Oakland University Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) teamed up with the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) to bring a new digital marketing certificate program. 

OU PACE is mostly a non-credit certificate based program where individuals can get smaller credentials for things like promotions or upskill. Assistant Director of PACE, Amy Olind, reached out to the DMI and began working on what this program would become.

“I started on this digital marketing project maybe three years ago because I knew this was something that was going to be important,” Olind said. 

Olind feels as though this program was needed to bridge the gap in OU’s curriculum.

“We saw a gap within the programs across marketing in the School of Business, public relations and communications,” she said. “We noticed that they cover a little bit but not nearly at the depth that we think employers are looking for.”

PACE monitors what employers are looking for in order to provide those skills at OU. This program isn’t restricted to enrolled OU students, any community member can enroll in the program. 

“We are constantly doing market research for what employers are looking for that are going to give people a heads up when they go to look for a job,” Olind said.

This program is offered two different ways: on demand and synchronous (live) meetings. The dates for the program is still being worked on, but registration for the on demand course is open. Synchronous meetings will be held in fall 2021. 

Program cost is $1,350, which includes course materials and one exam. Financing is available but no financial aid for students enrolled at OU. 

The certificate program is a 10 module learning experience with 30 hours of video content, and once started, the individual has six months to complete it and the certifying exam.

Covered content includes marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, paid research using Google ads, YouTube and display advertising, email marketing, website optimization, Google analytics and digital marketing strategies. 

The DMI exam is three hours long and is a dual certification. The individual has a certificate from both the Digital Marketing Institute and the American Marketing Association (AMA). The exam is held at a designated Pearson Vue testing center and a 60% or higher is needed to pass. The fee to retake the exam is $70 when booking the next testing appointment. 

The AMA certificate will have to be renewed every three years, which is cost friendly. The renewal is like any other certification where a certain number of continuing education hours is required. Continuing education hours don’t have to be through AMA programs, the hours can come from programs like an Adobe workshop on marketing. The renewal cost hasn’t been defined at this time.

“We’re still trying to work out the details with them [AMA] about the cost — if there’s a renewal cost it’s generally $100 or less,” Olind said. 

More information on PACE and this program can be found on the PACE website.