College Partners With DIGICOM

College of the Desert (COD) is pleased to announce a major development in the planning of the COD West Valley Campus in Palm Springs.

The College has reached agreement with DIGICOM CEO David Vogel to have DIGICOM work with us to plan and create a Regional Center for Digital Media Education as the cornerstone of our West Valley Campus.

DIGICOM, in its 10-year association with Palm Springs Unified School District (PSUSD), has garnered national, statewide, and regional recognition as a best practice in providing training and education in digital media and digital storytelling. DIGICOM and its faculty have agreed to partner with COD in incorporating PSUSD and other K-12 and higher education faculty to help design both the instructional space and a broad menu of career pathway programs, degrees and certificates that build on existing K-12 and higher education efforts in digital media.

It is our intention to fully engage the business community in the creation of this center to ensure that our students are provided with workplace experience in the application of digital media and digital storytelling to a variety of industry clusters in the region.

Over the coming months, we will also reach out to our university partners in the region, including California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB), UC Riverside and UC Irvine to strategically incorporate upper division and graduate level programming and research initiatives in digital media. Collectively, we will create a center at which students in the region who are interested in digital media have a viable “next step” in their academic and career path.

As a Community College, COD has a long and distinguished history of linking with public- and private-sector partners to create academic- and career-themed programming that is vital to the growth of our region and our workforce.

The development of the Regional Center for Digital Media Education will serve as a focal point for the study and application of digital media in today’s society and as the next chapter in College of the Desert’s service to our region.

“We are very excited to partner with former Disney Studios executive and local philanthropist David Vogel to help COD create a centerpiece of our West Valley Campus that is focused on digital media, which has become an emerging industry locally, nationally and worldwide,” stated Dr. Joel L. Kinnamon, COD Superintendent/President.

“By linking with DIGICOM and our regional partners in K-12, higher education, and the private sector, we can provide a vital pathway for students across the valley.”

“It is an honor for me and for our DIGICOM team to be included by Dr. Kinnamon in shaping the design of facilities and delivery of digital media education at the COD West Valley Campus,” David Vogel stated.

“We will throw everything we have into helping COD create something very special and we look forward to working alongside his faculty and our colleagues in K-12 and university education, as well as private-sector partners throughout Southern California. My career with Walt Disney studios taught me to ‘dream big’ and that is what we will do with College of the Desert.”

About College of the Desert:

Established in 1958, College of the Desert (COD), located in Palm Desert, is an accredited community college serving eastern Riverside County, California. The College leads the region in providing quality, higher education, technical training and lifelong learning opportunities, in response to the dynamic needs of our diverse community. The College serves more than 15,000 students each year and is the number one source of transfer students to California State University, San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus. For more information, visit www.collegeofthedesert.edu.

About DIGICOM Learning:

Established in 2008 and founded by David Vogel, retired president of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group, DIGICOM Learning is a private / public partnership (501(c)3) that inspires children’s passion to learn by teaching them how to make short films about their school work, lives, and the world around them. Learning the art of Digital Storytelling empowers students and enhances their sense of self, engages them in their learning process, and expands their ability to communicate with the world they live in. This completely revolutionizes the educational experience. It also gives students the ability to participate in the 21st century workforce as content providers for all video communication needs in every major industry.

DIGICOM Learning has been utilizing its unique methodology and curriculum to re-engage students by working one on one with students, presenting in classrooms, and teaching about 400 teachers in the Palm Springs Unified School District. Now partnering with College of the Desert, as well as UC Irvine and UC Riverside, DIGICOM is a certificated and researched program that proves that its teaching has already changed the lives of more than 50,000 students. For more information, please visit www.digicomlearning.org