Credit: Vimeo/ACC

Sing It: ACC Creates Music Video to Promote Degree Map

By Corey Murray

Austin Community College President Richard Rhodes and fellow administrators get creative — and have a little fun — promoting the college’s new degree auditing software.

Administrators have myriad options when it comes to promoting the rollout of new technologies and resources for students and teachers on campus. They can schedule professional development workshops and host question-and-answer sessions with product vendors. They can take out ads on local television and radio networks. And they can spread the word far and wide via Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn.

But none of those tactics are as creative or, I’m willing to bet, as fun as the approach administrators at Austin Community College (ACC) in Texas recently took to promote the college’s new Degree Map student advising and planning tool at its recent General Assembly.

With an eye — or, better, an ear — toward creating buy-in and awareness for its latest data analytics project, administrators produced and shot an original music video. The hilarious, incredibly informative production features President Richard Rhodes, Vice President of Instruction Mike Midgley (the guy in front doing his best Isaac Hayes) and ACC Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Richard harmonizing about the benefits of the college’s latest big-ticket software investment.

“We wanted to put a fun spin on Degree Map,” said a representative from the ACC Faculty Development team. “This time it just took on a life of its own. There was a lot of collaboration within the district; across different departments and different groups.” Administrators even enlisted students to help with production.

Slow Jam from Jerod Morales on Vimeo.

Looking for a creative way to connect with your stakeholders? Watch the full music video — and, please, out of respect for the entertainers, hold your applause until the end. Thank you, thank you very much.

Corey Murray

is editor of the 21st-Century Center.

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