Amazon Wants To Help Community Colleges, HBCUs Teach AI
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Posted By: S. Moore on January 23, 2023 Amazon has launched an “educator enablement” program to help instructors at community colleges, HBCUs, and other minority-serving institutions learn and teach AI. A recent report from the Burning Glass Institute, Wiley, and the Business-Higher Education Forum is the latest study to affirm the value of the AI skillset in the job market. Yet, quality AI education is still out of reach for many students who don’t attend selective research universities including many Black and Latino/a students. Additionally, the colleges that do enroll large proportions of these students–HBCUs and community colleges–receive two to five times less public and private funding compared to the most selective public and private research universities where white and Asian students are concentrated. While employers are increasingly dropping degree requirements for entry-level roles and exploring skills-based hiring, the reality is that most employers are still reluctant to hire or promote without a formal degree or non-degree credential from a traditional college or university. Despite the gradual improvement and expansion of alternative pathways into technology jobs including tech apprenticeships, coding bootcamps, Massive open online courses (MOOCs), and industry-awarded credentials, most experts believe that the best way to equitably meet the labor market needs for AI skills is by increasing the availability and quality of affordable AI education at public postsecondary education institutions that serve underserved students. To that end, Georgetown University’s Center on Security and Emerging Technologies and New America have both independently tracked the development of degree and non-degree credentials in AI at community colleges and called for more investment in AI education at community colleges. Similar calls have been made for more investments in AI education HBCUs. Responding to this need, Amazon and its Machine Learning University hope this new upskilling program will help professors and faculty at community colleges and HBCUs learn and teach AI. Amazon’s train-the-trainer approach to AI education Amazon’s new professional development program will help college instructors acquire a generalist AI skillset and doesn’t necessarily add to AWS’s own suite of industry certification offerings — many of which are also being embedded in college and university programs. Huh. Instead, Amazon will help college instructors hone their expertise in AI and then help them teach AI through four semester-long courses that colleges can configure as they see fit. According to Mike Miller, general manager of AWS AI Devices, Amazon will provide $1,200 more continuing education credits to 330 participants who complete one of six boot camps being offered during 2023. “AI careers are going to take many shapes, and where you go to school really shouldn’t affect your career opportunity. We want community colleges, HBCUs, and MSIs to create more opportunities to learn AI,” Miller told me in an interview. For colleges that are not selected for the Educator Enablement cohort, Amazon plans to make course content available at no cost to any interested college through Github, YouTube, and AWS Academy. The new program was inspired by a letter from Raymond Brown, a professor at Houston Community College, which is one of the first community colleges to offer an associate’s degree in AI and will soon offer a bachelor’s degree in AI that has recently been recognized. was approved by the receiving body. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Brown used course material from Amazon’s Machine Learning University to create the college’s AI degree, which has sent graduates to big-time employers including Tesla and McKinsey & Company. Madeline Burillo-Hopkins, vice chancellor for workforce instruction at Houston Community College, told me that Amazon’s offering is allowing community colleges to overcome a major hurdle in teaching AI—building instructor capability. “We cannot compete with the pay that the private sector provides to workers with AI skills, so the support of technology companies is critical to growing the skills of our faculty,” Burillo-Hopkins shared in an interview. Workforce Training It’s a cooperative game.” Norgay Peńa Perez, a computer science instructor at Miami Dade College in Florida, has contributed to the community college’s own associate’s degree and non-degree programs in AI and previously participated in Amazon’s learning opportunities for colleges. According to Perez, Amazon differentiates its support of colleges by insisting on being responsive to the expressed needs of instructors, emphasizing that, “AWS talked to colleges to collect feedback when creating courses. That’s what makes it powerful.” Amazon isn’t the only tech company that wants to see more AI education in community colleges. Intel is working to expand community college-level AI education to all fifty states by the end of 2023. Its partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges has led to the creation of AI associate degree programs, non-credit and credit-bearing certificates. Bootcamps across the country, including at Houston Community College and Miami Dade, and even K-12 exploratory opportunities. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, a community college graduate, has publicly advocated for more community colleges to lead the way for jobs in AI. A partnership with the tech giant has resulted in new AI programs designed for K-12 students, first-time college goers, and professionals looking to upskill. The tech company has made similar investments in HBCUs including Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Morgan State University, Howard University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T University and Tuskegee University. As educators and employers look to equip more people with AI skills, industry insiders believe more investment to help community colleges and HBCUs build AI teaching capacity is likely to increase in the future. SOURCE FORBES If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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