AWS Educate collaborates with Bay Area consortium on cloud curriculum

(© Photo by Jakub Mosur)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a consortium of Bay Area community colleges along with their K12 and California higher education partners, launched a regional initiative to prepare students for jobs in one of the fastest-growing, and highest-paying, areas in the technology field: cloud computing. The schools include City College of San Francisco, Canada College, De Anza College, Evergreen Valley College, Foothill College, Las Positas College, College of San Mateo, Mission College, SIATech High Schools and Skyline College.

The consortium will launch a multi-course curriculum, complete with credentials provided by the institutions, through resources that will allow colleges to efficiently develop and launch cloud technology coursework.

By responding to this quickly evolving regional workforce need for cloud technologists, the consortium of K12 school districts, community colleges, and universities will have the resources and agility to scale quickly while providing the highest-quality education to students. While the initial efforts will begin with the community colleges, the framework will expand to include high school students and four-year colleges over the next two years, in order to develop a diverse pipeline of students for tech jobs. In addition to the tools that facilitate curriculum development, the consortium will also provide students with access to some of the Bay Area’s most innovative employers.

AWS Educate launched a program that originated with the Los Angeles Community College District several years ago. Through this relationship, a consortium of 19 LA County community colleges and their sister high schools offer a five-course curriculum resulting in a Cloud Computing Certificate provided by the institutions. The CA Cloud: Los Angeles program was designed by faculty at Los Angeles community colleges and AWS Educate, with the support of subject matter experts from AWS and other LA-based tech companies. It was specially designed to equip students with cloud skills needed for careers in the tech industry.

As part of this initiative, each community college is working with at least one high school in the greater Los Angeles area, including those in economically disadvantaged communities, offering concurrent enrollment in the 15-credit certificate program and other support, such as professional development opportunities like curriculum development workshops and AWS trainings.

Learn more about AWS Educate.