Our project had a number of digital skills strands, the first of which being that we wanted to introduce an Innovative Digital Hub at our Shoreditch campus to address the growing demand of adult provision.
Then, we engaged with employers to tackle skills shortages in the digital sector, which provided the opportunity to co-design and deliver a course with their direct input. We launched a course in Generative AI in March – which we are looking to validate or endorse with some universities – that has recruited 25 learners, some of whom have already been able to obtain an IBM certificate in Python. We now provide designated soft skills training to our current adult learners, raising awareness of live job vacancies within the sector, while over 50 learners have benefitted from training with the Code Institute and 6 degrees.
We wanted to explore blended learning delivery at Level 3 and higher, so the college went into collaboration with the Code Institute to deliver L3 Software Development and L5 Web app development next year. We have also introduced blended/remote courses to raise the participation of women, resulting in us now having achieved a rate of 44% of learners being female – a quarter of which are remote learners.
In order to upskill our current teaching team, 10 lecturers and management staff participated in a variety of fields such as PowerBI, Python, Ethical Hacking etc., and we have collaborated with partners to share best practice and resources.
Next year, we will be able to fully utilise the Digital centre designated to adult learners only. Current learners and some new learners will move on to the Advanced Generative AI course and blended courses mentioned above, able to complete a vendor certification. Together, these initiatives should provide the scope to meet the growing digital demand across all levels, from Entry to Level 5.
