{"id":22747,"date":"2022-09-14T13:09:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T13:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=22747"},"modified":"2023-07-10T20:10:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:10:07","slug":"new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","title":{"rendered":"New digital skills put to good use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Headshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Minh Than, sophomore in the University of Washington Bothell\u2019s School of Business<\/a>, immigrated to the United States from Vietnam just three years ago. Before she came to the United States, Than loved to volunteer and did it often. She and her mom would bring hot meals, blankets, toothbrushes and toothpaste to people living in nearby impoverished communities. \u201cWe brought a lot of essential items,\u201d she said. \u201cHelping others and sharing kindness brings me a lot of joy. I loved to do it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until she was introduced to the Digital Scholars Program<\/a> in UW Bothell\u2019s Office of Connected Learning<\/a> that she found an opportunity to do similar work in the local area, helping fellow immigrants in need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know firsthand how hard it can be to assimilate in a new country,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging when you are new to the language, culture and customs. It\u2019s even harder when you have the pressure of understanding all those things in order to secure a job or do well in school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with the Washington West African Center, Than made its resources more accessible by assessing and updating the organization\u2019s website. And by so doing, she removed some of the same barriers for other people that she had also faced and struggled to overcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe work Minh did will impact hundreds, if not thousands of people who visit our site,\u201d said Pa Ousman Joof, WAWAC\u2019s executive director. \u201cBecause of her and the Digital Scholars Program, people in our community can find the help they need.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars who serve <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Digital Scholars Program is in its inaugural year at UW Bothell. The three-quarter program began in spring 2022 and will continue through autumn quarter. One of its primary goals is to provide first-generation students with skills in digital marketing, data analytics, social media and data visualization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegardless of whether students plan to pursue a career in business, engineering, communications or health care, they will more than likely need digital skills,\u201d said Kara Adams, director of connected learning. \u201cThis program is centered on providing students with necessary skills \u2014 while also helping them build their social network and make connections with professionals in the field.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, another primary goal of the program is to connect students who are looking to apply their digital skills with partner businesses and organizations that could use extra help. \u201cTasks at smaller companies frequently get put on the backburner due to a lack of staff which is where our students come in,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThe students get fantastic experience while the partners get entry-level digital tasks completed \u2014 and inspire the future workforce.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her time at WAWAC over summer quarter 2022, Than said she took on a number of responsibilities. She created a community resource directory for the website, updated website content in its entirety \u2014 something that hadn\u2019t been done in more than three years \u2014 and, finally, audited the website for accessibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a big undertaking especially because I didn\u2019t have any knowledge of website design going into it,\u201d Than said. \u201cBut I was excited to learn.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committed to the cause <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prior to starting at WAWAC, Than and other digital scholars took a pre-autumn course in which they learn entry-level digital skills. During their community work, the scholars could then build on their skills with the mentorship of the partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Than revamped the WAWAC website, it had a lot of broken links and outdated information. \u201cThe lack of accessibility prevented our community members from easily finding resources,\u201d Joof said. \u201cThey rely on these resources for their medical, educational and employment needs, so the work Minh did will make a significant impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing how important her work was, Than took it upon herself to learn everything she could about website design even outside her coursework. She watched dozens of videos online and conferred with co-workers at WAWAC. She was determined to turn every challenge she encountered into an opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMinh learned that many of our community members don\u2019t frequently use computers and some don\u2019t even own one. Her solution was to design the website to be mobile-friendly so it would be easy to use on a cell phone,\u201d Joof said. \u201cI was blown away by her commitment and efforts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Than said the program was just as beneficial for her. \u201cI was able to learn so much in a relatively short amount of time,\u201d she said. \u201cThe skills I gained in website design will help me in my business career, most likely in project management and marketing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many mutual benefits <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While still just a pilot, the program has already provided students with a wide variety of hands-on learning experiences and has provided partners with much-needed assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am proud of this program \u2014 and very proud of our students,\u201d Adams said. \u201cI had high hopes, but the impact the students have made on the companies and the impact the companies have had on our students have surpassed my expectations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Digital Scholars Program, part of the Office of Connected Learning\u2019s Husky Catalyst Initiative, is made possible by a gift from the Washington State Employees Credit Union. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophomore Minh Than participated in the new Digital Scholars Program at UW Bothell where she honed her computer skills while helping fellow immigrants in need. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218,200,204],"tags":[],"school":[417],"class_list":["post-22747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","category-profiles","category-students","school-school-of-business"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"Contact Type","email":"sample@uwb.edu","phone":"(206) 999-9999","box":"Box 358500","address_line_1":"18115 Campus Way NE","address_line_2":"Bothell, WA 98011-8246","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nNew digital skills put to good use - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New digital skills put to good use - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sophomore Minh Than participated in the new Digital Scholars Program at UW Bothell where she honed her computer skills while helping fellow immigrants in need.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"New digital skills put to good use\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\"},\"wordCount\":865,\"articleSection\":[\"Campus News\",\"Community Engagement\",\"Profiles\",\"Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\",\"name\":\"New digital skills put to good use - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New digital skills put to good use\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Just another UW Bothell site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New digital skills put to good use - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New digital skills put to good use - News","og_description":"Sophomore Minh Than participated in the new Digital Scholars Program at UW Bothell where she honed her computer skills while helping fellow immigrants in need.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","og_site_name":"News","article_published_time":"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"New digital skills put to good use","datePublished":"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use"},"wordCount":865,"articleSection":["Campus News","Community Engagement","Profiles","Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use","name":"New digital skills put to good use - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-09-14T13:09:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-10T20:10:07+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/14\/new-digital-skills-put-to-good-use#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New digital skills put to good use"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Just another UW Bothell site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22747"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28524,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22747\/revisions\/28524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22747"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=22747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}