Abstract
Micro-credentials are becoming an efficient and financially sound method of delivering skills and content knowledge to adult learners. This chapter will define micro-credentials, explore how higher education and business organizations view and utilize them, and discuss the challenges of creating and implementing them. This chapter will conclude with a description of how a small private non-profit university created several micro-credentials by adapting components of their Online Teaching and Instructional Design Master's program. It will also outline the reasons behind the implementation, the research conducted to validate the change, and the process of creating the micro-credentials through template design.
TopBackground
Micro-credentials have evolved since their conception. Initially, they were merely digital badges that were first established in online discussion forums and other social media platforms as a way to differentiate average users from advanced users (Wu, Whiteley, & Sass, 2015). However, their purpose has migrated beyond demonstrating differences among users into a method of demonstrating skills and abilities, thus becoming micro-credentials. This evolution of micro-credentialing now provides learners with the ability to engage in a performance-based assessment that is a less expensive and a faster method of acquiring skills than a traditional degree (Fong, Janzow, & Peck, 2016; Wu, Whiteley, & Sass, 2015).
Today micro-credentials are represented by icons or graphics that serve as digital badges to indicate that a learner has successfully completed a learning experience from an accredited institution (Kerver & Riksen, 2016). The digital badges are created through metadata (Gamrat, et al., 2014). Metadata is data connecting to other data; it is “descriptive markers placed in a stream of data, which informs a machine about contents” (Gibson et al., 2015, p. 407). The metadata has embedded markers that support the relationships between the issuer, standards, activities, artifacts created, experiences, and quality of evidence (Gamrat et al., 2014; Gibson et al., 2015). As micro-credentials are completed, based on the metadata, learners can earn a digital badge and move to the next chosen digital badge.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Badge Consumer: (Employers or higher education institutions) Who assess and verify the content of the digital badges’ credibility and determine if the badges hold academic credit for their institution.
Badge Issuer: (Higher education institutions or companies) Who create, define, revise, evaluate, authenticate, and issue the badges.
Digital Badge: An online image created with metadata to validate the accomplishment of a specific skill or knowledge.
Badge Earner: (Student) Learners who obtain badges by demonstrating mastery of a skill(s) or competency through successful completion of assessments.
Micro-Credentials: Online instructional learning design that is learning objective focused on specific skills that provide learners a self-paced, performance-based learning experience.
Scaffolding: Designing a curriculum or learning pathway that moves students progressively towards a stronger understanding of content and independence in the learning process.