Reinventing Community College To Reach Millions Of Workers — Online

The workforce is changing dramatically and there's a widespread recognition that new skills — and new ways of teaching adults those skills — are needed and needed fast. In California, the state's 114 community colleges are facing the challenge of offering the credentials, classes and training that will help workers choose a career or adapt to a new one. The system right now can't serve all of these workers. But there's a new idea that could come to the rescue: Create a new, online community college for people in the workforce who've been shut out of higher education. It's the brainchild of Eloy Ortiz Oakley. He's a product of California's community college system — and now its chancellor. He says it's a system that urgently needs to re-think how it delivers the courses students need, when and where they need them. It's a fascinating idea, yet one that faces hurdles — not the least of which is the cost to get this new system up and running. Gov. Jerry Brown loves Oakley's idea and has