Announcing The School of Emerging Media & Technology, a partnership between Skillshare & Social Media Week

Many of you who attend Social Media Week are probably aware of the growing skills gap that exists in today’s workplace. Social and digital media are evolving at a rapid pace, and we need better education resources that can help us keep up. Today, we offer a solution.

We are excited to announce Social Media Week’s latest venture: The School of Emerging Media and Technology, a partnership with open learning platform Skillshare.

The School will be the first accredited school on the Skillshare platform and will provide a way for leaders in social media to provide structure education to professionals whose daily jobs and activities require a basic-to-advanced understanding of the tools, technologies and best practices that are driving change in industry. The initiative will initially launch in the US, with plans to expand internationally in 2013.

“We’re really excited to be teaming up with Social Media Week on bridging a real-world skills gap that exists in the media industry today.” said Michael Karnjanaprakorn, co-founder & CEO of Skillshare. “We’re hoping The School of Emerging Media & Technology will give students all across the country access to real-world skills they can apply to their own professional development and immediately contribute back to the workforce”.

The School will initially launch in the US, with plans to expand internationally in 2013. In the coming months Social Media Week will work with Skillshare and a number of leading practitioners and advisors to design the initial program of classes and courses, catering to a diverse range of needs and skill level.

If you are interested in teaching, becoming a student or a partner of this new initiative we would love to hear from you.  Learn more about the School here.

“Social Media is the quintessential skill that is easy to learn, but hard to master. Providing access to social media leaders should be a fantastic benefit to professionals in this space.” – Scott Roen, VP of Digital American Express OPEN

“Beyond the benefits we all get from gathering at conferences – there is a need for more structured and disciplined learning in social media. It’s a space that changes daily, so in order to educate the next generation of practitioners, we need initiatives like this that share knowledge and best practices in our industry.” Stephanie Agresta, EVP, Managing Director of Social Media at Weber Shandwick & Board of Directors for SMAC