk over there and say, hey, we need a BWS-- we call them Business Workforce Specialists to support us.

And so, in turn, what we do is we fund that person's salary out of that grant. And it offsets some of the costs for the One Stop, because for some of you that know, formula funding is-- it's slightly changing for the One Stops.

The other thing is One Stop has a business services team where they share these job posts all the time and we're included on those postings. So as we have students here in adult education that complete their high school diploma and are wondering what next, they have the-- our staff has the opportunity to see those postings as potential jobs for our students that complete our programs. And that includes, you know, our ESL students as well as our medical assisting students, et cetera.

The other thing that I really want to focus on is the documentation and that the writing and the funding from the One Stop and how they collaborate with us when their RFP came up for renewal.

They include our office in what the expectations are of the one stop. So really focusing on that communication piece. We also have an ELL grant, an English Language Learner grant for our adult Ed consortium.

And at the same time, the One Stop got an grant through the Workforce Development Board. So we really got together and talked about what programs that was going to focus on and what the One Stop focus was going to be. So that we made sure that we didn't have duplication of programs.

And so, when you have that partnership with your One Stop, you can do that. For example, they're doing culinary and we're doing medical assisting and dental. And then they said, OK, if you're going to do medical and dental, we'll do CNA. So really having that communication and that sharing of resources and grants really is what helps us with the communication.

The other thing too is they share their caseloads. They tell us-- we see their data from their programs of how many cases that each BWS carries. And so we just have this unique, I guess, if you will, partnership with the one stop. And we're super blessed to have that. So I'm going to let Jake talk about CASA's testing and some boot camp stuff that we provide.

Jacob Holmes: So we coordinate with our One Stop, like Lorilee was just touching on. And we tried to share as much information as possible. One of the things that we do across all of our programs now is we use the CASA's test. So it is the same for every program that a client would walk into One Stop or a potential student into the adult Ed office.

What we're able to do then is use ASAP-- our student information system to share this information. So if a student wants to potentially come in thinking that they want to enter the CNA program, they test for that program, then they decide, no, we'd actually rather, I would actually rather go into the medical assisting program. It is a very clean handoff.

So we use that cost as test, as our indicator, as our benchmark for what students need. If students come in with skills that are a little bit under what they need to be successful in some of these programs, the Adult Ed program offers adult. Basic skills class, it's our instructor, but it may be clients from the One Stop.

They're entering a program that's actually under the purview of One Stop. But we're still working together to help those students build those skills so that they can test at a higher level to enter the program.

The other piece that we use as our navigator, even though she is in our building. She works with One Stop clients all of the time like Lorilee touched on, they have BWS's over at the One Stop.

We have a great line of communication where our navigator can pass off students to address the needs or the barriers that a student may have to be successful in a program.

And BWS is at the One Stop. They have funding that can help with these students if they need anything for work-related clothes like scrubs or if they need clothes for an interview. If they need help with tuition, if they need supplies for a class. I mean, there's a wide range of things-- bus passes. Our navigators and our BWS work very closely together. And this occurs day-to-day. I'll pass it back to you, Lorilee.

Lorilee Niesen: OK. And then one thing that I really wanted to mention that I think is beneficial for both the One Stop and the Adult Education is that when we have our web or our workforce development meetings, both agencies have representatives there.

And so, we as Adult Education have a better understanding of the expectations of our One Stop as they talk about the grants that come down from the Workforce Development Board to the One Stops and their targets. And then we're there to represent Adult Education. Plus, it just shows that we are working collaboratively within our programs.

The other thing that I know, Jake and I have mentioned, that we have these weekly manager meetings every Monday. We meet with all of our management staff between the two programs to just touch base and talk about updates, graduations, grant opportunities. So there's really that opportunity for communication.

Kind of a checks and balances in our program with One Stop is Adult Education. We sign the ITAs-- the Individual Training Agreements that come from the one stop. So the One Stop, they send it over. And we sign as the training provider. So there's that checks and balances of the students that are moving through those programs.

We evaluate the certificated teachers because over the One Stop, those are classified personnel. And we're certificated staff on this side of the street. And so we can work with them in their evaluations. We share multiple PD opportunities because we think what's good for one particular part of Sutter County Superintendent of Schools is also good for others.

We host joint career fairs and we get together and we share the data. We review and provide feedback on how we felt the event went. And when we do those activities, it's all hands on deck. It's all the BWS's from the one stop, as well as a large number of staff from adult education.

So people from the community can see the collaboration between the departments. Here at Sutter County Superintendent of Schools requires us to do a board presentation once a year. Adult Education and One Stop, do it together collaboratively.

We plan what our board presentation is going to be to the board. And so there's that level of collaboration for the board. We share our information systems, our Student Information Systems. We use ASAP here at Sutter County. And other places use different systems, but just having the One Stop staff have access to that as well as us having access, then we can all see where our students are at.

Or if there is a question about a particular student that the one stops referring or that we're referring to the one stop. It's all in one nice, neat place. Since our last webinar, we found out that our director of our One Stop is retiring. And so that gives us a golden opportunity to be able to place one of the staff that are over in the adult education building over at the One Stop.

So we're really looking forward to the opportunity to create even more collaboration. Because as we've mentioned previously, in two years, we're going to be in one building all together. So this is going to allow us to build those systems that we're going to need in place as we move into that-- the new building.

It's like-- it's probably going to be like a super center for adults. They can walk in and receive training. They can receive a high school diploma, they can receive ESL, they'll have employment services. It'll literally be a one-stop shop.

So we're Super excited about that. But as Blair was mentioning about continuous improvement-- and we strongly believe that here at Sutter County, one growth area-- and Jake and I were talking about this yesterday is as you can see, we don't have any slides, right. We don't have any slides of, OK, this, this and this.

And so we really need to be able to quantify our relationship with the One Stop. And so that's what's on our target for this next year is how do we develop those data points between One Stop and Adult Education? What's that referral process from them to us and us to them? What does that look like?

And really building that system. And I think it's being able to present at this webinar that made us or that allowed us to realize, you know what, that's a system that we need to have in place. So as we're asked to present about our unique relationship with the One Stop, we will have these specific data points.

So we're always looking to grow and we value our partnership with our One Stop. Their expertise in employment services and CalWORKs and how they help support us when we have students in our programs that need a training site, we go over to the One Stop and say, OK, who do you have in your-- I'm going to date myself, your Rolodex. OK-- your database. I guess I should say.

Who do you have in your database that you could connect us with to be able to provide these opportunities for students? So we're looking forward to our super center for adults and hopefully when we meet again sometime in the future, we have some specific data points that we can share. So Blaire, we're going to kick it back to you unless there's any questions.

Blaire Wilson Toso: Thanks, Lorilee. I think we'll hold questions to the end to make sure that everyone else gets to present. So I'm sorry. If everybody has burning questions, pop them in the chat and we'll get back to them, I promise.

But Lorilee, thank you so much for saying that. I mean, I really appreciate because you just highlighted how continuous improvement is iterative. You get one thing set up and then suddenly you're thinking about something else. And I'd also like to really highlight from your conversation how you engage your partner in that data collection and that sharing of data.

So think and reviewing of data. So that's great. And I just love that tagline. Thank you so much for-- for bringing that up. And I know each one of these people could present. Each one of these groups could present for 30, 45 minutes on your programming. So we know it's short. I'm going to, based on that, shift over. Next slide, please.

So now we're going to talk a little bit about Swift Programming for the future, and Sarah, who is the Program Coordinator for College of Western Idaho is going to present. And she's joined by her colleagues, Heidi, who's your Assistant Director. And Trevor hardy, as I mentioned, is now the State Director of Adult Ed in Idaho.

And they have worked on this program. And it's a wonderful conversation about continuous improvement and iterative development. And I'm handing it over to Sarah. Thank you for joining us, you all.

Sarah Strickley: Thank you so much, Blaire. Yes. So I'm happy to join this great group with my exceptional colleagues, Heidi Nash and Trevor Hardy. I'm Sarah, and I coordinate the Onramp Program at the College of Western Idaho. So if you could go to the next slide for me, please. Thank you.

Onramp is a program of a small group of Idaho institutions-- Boise State and Idaho Digital Learning Alliance, along with us at College of Western Idaho. And our efforts are to bring STEM education to individuals that are least represented in STEM fields. So we're a grant-funded program supported by Apple's Community Education Initiative.

And because of Apple's support of funds, devices, curriculum, professional development, they've really been an incredible partner for us. And kind of the entire Onramp team will serve over 10,000 Idahoans between the ages of 5 and 85 this year.

So there are many arms to the program, but today I'll just be focusing on one. The College of Western Idaho has created an accelerated learning opportunity for students to learn a coding language that is specifically tailored-- or our program is specifically tailored for adult learners. Next slide, please.

So we have developed a coding IET, which teaches-- oops, sorry. That my-- [chuckle] my exporting of files wasn't so hot here. But we have developed a coding IET where we teach the Swift programming language that is Apple's proprietary programming language. And then at the end of that IET, students are able to develop mobile iOS applications. So they can build apps, run apps, sell apps on the App Store.

Technology-related programs-- I think make really excellent candidates for acceleration because it allows programs to remain really nimble and address changes in technology quickly. So for our students to be competitive in the workspace, they need those competitive and cutting-edge skills.

We were able to build in opportunities right away for students to learn about generative AI and machine learning. And if we're not doing that now, we're already behind the times. So we don't need to wait until the next year when we have short and accelerated periods of learning. We're able to integrate and be flexible, really quickly.

Additionally, learning a language like Swift reinforces core grammar, language concepts. It provides a ton of practical applications for problem solving and challenge-based learning in the classroom. So beyond just simply programming, it builds a really big repertoire of skills for our adult learners.

And the really beautiful thing about technology is it can stand up in those places where languages are still being developed or skills are still being honed. Having that wrap around tech support can even the playing field when there's adequate access and adaptability.

I think Blaire did a really excellent job of highlighting the importance of accessible and efficient education for working adults who are looking to upskill or change careers. I think that the opportunity cost for adult populations to return to school is really high, of course. And by accelerating our delivery approaches, we can honor the efforts put forth by our students. And next slide, please.

So I'll give you a little bit of background on what was and what is developing. As my other colleagues just mentioned, this is an iterative process just like designing an app is. It's really circular and we come back to the beginning and we start fresh and we tweak and we update and we revise.

But adult education didn't originally have this Swift programming IET. Originally, we ran the programming certificate on the academic side of the institution with even a scholarship that essentially made that certificate free. So it was a really fantastic opportunity for students.

However, because of some federal financial aid requirements, the certificate program was required to be four semesters long for what essentially we are now doing in two 10-week sessions. So we could never capture a robust student sign up because it simply just took too long.

We had a high rates of attrition and just really low sign-up rates because it was such a high opportunity cost for students to actually earn that credential, and there was just not enough payoff. So we've moved the Swift programming certificate over into adult education, where we have a little bit more flexibility with how we run our programs.

And we have two 10-week sessions, and each of those sessions is capped with a certification examination through Certiport. And it essentially boils down to an introductory and advanced certification. And there are about five factors to the accelerated learning approach that have made our program successful so far that I wanted to call some attention to.

First, is that Swift specifically, and a few other programming languages as well. But they're really linguistically accessible programming languages. So they serve the market well for students who have no experience in programming. And it's really highly accessible for diverse learners. Almost all of our students are English language learners and are able to grapple with the concepts really well because of the linguistic accessibility.

The second thing that makes Swift an awesome accelerated approach is that there is real-time feedback all the time. So as we're coding, students immediately get feedback on the quality of their work from the coding environment. So we get like huge errors on our screen, that we can't move on without addressing them.

So it makes it possible for us to fail really, really fast. But it also makes it possible for us to fail forward and we get those errors out of the way and we're getting that constant feedback on our learning. So we can reexamine, readdress, and then move forward in a really Swift manner.

Thirdly, as I mentioned, there are tangible certifications at the end of each session. So students can add these credentials to their resumes while they're also concurrently building a portfolio of application designs.

So they have kind of like anecdotal evidence of their success and of their skill building in a portfolio, holding their application designs. But then also that industry recognized certification makes it valuable.

And while the devices, of course, are not free, a lot of programming languages, a lot of code is open source. So there are tons of resources out there for instructors and students to access and engage in more robust learning. It makes curriculum updating and maintenance cheap , honestly. [chuckle] It's cheap when it's free, right? And there's a lot of really high-quality resources out there that allow us to keep our program cutting edge.

And then the thing that I love most about our program is that we're building in transferable skills. So students are engaged in really deep problem solving, critical thinking, innovation. So beyond the digital and technical skills that they're building, they also are developing the skills that make them a great candidate for an innovative company. And next slide, please.

OK. So just to cap here. What are some of the outcomes of accelerating this programming? Well, first, we have-- I will say we have small class sizes right now as academics does their teach out plan before. So they're finishing this semester and then it will be entirely pulled into Adult Ed.

So we have small class sizes right now, but we're already seeing improved metrics across the board. It's my feeling that in an accelerated program, small class sizes are actually hugely beneficial. It allows for focus support from the instructor, and I think that of course, is a significant part of student success in an accelerated model.

So I'm really pleased to report that we have an 88% pass rate for students on their certification so far. And they have all been English language learners. And actually as of this morning, I have to brag a little bit-- 100% of students from this semester passed their Swift programming certification as of about maybe an hour and 10 minutes ago.

So we're really pleased with the certification rate that is coming out. But also, we're boasting higher retention and completion rates of the course. We have lowered attrition. So we're seeing some really positive outcomes so far.

One struggle that I will-- I would be-- have to say, [chuckle] at least one negative thing or one challenge. And, of course, we've had significant challenges along the way negotiating how we can get this program up and running.

But one thing that I think is important to consider in the context of an adult education program is that while it's really important for us to have flexibility in our program, our Adult Ed programs are usually really successful when they are stable and predictable, and students can know what to expect.

So offering the accelerated model does put us off course or off calendar from the other adult education classes. So it's really-- we have to take extra steps to coordinate message, market our programming to make sure folks know about us and nowhere to go and when to go. You know, it's not their first day of English or their first day of GED prep. It'll be a different day.

So that has taken a little bit of negotiation. But overall, with the power of Swift programming in their hands, our adult learners are not just gaining technical skills, but really unlocking new worlds of possibilities. They're building mobile applications that can impact their communities and maybe if someone has a great idea, maybe even the world.

But they're redefining their paths and proving that it's not-- it's never too late, of course, to learn and grow. They're reshaping and redefining their futures. But by stepping into the tech fields, they are also reshaping and redefining what the future of stem looks like and what is the diverse landscape that it could be. So thanks so much. Put any questions in the comments and Blaire, I'll bump it back to you.

Blaire Wilson Toso: Super. Thanks, Sarah. Thanks for sharing about your program. It's really interesting, fascinating. And I really appreciate the way you talked about how one look at continuous improvement led to new programming-- and yet-- and again, you're now collecting the data to determine how well it works and what is being achieved. And congratulations on your initial outcomes.

So thank you very much. I'm going to-- next slide, please. Right now, I'm going to hand it over to Dean Gray and Kelly Henwood, who are from San Diego College of Continuing Education, to talk about how they have offered their learners some new opportunities that align with education and work.

Dean Michelle Gray: Hi, can I share the screen?

Holly Clark: Yes.

Dean Michelle Gray: Thank You.

Holly Clark: Let's see here.

Dean Michelle Gray: OK. Are you guys seeing just the slide? All right, good. And-- well, good afternoon. I'm Michelle Gray. I'm the Dean with the Business and Accounting, Digital Media Programming and Information Technology programs here with the College of Continuing Education.

We're a part of the San Diego community College District here in San Diego. The College of Continuing Ed. We represent about seven different locations around the county. So when we say campus, we're really one building where we have a variety of different classes inside of that building.

As with all of our community colleges, of course, our classes are flexible. All of our classes are free and we operate at a college level program course-- certificate program level.

Our certificate programs, as all of us are trying to do, are really help students either launch a career or advance in their career. I'd say about-- maybe 35% of our students are actually working adults who've come back to get a certificate or advance where they are in their individual positions and others are starting a new career or have been in very unfortunate situations and are coming to get skill sets that will basically change their lives.

This is a list of some of our IT digital media. We have a very successful project management class in addition to account clerk. And these are just the programs that I run-- the account clerk and the administrative professional courses.

A lot of IT, both entry-level, cloud-based, and cybersecurity. We have digital, a creative world for our web developers, digital design, digital photography, mobile app, and programming, of course, with Python and Python for data science.

So a lot of our accelerated learning is trying to find ways to ensure the students can do more than just the classroom. So we have a cyber club for our cyber students and we participate in the cyber competitions. Our labs on campus are equipped with different racks and computer systems for hands-on experiences.

We have an online lab and we all had to run from the pandemic. We really updated and took advantage of what's called NetLab, which allows our IT students to work remotely in simulated process where they can learn networking and security configuration exercises online.

So I'll focus mainly on my IT classes and what we do for accelerated learning. Our cyber club-- every year I pay for a membership in what's called the Cyber Skyline, and this allows our students to-- during the semester, participate in a cyber competition nationally with other community colleges and universities around the United States.

So during the course of the semester, having access to this Skyline platform, they can play around with forensics and wireless access, being able to analyze, network traffic. And basically they're learning how to hack a computer so that they can protect it when they get to the competition.

So in the fall, our cyber and security plus students participate in the National Cyber League. In the spring, they participate in the Southern Cal Cyber Cup Challenge, and the Southern Cal challenge is free. Our students are able to participate.

And basically, these competitions strengthen their cyber skills and their ability really to get confidence when they go into an interview that when someone says, how can you help us prevent wireless access illegally? Well, I know how to do that because I know we practice it, and we played around with it.

They've got the terminology to help express their technical skills and they've messed it up and fixed it over and over again throughout this semester and with this competition. So it really creates the strengthening. It really strengthens the skills they're going to need to be competitive in this very, very competitive IT space.

I would say our measurable results for our students, we usually win in the 5 to 2% percentile with the students around, with these different competitions. So it lets us know that the students have really gained the skill sets that they need to be successful by their success, really with the competitions and how well they're doing in the classroom.

Another area. I am kind of a networker. I used to own a business. So I get out in what I call leave the island because I think it's easy for us as educators to stay in this space. I try to get out and go to non-educational events and conferences and mixers and networking. And I ran into this non-profit group is called San Diego Futures Foundation.

This organization actually refurbishes donated computers and then either sells them at a cheap price or donates them to low-income and under-served communities. So we're working on a internship where my entry-level students can go over to San Diego Futures and assist with refurbishing these donated computers.

They can assist with the foundation's tech hub, which is in a variety of low-income neighborhoods where individuals can come in with their equipment and get it repaired or serviced. As well-- we're working with them to possibly be what we call in the city of San Diego Digital Navigators.

So this again, gives our students before they leave our classroom, an opportunity to really be in customer service, end-user engagement environments, as well as practice those technical skills they've been doing in the classroom.

And what we find is that it just builds their confidence when they go in for interviews, when they're ready to talk with industry about what they can do. They have created a small history for themselves and it helps them stay competitive again, in this very competitive environment and builds on their communication skills, both written and verbal.

Another area for us with the IT students was we joined the Board of Regions Talent Pipeline Grant. This was a grant that the region received, and a lot of the colleges here in San Diego signed up for it.

And it basically is a very intensive application process that we have to answer lots and lots of questions and really justify that we are teaching at the college level, that we're teaching skill sets that industry has asked for. And for us in the non-credit side, we find a lot of industry aren't really sure who we are or what we do and why are you guys free?

And sometimes free feels like it's going to be real simple, not very challenging, and won't really give them the skill set. So we've had to really sell ourselves and present ourselves as a credible organization. So that we can build those partnerships with industry.

This regional grant allows us to, first of all, get recognized by industry. Because they participated with the grant as what's called basically a preferred provider of IT career training here in Southern California.

So last year, we hopped onto it. I don't know how your world works, but last minute-- and everyone scrambles to make this deadline for the grant. And we got three students in the door. They were selected for internships. One student actually got hired and the other two just had this beautiful paid summer internship experience in 2023. So this year for the summer, we really did a lot to engage our students.

We were very aggressive about the faculty sharing with students that this was a paid internship opportunity. And by the time we got to-- I'd say mid-month, we had like five students who had participated. And there was this fear that, a, they were adults. And who was going to pick them up as an internship?

They were probably overqualified, or they didn't feel qualified or how they were going to compete with University of San Diego's young students. And so, it really took a lot of-- we had to back up and realize we're dealing with adults who are working during the day, and not everyone can do a paid internship.

We have adults who are feeling a little insecure about being 30 and 35 years old and going for an internship because it's always seen as something you do when you're younger. And once we were able to really share with them that this is for you, it's designed to support what you've been learning in the classroom, we were able to get 28 students who applied for our summer internships for this summer.