The Incredible Work of Education Design Lab & Partners (Ascendium Part III) with Leslie Daugherty, Kathy Temple-Miller, Dana Cotton, and Joe Davis

Rural Matters

In the third installment of our superb six-part series produced in collaboration with and supported by the Ascendium Education Group, Michelle chats with Leslie Daugherty, Senior Education Designer at the Education Design Lab; Kathy Temple-Miller, Dean of Student Success at Washington State Community College in Ohio; Dr. Dana Cotton, an instructor and Interim Chair of the English, Communications, and Humanities Department at the College of Eastern Idaho; and Joe Davis, a workforce professional with more than 13 years working in rural communities in the Finger Lakes Region in New York. Daugherty speaks to the Education Design Lab’s five community college partners and the four principles of the Lab’s Human-Centered Design Process. Temple-Miller talks about how community colleges can be trusted hubs within their communities and the obstacles rural learners face that need to be overcome, including flexible schedules for adult learners and evening child care options. Davis discusses his role as the Employment and Training Programs Supervisor in Yates County and how he came to partner with Finger Lakes Community College on the BRIDGES project. Cotton talks about how the College of Eastern Idaho serves a large geographic area and how it reached out to communities outside of the Idaho Falls region in the pilot phase. This episode and the entire six-part series is sponsored by the Ascendium Education Group, whose philanthropy aims to remove systemic barriers faced by certain learners, specifically first-generation students, incarcerated adults, veterans, students of color, and rural community members. For more information, visit ascendiumphilanthropy.org