AR for Community Colleges
Next Steps/ Looking to the Future
Once a community college has completed an initial round of AR training and successfully deployed the advice in this playbook, program champions can capitalize on their XR training momentum.
Sustainability of Programming
Immediately following an initial AR training program, program champions can leverage the knowledge of their existing instructors by rerunning programming as a “train the trainer” model, with instructors delivering a version of the program to other interested faculty. This practice can help program sustainability because it creates more instructors who might be comfortable with teaching the curriculum in the future, whether for relaunch as a non-credit course or for integration into for-credit coursework. The Colorado collaborative of community colleges, for instance, intend to run a train the trainer model this spring, inviting potential future instructors and faculty from each of the three partner community colleges, as well as local high school CTE instructors, to learn from the current AR educators. With this approach, community college leaders can begin to scale programming throughout their respective regions, serving as economic engines to meet current and future employer demand by setting learners up with XR skills that help them obtain quality jobs.
In another approach, at Cañada College, program champions are now working with subject matter experts to develop their own internal studio to create AR and VR educational materials, in conjunction with subject matter experts, to develop Open Educational Resources (OER) related to XR for Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) efforts in their district.
“There is an urgent need in education for educational materials that students can connect with and find engaging. VR and AR are emerging technologies that can help provide this immersive experience.”
— Hyla Lacefield, Dean of Business, Design & Workforce, Cañada College
XR skills are quickly becoming essential for professional success in the workplace and can result in quality jobs for those with training. Community colleges can treat their first-time AR training as a foundation for future XR coursework and build on the institutional awareness created from their pilots. Community colleges are the obvious choice for people who want to learn new skills, and if they are to remain responsive to employer needs, they must change and adapt to offer their learners these new skills, such as those related to XR. XR programming can help ensure that the college is providing learners with the tools they need to attain high-quality jobs.
- Initial AR programming can be viewed as a proof of concept for program champions to elevate the value of XR training to college faculty, administration, and stakeholders in the community, preparing their college ecosystem for the future of work.
- Key steps toward securing institutional buy-in for future program iterations include carefully considering who among relevant college and community stakeholders will get closing event invitations and coordinating a social media push promoting student projects after the closing event.
- Whether your community college is seeking to relaunch AR programming or embark on VR training, JFF is happy to help you think through options for the expansion of your XR offerings.