The Digitization Academy is a reformulation of the professional development offerings from iDigBio, packaging these into a set of complementary, recurring courses on high-value topics for those creating and using digital data about biodiversity. Since 2021, the academy has offered 12-hour courses, such as Introduction to Biodiversity Specimen Digitization, and 2-hour courses, such as Content Creation for Immersive Media focused on Biodiversity. Our core strategy involves combining three things in each course: (1) our systematic overview of the topic provides a foundation, (2) participants’ sharing animates the topic with motivation and nuance, and (3) an expert panel on the topic identifies the leading edge of what is possible. In 2025, the course catalog involves at seven offerings, including the popular Spanish-language version of our introductory course.

iDigInfo Workforce Development Manager with iDigBio, Kalina Jakymec, manages the Digitization Academy, and iDigInfo Digitization Resources Manager with iDigBio, Fritz Pichardo Marcano, teaches the Spanish-language version of courses. iDigInfo Director, Austin Mast, teaches in each of the English-language versions of courses. iDigInfo Application Developer, Robert Bruhn, maintains the Digitization Academy software.