Continuing Education Conversation with Aimée Walters from Virginia Commonwealth University

All right, so this is awesome. I'm trying out a new software obviously today, so Amy's going through it with me. Of course, I decide to do this while I have a guest so that if I mess it all up, it'll be witnessed to. But since it's September and we're working with the concept of learning, both of learning for yourself, learning for your company and all of that, I thought, who better to have than Amy Walters from. From the Continuing Education and Professional Studies.

VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education. My name is Malfoy OCPE for short.

There we go here. And I also have this little logo for you so that you can memorize it as well. So Amy, first off, tell us a little bit about you and then also about the office.

Sure. I am the marketing manager for the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education. I have been there for four and a half years. Came in six months after we opened, so we just celebrated our five year anniversary already. And I know we met you and your service doc a couple of years ago. We were doing some things around disability in higher education and so happy to be here. We are gearing up for a lot of new classes in the next year and excited to let people know about what we're doing.

That is awesome. And then so we were just gonna go through a couple questions for you guys. And these questions kind of come from the aspect that, that I knew I was a business owner. So I have a master's degree, but I got a master's degree to be a therapist.

Okay. Right.

And so when I became a, I guess traditionally as a coach, there's like ICF and these kinds of certifications that you can go through. But there was really a fine line of two tracks. It was learning from school and then learning like by experience. And what you and I were talking about right before we hopped on live is by no means am I a dinosaur, but there are things that kids are learning in school today that I didn't learn in school. And especially with the way that we communicate with each other. You said technology. You had alluded to the fact that you're taking a course right now.

I am. I actually started an advanced professional certification last week. It's a two month course. So I'm taking that self paced online for, you know, the next eight weeks in between my son's activities and work. And so it's a perfect opportunity for me to just upscale and to get a certification at the end. I used to teach marketing, so some of it is review, but Then we're getting into some other technology that is new. And things are moving at such a fast pace right now, and there's so much new technology to learn. And so I think it's really important for workers to stay current with whatever field they're in.

So continuing education kind of define what that is, because I think for me, I consider myself as a constant learner. But what I often tell clients is that there are ways in which you can reduce your learning curve by, you know, a concentrated kind of environment, such as a classroom. So define continuing education in what you believe.

Sure. When we think about continuing education, we think about this adult learner that might be going back to school or formal education, typically part time, maybe in the evenings, weekends, to learn a new skill, whether that's to enhance their career or maybe it's to completely switch careers and to learn a new set of skills. Some people are just lifelong learners like you and I that just want to take something for personal enrichment, just learn something new and just keep going. So I think we see that a lot of different reasons that people are coming back to school.

Okay, so I mean, it is all of the above.

Right? Like, it really is. And like we were talking about, just with the advances in technology and all the innovation, people do need to stay current. They need to have those KSAs, that knowledge, skills and abilities that employers are looking for in the workplace. And in order to stay competitive, we're seeing more non traditional students on campuses, you know, 25 years and older. So the demographics and more diversity, everything is changing. And so you really do need to take that into consideration. So that's why we do have some of those alternative modalities for people to learn, whether that be self paced, some people still enjoy having that on campus experience with an instructor. We have some classes that we teach live online, so you have the webcam with the instructor on the other side, you're still able to communicate with your classmates and develop that camaraderie that you would have with a cohort if you were in a classroom. So there are a lot of different options for people that are looking at continuing education. Millennials we're seeing are interested in alternative credentials. So I don't know if you're familiar with the concept of digital badging or if you've seen digital badges, but you know, taking a short course, taking a module based education or competency based boot camp or a certificate program versus another degree, they may already have a degree, so they're taking these extra alternative credentials and then maybe getting a digital badge that they can share on Facebook or share their learning on LinkedIn for employers to see their new skill development. So just for myself, you know, I went to vcu, I got a degree in design, went back and got an MBA in marketing. Ten years later decided I want to teach, I want to go into education. I've been marketing for education along. So I went back for continuing education in education. And then, you know, here I am getting another certification. So I just keep adding to my, my knowledge base and I think we're seeing, you know, that with a lot of people, they just want to continue to learn, continue to grow.

I'm gonna get a digital badge. This is what Amy just essentially we're.

Getting ready to beta test. So I'll keep you posted.

Yes. I don't know what I'm gonna get a digital badge in, but a short little like random bunny trail. Yes, there we go. I didn't actually, I don't think I got any badges when I was in Girl Scouts because I was in Girl Scouts and then got kicked out of Girl Scouts. So that's like a. Did you know about bunnies? I got kicked out of Girl Scouts. So as an adult though, I can get a badge. That is awesome. So kind of in line with that. I know that VCU has these stats because you guys are one of those forward. Don't panic. I'm not going to ask you for like the in depth stats, but when you look at kind of trends and what you're tracking, what are you seeing the most interest in?

Subject wise or course wise? So for us we have some online self paced courses that I mentioned, things like Google Analytics for small business owners that are wanting to track their web analytics and use that data to make decisions, data driven decisions. And then we. Mastering Computer basics has been really popular among people that, you know, just want to rescale. Maybe an older person that wants to develop some computer skills. We have cultural competency and language classes. So if you are traveling or maybe you're working in a business where you need to learn Spanish, we have conversational Spanish one, Spanish two, we do Italian, we do German. So there are options there that you can explore. We have a variety of certificate programs. So a lot of career switchers or people that are trying to enhance their career in the legal industry. We've got a six month non credit certificate program in paralegal studies. So no reason to go back and get a full degree if you already have a degree. This is a six month program that can supplement what you already have. It's taught by Virginia attorneys. We have incremental payment plans available for that. So we do that. We have a play therapy training program. I know you're in that field. So we teach social workers, school based counselors, other mental health professionals how to use play. We're actually going to be at Regency tonight.

Great.

For a free session to learn about play therapy and the therapeutic power of play. Yeah. From six to seven at Regency. It's free. You can come on out and just learn from one of our registered play therapist supervisors to incorporate plait with your clients and your students. So that's another program that was one of our first to launch. We do test prep. So if students are looking for additional help for the SAT or the ACT or maybe considering graduate school or medical school, we do prep things like gmat, gre, lsat, mcat. Okay. Praxis Core for math and verbal for teachers. Maybe they've been out for a while and just need to revamp on some of those skills before. Before they take that Praxis for education. We can help with biochemistry through our partners with Kaplan. So those are available everything for a wide variety of non credit and credit weekend evening formats. Again, some are live online with the instructor. Some are online and then we still have some on campus as well. Event planning is another big one. So small business owners that want to go into either wedding or event planning planning, corporate event planning. Maybe they're planning large meetings or conferences.

Yeah.

So those would be great programs. And they're short. They're only a few months. You come out with a certification after you take your exam.

Yeah, that's. Well. So something that you said about the payment plans.

Is it?

And you didn't say payment plans.

I think it was like extended or incremental payment plans.

Incremental payment plans. That's really important.

Right.

Because when I can't, I'm not going to say publicly how much student loan debt I have, but it is above six figures and it is scary. And I know that this is something that is a conversation in the news and you know when you're making these decisions, when you're 20 years old, you're not really thinking about it. At least I, I wasn't. And that's totally my fault. And that's all for my master's degree.

That's what I was going to say when I was working on my master's. I just paid it off a few years ago now in time to, you know, spend. Start looking at my son's college education. So if you're an adult learner. And you might be in that situation where you have students that are children that you're trying to put through college or other expenses and you just can't do a full program. There are a lot of options. So of course, financial aid or credit based, a lot of employers still offer tuition reimbursement. So check with your HR departments and see if that's something that's available. And then you have Virginia 529 plans. A lot of people think those are just for, you know, high school students, college students, but you can use those for adult qualified higher education expenses.

Great.

And so we do have for June 529, a representative coming for our next month's free Third Wednesday series at Regency. So that's on our community page. You can come out and learn more about how you might be able to use that for continuing education. The incremental payment plans are available for some programs like Paralegal for Business of Craft Beer program, which is a newer program that we have. Yep. So you can pay in installments, typically five part payment plan. And then we have discounts on some of our programs. So VCU Alumni, VCU and VCU Health Employees Military discounts. So just check Ask Go Army. If you don't see it on our website, ask if a discount is available for the program you're looking at. They're not available for all, but for some of our major programs, we do have some discount codes.

Great, great. So I want to resume. I can resume. That's so cool. I love this software. As of right now, so I'm not sure where we dropped off, but we have one final really, really, really important question that I want to ask Amy so that she can share it with all of you. Because obviously with the amount of students, the amount of learning and the environment that she's exposed to, I would guess that she has a ton of answers for this. But for just one best business lesson.

I would say learning mindfulness. Practicing it daily. I know that's something you do as well. Yes, it's something that I do to relieve stress and just really learning to be in the present moment. And it's something that we actually teach in partnership with the Inner Work Circle, Juice Speak Chrysalis Institute. We have a class that will begin in January right after the new year. You check that out on our website. But mindfulness based stress reduction, that is awesome.

Yes. So we'll make sure that we have all of the links in the comments here. But I think you saw in the starfish stories that we did mindfulness last month with Jen Carter, so. And I'm glad you said that because her and her business partner actually have a whole business around teaching companies mindfulness and stressing less. And they're working with 911 responders right now, which I just think is so great to. When you think about lessons or you think about skills for. For your job, it's not just skills to have. You know, a skill like definition is, I guess, something to help you do your job better. I'm sure that's not like the exact definition, but you don't really think that meditation, going for a walk, essential oils would classify as a skill that would help you.

I can really help you balance work and family and all of your other things that you have going on in your life.

Well, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for inviting me.

Yeah. And Amy and I have this to share with you before we let you go. So, Amy, you want to win? You want to read that to anybody?

Absolutely. Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.

There it goes. And I think today we have both wonderful and learned from having Amy with us. And we'll make sure that you have the links to be able to put your links to the calendar and all of those in the comments. And thank you for making the world a better place. Thank you, guys for making the world a better place. And we will see you soon.

Thank you.

Bye.