Meet the Winners – Andrew Horton – Didasko

In our Meet the Winners series, we’ll be speaking with some of those who walked away from the 2022 Digital Revolution Awards with one of our sought-after trophies.

Andrew Horton is the Founder and Group Managing Director of  Didasko an Australian Education Technology Group, and winner of this year’s Excellence in Learning and Development award.

Established in 1997, Didasko provides Online Program Management (OPM) and digital content to Australia’s leading universities throughout Australia and internationally. Didasko products underpin and support the learning of more than 15,000 students each day.

How did you enjoy your Digital Revolution Awards experience?

We at Didasko were very impressed that these awards sought to reflect the very best in the cloud and reached around the world to discover and uncover them.

The awards mission (to lift the innovators, the pioneers, the glass-ceiling breakers, and those who are enabling and empowering the world to achieve more) resonates with the Didasko ethos and our own mission statement – ‘to provide affordable, accessible education with a career outcome.’ Obviously, it is extremely satisfying to be globally recognized for the innovation and hard work that went into making our world-first cloud degree collaboration with AWS and La Trobe University the success it is today.

Were there any other winners or nominees who really stood out to you?

We’d like to congratulate our co-nominees in the category of Education and Development, Generation Italy Foundation, and Chaitra Vedullapalli from Women in Cloud. We believe that the future of the cloud lies in education, and we were honored to share this category with such outstanding education visionaries.

What advice would you have for anyone hoping to be recognized in next year’s awards?

It is difficult to advise on next year’s awards, however, I can speak to our success.

The La Trobe Bachelor of Applied Cloud Technology is a product of intentional design and understanding of the online educational pedagogy. We did not set out to replicate a campus learning experience – rather, we took our many years of uncompromising experience in online education and created a world-first, 100% online cloud course.

We looked at every aspect of the student experience from our bench-mark course content to a learning portal that is personal, flexible, and contains everything our students need.

In the learning and development category, I believe those wanting recognition, need to be demonstrating how they are either addressing the cloud skills gap, or how they are meeting today’s needs of the cloud sector.

How important do you think it is that we celebrate success in the cloud? What impact does it have on the tech community?

From an education point of view, I believe it is vital to celebrate and promote innovation and movement in the cloud space. The rapid adoption by industry at every level and in every field, is creating graduate requirements that didn’t exist only a short time ago.

 Didasko is constantly looking to align our courses with the fast-changing needs of the industry to give our graduates the best chance of employment success. The La Trobe Bachelor of Applied Cloud Technology is a case in point with twelve IT certifications, including many AWS essentials, built into the course.

This was a direct response to the incredibly high demand for cloud graduates who can ‘hit the road running’ in the industry.

This is not a time for standing still – seeking out and celebrating innovation is a great way to move the cloud industry forward.

Is there anyone you forgot to thank in your acceptance speech that you’d like to acknowledge here?

I think I remembered everyone on the night, however, once again thank you to James Lily from Frank Recruitment, our fantastic partners at La Trobe University and the collaboration team at AWS.

Finally, where will you display your trophy?

The Digital Revolution Award is our first international success. Gaining recognition from a panel of judges that are global experts in the cloud space is wonderfully uplifting. Our team is over the moon! The trophy will be proudly displayed in our Melbourne Office.

Follow the Digital Revolution Awards on Twitter for the latest news and updates.

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