47 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
47 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# Working Group Notes — Microcredential Program
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**Branfield Community College**
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**Meeting:** 2026-04-22
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**Attendees:** Provost, Workforce Dev Director, Chair of Industry Advisory Board, two faculty leads (Data Analytics, Healthcare Admin), Financial Aid Director
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## Why we're doing this
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Regional employer survey (Q1 2026) showed 340+ unfilled mid-skill jobs in the three-county area. State workforce board approved a $1.4M grant if we can launch by fall 2027 with at least three tracks. Existing AAS programs are too long for working adults — average completion 3.5 years.
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## What we're building
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Six-month stackable microcredentials. Three tracks at launch:
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1. **Data Analytics** (SQL, Excel/Power BI, intro Python). Faculty lead Marisol Reyes. Strongest employer demand. Will be MVP — first to launch, used to validate format.
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2. **Healthcare Admin** (medical coding, EHR systems, patient workflow). Faculty lead Dev Patel. Aging population in region drives demand.
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3. **Sustainable Construction** (green building practices, retrofit basics, code compliance). New faculty hire required.
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Stackable means credits transfer into related AAS or BAS later if the student wants.
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## Decisions made today
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- **Data Analytics is MVP.** Launch fall 2027, others phase in spring/fall 2028. Validate format before scaling.
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- **Hybrid delivery.** Two evenings/week in person + asynchronous online. Board rejected pure-online (concerns about adult learner outcomes data).
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- **Stipend program.** Up to $3,000/student for low-income students, funded from the state grant. Means-tested.
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- **Industry Advisory Board** has approval authority on curriculum. Three employers committed (regional hospital, mid-size data consultancy, county housing authority). All three commit to interview every graduate.
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- **Cohort cap: 24 per track per term.** Driven by classroom size and faculty load.
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## Open questions
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- Childcare for evening sessions — can we partner with the campus childcare center? Deferred to next meeting.
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- Marketing — provost wants to know cost per enrolled student before approving budget. Need workforce dev to model.
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- Do we offer a tuition payment plan in addition to the stipend? Financial aid director thinks yes; provost wants to see uptake projections first.
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## What we're NOT doing
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- Not pursuing pure-online delivery (rejected — see above).
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- Not launching all three tracks at once (rejected — risk concentration, faculty bandwidth).
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- Not building employer-customized cohorts (rejected — too operationally complex for MVP).
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## Next steps
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- Workforce Dev: marketing cost model by 2026-05-15.
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- Provost: childcare partnership exploratory conversation.
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- Faculty leads: draft data analytics curriculum outline by 2026-06-01.
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- Reconvene 2026-05-20.
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