Here we are, doing what we do every day – delivering award winning IT and project management certification classes. We are offering all of our classes via Online Live (where the students interact directly with our instructors via robust Zoom Meeting videoconferencing software, breakout rooms and screen sharing) classes as needed. And our classes are available during both the daytime and the evenings. Our evening classes are growing faster than ever, and upcoming courses include: Microsoft Modern Desktop Administrator, Microsoft Azure Administrator, Security+, CASP+, Linux+, Cloud+, Cisco CCNA and Python.
The majority of our courses map to the NICE Framework. And certifications can validly be accomplished in anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks depending on the course curriculum.
Many universities and colleges across the US are migrating to online classes due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, such as Harvard University, the University of Florida and the University of Washington. Many academics are lamenting that their professors and their curriculum is not prepared or formatted for online only course delivery. Frankly, this might be a great opportunity for our nation’s institutes of higher learning to shore up their online delivery medium.
Applied Technology Academy has been delivering online live courses for over a decade, all with phenomenal student success rates, both with learning outcomes as well as certification exam pass rates. Why? Our instructors are experienced in delivering hybrid and online only courses – still engaging students, as well as utilizing our videoconferencing technology to maximize the student experience.
University and college professors will eventually catch up, and many universities have already adapted to an online only learning approach – the COVID-19 pandemic will allow, or frankly force them to have a leg up in the academic world. It’s one thing to capitalize on the power of a college or university system brand within your home state; it’s quite another to expand beyond state borders. Private providers, for-profit as well as non-profit, draw 74% of their online students from outside their home states; the figure is just 16% for public colleges. Even public colleges that have achieved scale in their online programs have largely failed to expand outside their home states. Online options will hopefully force universities and colleges to think outside of their standard brick and mortar mentalities.
Then there is the challenge of integrating industry validated certifications within for-credit degree programs. Why not embed IT and project management certifications within degree programs? Students are achieving BS degrees in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Network Systems and Data Communications, Management Information Systems, Software Engineering and Computer Information Systems. The result? Sometimes entry-level career positions, or unfortunately in many cases student loan debt and no jobs! Why? Industry typically uses certifications to validate skill and knowledge attainment.
