Presentation outlines Edmonds College plans to future-proof education

Edmonds College is flexible, forward-focused and ready for the future. College officials shared their vision Monday, May 4, backed up by charts, stories and breakout discussions at the Edmonds Civic Roundtable-sponsored presentation.

Some of the data and stories surprised even longtime residents who considered themselves quite familiar with the local institution and the community.

Kim Chapman, vice president of student affairs, shared the first surprising bit of data. “Nearly 40% of our high school graduates do not go on to college or training. That’s way too many.” 

The Gates Foundation helped to fund collection and analysis of the information college officials shared Monday night. The effort reflects the work Edmonds College is doing to understand the community and students to deliver the education students and employers need and want.

Educational approach

The college’s educational approach could be defined by one word: flexible. Chapman noted newer students don’t have time, money or patience to sign up for full two-year degrees. They want to grab and go and eat up bite-sized knowledge to get into the working world faster and start making money. 

For Edmonds College, that’s OK. Short-term certifications are available, some just six weeks long. Chapman called them “badges” and “microcredentials.”

Stackable education is another concept. Getting a certification or degree then makes it easy to return and stack a new, related degree on top for more robust education that adapts to current job requirements. Students are welcome to return for the next certification or degree immediately or in a year or two. 

“That’s where we see the future of education going,” Chapman said. “Instead of four years, and then I’m good, it’s going to be, ‘I’m going to get this certificate and then add to it.’ We know that that’s the way of the world and so we’re really looking to build that up so we can get things valued by employers. That is really our mantra.” 

Relationship continuity is another key piece of success, Chapman said. Advisors work with students when they enter and exit Edmonds College to keep the door open for potential returning students looking for more classes to add to the stackable education.

That happens often in the new Hazel Miller STEM building, where sciences are taught.

Edmonds continues to deliver the reliable associates degrees and bachelor of applied science degrees like robotics and AI, behavioral health, and advanced manufacturing and materials. 

Students

Edmonds College is doubling down on the open-to-all concept. College administrators make it easier for future students to get excited about college, with campus visits by middle schoolers. Running Start for high schoolers is one option but so is the Limitless Learning Network, which helps students see other educational pathways.

The college works with Boeing and other local companies to design a curriculum that functions like just-in-time training for post-high school and college students, and the currently employed. The college is flexible about academic credit that comes in many shapes and sizes and a variety of academic institutions. It all contributes to overall learning. 

Indra Paola Pelaez, the college’s vice president of enrollment and student services, shared data and information about vital student support systems that keep students in school when their personal life is unpredictable. With the surge in rents and grocery prices and campus-based food bank visits double just this year. The support for students and immigrant students is prioritized and valued, more so than any time in recent memory. 

“We want to help every student make this work,” Chapman said.

The college’s student support functions as wrap-around care. 

For other students, it’s about attendance flexibility. “Zoomers or roomers” is how Chapman described it. Some students prefer Zoom while others prefer in-person learning. She emphasized there are options for everyone. 

Another surprise came in the international student area. International student counts are down 825 from their pre-COVID high of 1,200. The top five countries that Edmonds College draws from are Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Cambodia and Mongolia. College President  Amit Singh continues to leverage his relationships to keep those doors open, Paola Pelaez said.

Future proof education

Given all the talk of AI and recent Puget Sound job cuts, Chapman addressed the elephant  in the room: What Edmonds College is doing to stay ahead of AI.

An audience member asked specifically what impact AI would have on the school’s well-known paralegal program.

“[A full-time professor] is actually taking fall quarter sabbatical to look into paralegal and what the changes are going to be and how they can change their curriculum,” Chapman said, “because, and that’s happening with a lot of our professional technical programs, they can’t do things the way they always did.” 

She said educators in many areas belong to national boards and organizations working on these issues right now and are bringing the insight back to the college. 

The school also incorporates the changing landscape into degree programs and new courses with AI baked in — like computer engineering, robotics and machine learning. Educators also focus on skills employers want, like critical thinking and social skills, something that can’t be replaced with AI.

Future-proofing education also means staying on top of the “enrollment cliff,” a drop in college-age students that officially began last year and is predicted to be a 13% decline by 2040. That outlook caused several Washington schools to close or merge. That is not the plan for Edmonds. The school’s approach to future proofing is evidence of that. 

Carl Zapora, who serves on the College Board of Trustees, closed out the session by addressing the name change from Edmonds Community College to Edmonds College.

“When asking a high school student, ‘What are you going to do after high school? Well, I’m just going to community college.’ We want to dispel the myth that you go there as just a stepping stone and then you go to a four-year college,” Zapora said. “We are a four-year college, so it may be a stepping stone to another four-year college. It may be a certificate, it may be associate’s degree….so now the answer is, I’m going to Edmonds college, my associate’s degree or my bachelor’s degree. Edmonds College is as good as any other educational institutions.”