May 27, 2021 — Northern Kentucky University’s College of Informatics is launching a set of initiatives to meet the needs of people seeking upskilling in the technology and communication fields. The pandemic has prompted many to explore new career paths, and the NKU Taste of Informatics program provides an inviting way for people to get a sense of various new career fields before they commit to major investments in retraining.

The NKU Informatics+ center will offer a series of two-hour introductory workshops beginning this June. Held this year in a virtual format, NKU faculty in collaboration with local industry practitioners will provide participants with lively hands-on, personalized overviews of key fields.

“We created the Taste of Informatics series to show off exciting possibilities,” said Dr. Kevin Kirby, Dean of the NKU College of Informatics. “The world needs more people who can analyze data, who can use media to tell compelling stories around that data, and who can build trustworthy technology to deliver it. We are inviting everyone to sample these new opportunities.”

Some workshops are addressed to participants with no specific background, such as “Taste of IT” or “Taste of Healthcare Advocacy.”  Other workshops assume some specific prior experience, such as “Taste of Deep Learning.”  The format offers participants a more engaging experience than viewing training videos, while not requiring the time and resource commitment of a more in-depth training course.

For those not ready to enroll in a workshop, Informatics+ has curated a variety of class sessions in the NKU College of Informatics and is inviting the community to register to join these single class meetings virtually. Called “Classcasts,” to date these have been selected from courses in communication, journalism and electronic media and broadcasting.

The public can learn more about workshops and classcasts, and about the informatics fields in general, by tuning in to the Taste of Informatics podcast series. Hosted by Mike Nitardy of Frost Brown Todd, the short episodes are an entertaining way to keep an eye on what’s new in media and technology, with an eye toward impact on business as well as on everyday life.

“In these podcasts I get to interview a variety of characters, from professors to professionals,” said Nitardy, who chairs Frost Brown Todd’s Privacy and Data Security team.“Informatics is about seeking human meaning in a world drowning in data, and it’s fun and surprising to hear so many different takes on it.”

After exposure to podcasts, classcasts and workshops, participants may wish to pursue a given upskilling path more deeply. Many workshops feed directly into academic courses as well as into ‘micro-credentials,’ which are sequences of courses that lead to badges that students can post on their LinkedIn. The College of Informatics also offers fourteen bachelor’s degrees and four master’s degrees for those who seek traditional credentials.

To learn more about the Taste of Informatics programs and offerings, visit its website.