Stefan Trines, Director of Research, Editor at Large, WES
Concepts like micro-credentialing and digital credentialing have garnered a nice deal of consideration in recent times. Much has been made of the promise of on-line expertise programs and different extra versatile types of various studying to disrupt conventional fashions of schooling. Short on-line programs have develop into ubiquitous; many governments at the moment are considering the way to make the most of micro-studying packages to enhance their efforts to coach and upskill the labor drive amid technological change. Advances in digital applied sciences and the fast shift to distant work and on-line studying throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated this growth. Illustrative of the general development, the quantity of MOOCs (huge open on-line programs) provided worldwide has steadily elevated over the past decade.
One of the assumptions that’s driving the curiosity in micro-credentials is that versatile and simply obtainable studying experiences, tailor-made to particular wants and industries, may help staff adapt to new calls for in a quick-altering labor market and slim the hole between expertise required by employers and people supplied by formal schooling. What’s extra, the present discussions about micro-credentials are sometimes framed in phrases of social inclusion. In 2020, for instance, a report commissioned by the European Commission described micro-credentials as a means to “democratize knowledge.” Micro-credentials may, the report contended, create lifelong studying alternatives and enhance the employment prospects of a various inhabitants, together with lengthy-time period unemployed people and adults affected by the digitalization of work and different adjustments in the labor market.
Others view the mainstreaming of chew-sized studying experiences as a devaluation of the conventional college “macro” diploma and see micro-credentials as a market- and revenue-pushed commodification and genericization of schooling inside a neoliberal studying financial system. American scholar Shane J. Ralston, for instance, has argued that the present “microcredentialing craze” doesn’t foster inclusivity however may moderately exacerbate social divisions by ushering in a future by which holistic liberal arts college schooling is solely the privilege of rich elites, whereas the much less lucky shall be relegated to accumulating a sequence of narrowly centered expertise certificates, the content material and requirements of that are primarily set by business.
Irrespective of one’s attitudes towards the rising development, the present flood of micro-credentials and digital studying certificates creates challenges for credential evaluators. Professionals in the area are accustomed to assessing benchmarked credentials that may be positioned inside {qualifications} frameworks and have clearly outlined tutorial ranges, admission necessities, credit score models, and studying outcomes—attributes that don’t apply to many of the new sorts of brief-type studying certificates.
To date, micro-credentials haven’t been generally accepted as a type of tutorial or vocational “currency” in most elements of the world. The work of most worldwide credential evaluators in the United States and Canada stays centered on the evaluation of formal tutorial {qualifications} for the functions of college admissions, licensing, or immigration. However, the rising prominence of micro-credentials can’t be ignored. Should micro-credentialing show to be greater than a passing development and develop into mainstreamed and socially accepted on a bigger scale, credential analysis companies will probably must observe swimsuit to fulfill the demand for the evaluation of credentials past conventional levels and different normal tutorial {qualifications}.
To take inventory of how schooling methods are responding to the present rise of micro-credentialing, this text critiques the approaches to formalizing and benchmarking micro-credentials which have been developed by regulatory authorities and different stakeholders in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the European Union. These methods mirror rising curiosity amongst governments and tutorial establishments round the world in setting baseline requirements, growing transparency, and establishing high quality assurance processes in the mushrooming and unregulated micro-studying sector.
In the conclusion of this text, we are going to focus on how these methods and insurance policies can orient and supply steering to worldwide credential evaluators when assessing micro-credentials. First, nonetheless, we are going to briefly contact upon points of definition associated to micro-credentials and the scope and dimension of the micro-studying market.
What Are Micro-credentials?
While micro-credentials are usually understood as the certification of a small quantity of studying, there’s no universally accepted normal definition of a micro-credential (MC). It is a loosley outlined time period that may imply various things to totally different folks—from Microsoft expertise certificates or LinkedIn studying certificates issued in the type of a digital badge, to particular person modules or research models taught or acknowledged by increased schooling establishments and designed to be “stacked” or mixed to earn a conventional (macro) diploma or different formal qualification.
Some types of schooling that have been beforehand labeled “continuing education” packages have been re-branded and at the moment are provided as MCs. Some could think about a MOOC an MC, whereas others outline a MOOC as a smaller “nano credential,” and so forth. Some definitions of MCs give attention to on-line supply and digital certification, whereas others embody blended and face-to-face studying. What dilutes the class much more is the multitude of suppliers, starting from digital schooling platforms to universities, firms, commerce associations, and labor unions.
Further including to the terminological confusion is the proven fact that some edtech corporations have trademarked their own terms, some of which describe extra substantial choices past MOOCs. Udacity, for instance, owns the rights to the time period “nanodegree” (a payment-primarily based three- to 4-month on-line program) whereas edX has trademarked the “micromasters” (a self-paced sequence of on-line graduate-degree certificates that will articulate into a master’s program). Other extra esoteric phrases embody “über badges,” “summit badges,” or “meta-badges” that certify both the accumulation or hierarchical stacking of sub-badges.
As mentioned under, a number of nations now have initiatives underway to outline, regulate, and benchmark MCs. Even although these nations view MCs as complementary to conventional teaching programs or as various types of schooling, they concurrently search to determine construction in the micro-credentialing ecosystem by introducing normal components of conventional teaching programs for evaluation, reminiscent of credit score models, degree descriptors, and high quality assurance.
For credential evaluators, these developments are welcome, as the current panorama of MCs resembles that of a “jungle of certificates”—a quick-rising thicket of mini credentials which can be tough to evaluate. The systematic comparability, tutorial placement, and equalization of many of the micro-studying certificates in present circulation is a problem at greatest, and an impossibility at worst. Consider that many MCs are characterised by the following attributes:
- No (or restricted) formal tutorial admission necessities. While in some circumstances entry could also be tied to particular tutorial necessities, minimal age necessities, or the completion of prior certificates (in the case of a stacked sequence of certificates), many micro-credential programs are open to all. Designed as open-entry types of lifelong studying, they lack the tutorial admission necessities central to advantage-primarily based formal schooling {qualifications}.
- No quantification or measurement in outlined and customary models of research. The required size of micro-studying is usually set forth in hours or days, typically weeks; different studying experiences are self-paced with none specified studying time. This sort of studying doesn’t usually conform to current measurements of research, be they Carnegie Units, ECTS credits, or in any other case—a proven fact that makes it very tough to check one certificates to the subsequent, or switch acquired studying experiences from one setting to a different.
- No tutorial degree. Micro-learning is normally not pegged at established ranges of tutorial or vocational {qualifications} frameworks. As illustrated by the lack of admission necessities, micro-studying certificates normally can’t be categorised in concrete classes, reminiscent of secondary, undergraduate, graduate, first or second cycle, UNESCO ISCED classifications, or the like.
- No high quality assurance. Micro-learning continues to be largely unregulated and supplied exterior of established high quality assurance frameworks and accreditation mechanisms. In most nations, virtually anybody can provide casual on-line studying alternatives. Even when this kind of studying is supplied by acknowledged formal schooling suppliers, it might fall exterior the scope of the accreditation granted. Hence, constant minimal requirements of high quality don’t exist.
- No constant strategies of evaluation and standards for award. While some certificates could require substantial examination or sensible expertise evaluation for completion, others are awarded solely primarily based on attendance, or the completion of a simplistic on-line quiz. This raises questions on what expertise or information learners have acquired, even in circumstances the place studying outcomes are properly-outlined.
How Widespread Is Micro-learning?
It is tough, if not unattainable, to approximate what number of micro-studying choices exist in varied nations, not to mention worldwide. What is evident is that this market is rising quick, though the publish-COVID-19 return to face-to-face studying modalities could considerably depress its fast development in recent times. Part of what’s driving the development is that micro-credentials, as the OECD has famous, afford suppliers a reasonable and low-danger alternative for advertising and income era whereas experimenting with new pedagogies and technologies.
The few tallies that exist underscore the substantial dimension of the sector. The U.S.-based analysis group Credential Engine, for instance, has counted 607,000 digital badges and on-line course certificates provided by non-tutorial suppliers in the U.S. alone in 2022—a rise of 20 p.c over the quantity provided in 2021. U.S. tutorial establishments, by comparability, provided 58,342 non-credit score-bearing certificates packages (up by 45 p.c over these provided in 2021). These numbers probably signify undercounts, particularly in the case of badges, given the complexities concerned in tallying non-formal packages.
Other tallies of micro-credential that outline MCs as MOOC-primarily based packages provided through digital platforms reminiscent of Coursera, edX, FutureLearn, and Udacity, additionally mirror vital development. According to Classcentral, a internet listing of on-line programs, the quantity of these choices elevated from 1,500 in 2021 to 2,500 in 2022.
By some accounts, at least 74 million “open (digital) badges”1 have been issued worldwide to date. And many extra shall be issued in coming years. Most accessible market research studies on the dimension of the world various schooling market, together with suppliers of non-credit score-bearing certificates and digital badges, recommend that this sector is a multi-billion greenback business, accelerating at double-digit development charges yearly, with North America having the biggest market share. However, demand for micro-credentialing is booming in different world areas as properly. A survey by the Asian Development Bank, as an illustration, discovered that absolutely 80 p.c of job candidates in India and Bangladesh now submit some sort of digital micro-credential with their job functions.
Approaches to Standardizing Micro-credentials
Over the previous a number of years, governmental companies, tutorial suppose tanks and worldwide organizations like UNESCO and the OECD have put ahead a flurry of place papers and coverage proposals concerning micro-credentials. The governance approaches which have been developed and enacted in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the European Union are described under. However, different nations, together with India and Malaysia, have conceptualized comparable frameworks.
Many governments welcome the idea of micro-studying and its promise of versatile, low-price, employment-geared coaching for wider audiences of learners. At the similar time, there’s a rising recognition that standardization and regulation is urgently wanted on this sprawling sector. If micro-credentialing is to develop into the expertise coaching engine that many envision it might be, it must be supplied in a extra structured, measurable, and high quality-managed method.
New Zealand
Recognizing the want for standardization, New Zealand was one of the first nations to include MCs into its formal schooling system. In 2018, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) established a framework for MCs with the purpose of making them “more valuable and transferable for learners.”
The guidelines set forth by NZQA require that suppliers that wish to register MCs as acknowledged instructional achievements inside the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) should specify the quantity of required credit score models and particular studying outcomes, in addition to the additional schooling and employment pathways the credential affords. MC packages might be at most 40 credit in dimension (with one credit score representing 10 notional studying hours, and 120 credit, one 12 months of full-time research).
While New Zealand defines MCs as awards under a full-fledged qualification, MCs can solely be delivered by acknowledged increased schooling establishments and colleges and have to be pegged at one of the ranges of the NZQF. They might be designed to be stacked or mixed and utilized towards the award of a increased-degree qualification. Micro-credentials in New Zealand have thus been established as nationally outlined, quantifiable studying achievements of brief period that should meet set high quality requirements.
The quantity of authorised MCs in New Zealand continues to be pretty small however rising quick. The official Register of NZQA-authorised Micro-credentials listed 324 MCs as of this writing, in contrast with 242 in 2022. Providers embody accredited industry training organizations and polytechnics, reminiscent of the non-public New Zealand School of Food and Wine, and the just lately established public New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, New Zealand’s largest tertiary education provider. MC packages are provided at each the secondary and publish-secondary ranges; widespread studying subjects vary from enterprise, hospitality, and forestry to pc and software program functions.
Australia
Australia has adopted a comparable method to neighboring New Zealand. In 2021, it established a micro-credential framework in response to the development of an incongruent micro-studying sector in the nation. At that point, no less than 36 out of 42 Australian universities have been already providing or creating some type of micro-credentials, and the federal Department of Education expressed concern that the governments of Australia’s states outlined micro-credentials otherwise and “without a clear framework,” risking embedding “inconsistency into the future.” Adding to the confusion, it famous that “many providers have developed their own credit recognition or microcredential policies.”
Like New Zealand, Australia considers MCs as studying achievements under the degree of a formal award qualification. Its micro-credential framework defines MCs as the “certification of assessed learning or competency, with a minimum volume of learning of one hour and less than an AQF [Australian Qualifications Framework] award qualification.” MCs are “additional, alternate, complementary to or a component part of an AQF award qualification.”
To enhance the comparability of MCs, the framework requires that MC packages specify needed conditions (admission necessities, required degree of expertise), studying outcomes, content material, and quantity (quantity of hours), mode of supply (on-web site, on-line, or hybrid), in addition to what sort of high quality assurance is utilized, and what sort of recognition the MC has (credit in direction of different {qualifications}, business certification, or pathways to additional schooling). Programs with “unassessed learning outcomes” and “badges obtained through participation only” are explicitly excluded from the framework.
One distinction from New Zealand’s framework is that MCs might be awarded by organizations apart from increased schooling establishments or vocational colleges (Registered Training Organizations, or RTOs in the Australian context). The Australian method has a sturdy give attention to versatile expertise coaching and encompasses choices by non-formal schooling suppliers and “industry courses not currently accredited by a regulatory authority.” However, these suppliers should nonetheless disclose their high quality assurance mechanisms and solely increased schooling establishments registered with the nationwide Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) are listed in the nation’s new MC listing, launched in late 2022 beneath the title MicroCred Seeker (Microcredentials Marketplace).
As of April 2023, there have been 408 MC programs listed in the MicroCred Seeker listing. Rather than being pegged at one of the AQF ranges, MCs are categorized into 5 ranges, from Novice to Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, and Expert. The MC programs are between a few hours and a number of other weeks, and even eight months (self-paced) in size. Close to half of them yield credit relevant to school packages; admission necessities vary from open entry to a bachelor’s diploma.
Canada
In Canada, micro-credentialing has in recent times been adopted at a vital scale in the increased schooling sector with many universities and polytechnics now providing studying alternatives which can be labeled as micro-credentials. One current survey carried out by the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer discovered that 22 percent of Canadian establishments have been contemplating providing some type of micro-studying. In 2020 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the province of Ontario promoted the growth of micro-credential programming with a grant of C$59.5 million over three years. There at the moment are 1,776 MCs provided by increased schooling suppliers in the province.
As in different nations, tutorial establishments in Canada view micro-studying as option to develop entry to schooling and to foster upskilling and reskilling. Beyond that, publish-secondary establishments are “exploring alternative pedagogical delivery models, as well as alternative revenue streams in the face of declining government funding, enrolment pressures, and economic uncertainties.”
Given the decentralized nature of Canada’s federal system, the nation has not established a nationwide micro-credential framework, and even a widespread definition of the time period. However, a number of of Canada’s provinces have launched initiatives to outline and standardize MCs, though the pointers adopted in these jurisdictions aren’t as properly-outlined as these in New Zealand, for instance. Quality management and approval of MC packages rests solely with tutorial establishments.
The province of British Columbia has adopted a micro-credential framework for public increased schooling establishments that defines MCs as “short-duration, competency-based learning opportunities, that align with labor market or community needs and can be assessed and recognized for employment or further learning opportunities.” MCs are “shorter in duration than other post-secondary credentials (under 288 hours);” they are often “stackable and transferrable” and might be delivered on-line or face-to-face.
Ontario doesn’t have an MC framework, however promotes the growth of micro-studying and has made MCs eligible for public pupil support. The province delineates MCs as “rapid training programs offered by colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes across the province that can help … [learners] get the skills that employers need.” MCs, accordingly, take “less time to complete than degrees or diplomas,” and “may be completed online and may include on-the-job training.” In apply, MCs vary from standalone 5-hour “micro-credential badges” accomplished on-line to extra substantial sequenced and stackable programs of greater than 100-hour period that can be utilized to acquire school credit score or occupational certification. (Compare the eCampusOntario Micro-credentials Portal).
In sum, whereas some Canadian provinces have moved in direction of larger standardization of MCs, they continue to be comparatively loosely outlined to date. While acknowledged MC packages can solely be provided by acknowledged publish-secondary establishments, there are not any degree descriptors, no placement inside current {qualifications} frameworks, nor particular credit score necessities, and packages might be credit score-bearing or not.
The European Union and the European Higher Education Area
As in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, many policymakers in Europe have welcomed micro-credentialing as a constructive growth. Along with digitalization, micro-credentialing has emerged as a frequent matter on coverage agendas; references to versatile expertise coaching and lifelong studying have develop into commonplace. At the similar time, many policymakers have acknowledged that larger acceptance of micro-credentials would require adjustments in “mindsets, culture and structures,” and, as the European Commission has famous, a “common definition and a common approach on their validation and recognition.” In the context of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), clear definitions and rules aren’t solely necessary for the recognition of MCs at the nationwide degree but in addition for his or her portability and transferability throughout the European Union.
In 2022, the Council of the EU really helpful that member nations incorporate MCs into their formal schooling methods and undertake a widespread “European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability.” The council makes use of the following definition of MCs:
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While this definition is comparatively broad and brief on particular particulars, the European method continues to be evolving, and extra concrete proposals have been set forth particularly for the increased schooling sector. Most prominently, the EU-funded MICROBOL Project2 has developed a micro-credential framework primarily based on the following summarized definition:
“A micro-credential is a small volume of learning certified by a credential. In the EHEA context, it can be offered by HEIs or recognised by them. Micro-credentials have explicitly defined learning outcomes at a QF-EHEA/NQF level, an indication of associated workload in ECTS credits, assessment methods and criteria, and are subject to quality assurance.”
The MICROBOL proposal requires the institution of catalogues of MCs provided by registered suppliers, in order that learners can “navigate the diverse offer across Europe.” Where attainable, MC {qualifications} needs to be included into nationwide {qualifications} frameworks and studying outcomes be expressed in ECTS credit. In addition, it’s proposed that MCs have:
- A Standard Format. This needs to be akin to a tutorial transcript/file/diploma complement that includes figuring out data on the learner and the supplier/awarding establishment, admission necessities, workload and studying outcomes, QF degree, and types of evaluation.
- Quality Assurance and Recognition. Micro-programs needs to be included into the inside QA mechanisms of increased schooling establishments, and the recognition of MCs needs to be primarily based on institutional accreditation. While exterior program accreditation is commonplace in the EHEA, this method is seen as too burdensome for MCs. Instead of assessing the ceaselessly altering MC choices individually, exterior QA companies ought to as an alternative be certain that establishments offering them have strong inside QA mechanisms. It can be proposed that tutorial establishments can validate MCs provided by different non-tutorial suppliers or acknowledge them in accordance with current EHEA pointers for the recognition of prior non-formal studying.3
Another comparable EU-funded proposal, the Micro-Credential Users’ Guide by the now discontinued MicroHe Consortium, means that tutorial establishments classify all their instructional packages with a credit score quantity under 30 ECTS as MCs. Accordingly, MCs ought to characteristic a “credit supplement” that gives detailed details about the credentials. Among the choices the Consortium envisioned is a system by which MCs are pegged to {qualifications} frameworks, in order that they’re “easily translatable … into local qualifications for the purposes of portability. Micro-credentials mapped to NQFs would effectively have the recognition status of ‘mini-degrees’, and could be used for purposes of admission and progression in higher education.”
Most nations in the EHEA haven’t but adopted concrete rules for MCs nor included them into their nationwide qualification frameworks. The suggestions by the European Commission aren’t binding for member states, and the creation of a extra constant coverage on micro-studying throughout European nations continues to be an evolving course of. That mentioned, the general development in Europe actually factors towards the formalization and standardization of MCs in a single type or one other.
One instance of this development is Ireland, the place the Irish University Association in 2020 launched the MicroCreds Project, which can make Ireland, as the affiliation boasts, “the first European country to establish a coherent National Framework for quality assured and accredited micro-credentials.” According to this framework, MCs are small programs between 1 and 30 ECTS in dimension, accredited by universities and pegged at ranges six to 9 of the Irish Qualifications Framework (which corresponds to brief-cycle undergraduate to grasp’s degree). There are presently 2,330 credentials that match these standards listed in the register of Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), most of them both 10 or 15 ECTS in scope. (For a extra in-depth evaluation of Irish micro-credentials, see additionally an earlier report by the QQI from 2021).
How to Assess Micro-credentials: A Credential Evaluator’s Perspective
The governance approaches surveyed on this article reveal that there’s a rising development in direction of defining and standardizing MCs, in addition to a sure diploma of harmonization, in areas like Europe or Australasia. However embryonic some of these approaches could also be, they are going to finally assist set up sure sorts of MCs as mainstream {qualifications}, and thus, as a foreign money that may be traded. The clear definitions and degree classifications developed in Ireland, for instance, are a boon from a credential analysis perspective.
That mentioned, a common method to MCs, and even a widespread definition of them, stays elusive. Globally talking, credential evaluators nonetheless navigate a jungle of certificates by which frameworks are in a nascent and even non-existent state. While jurisdictions in some areas are in search of to institutionalize MCs as a half of their formal schooling methods, micro-credentialing in different nations is a Wild West of unregulated studying.
As micro-credentialing markets develop, analysis companies will obtain extra requests to evaluate MCs by holders of these {qualifications}, in addition to by universities or employers—to guage and translate these credentials into native equivalents, to find out their credit score worth, and so forth. The fact is that many of the micro-studying certificates in circulation can’t be assessed or equalized in a significant approach. Without established requirements, and clear dependable data on the quantity, content material, and degree of studying, how can one know if one micro-credential in, say, digital advertising represents the similar quantity and high quality of studying, or a comparable attainment of expertise, as one other micro-credential issued by one other supplier in the similar area?
Two approaches are central to assessing and equalizing credentials: purposeful equivalency and content material equivalency. In the first case, we’re analyzing and evaluating the perform of a qualification inside the system of schooling: What sort of additional schooling does it give entry to, what sort of licensure or employment does it allow, the place is it positioned inside the official hierarchy of {qualifications}, and so forth. If a qualification—the micro-credential—doesn’t have such placement, outlined articulation pathways, or a concrete perform apart from that it might be informally accepted by some employers as proof of the acquisition of a sure ability, then a purposeful equivalency is tough to find out. As with most tutorial {qualifications}, credential evaluators are largely depending on the benchmarking of MCs inside nationwide frameworks.
In the second case, we’re evaluating the content material of schooling, the curriculum and technique of research or coaching. For instance, we usually know what research and coaching a normal medical diploma entails, or what a bachelor’s curriculum in mechanical engineering seems like, as a result of these are established, standardized, and properly-documented {qualifications}. In distinction to many MCs, we additionally know the degree of schooling, the workload, how research is assessed, and whether or not the tutorial establishment meets high quality requirements as a consequence of its accreditation standing.
The current obstacles mustn’t, of course, deter credential evaluators from assessing every type of MCs. The career must be open to the new types of micro-studying and perceive that assessing them requires flexibility. At the similar time, evaluators needs to be aware of the limitations of objectively evaluating non-standardized schooling. At current, solely sure classes of MCs—for instance, these which have been structured and categorised in nationwide frameworks in accordance with set requirements, or have no less than been licensed or validated by accredited schooling suppliers—lend themselves to systematic evaluation and equalization.
As with different sorts of {qualifications}, evaluators have to analysis MCs to determine their recognition standing and articulation pathways, and to find out if the studying might be quantified and categorised by degree—a job that needs to be facilitated by the totally different MC directories talked about on this article, in addition to by the “information supplements” which have been proposed for MCs in some nations. Evaluators may additionally discover good use of accessible evaluation instruments, reminiscent of the Dutch NUFFIC’s Micro-Evaluator.
Over time, if present tendencies are a information, micro-studying will probably evolve into a extra structured type of schooling in a rising quantity of nations, making MCs extra clear, transportable, and transferable. For instance, it’s a constructive signal for credential evaluators that simply this 12 months a regional micro-credential framework was proposed for Southern Africa.
1 Defined by nonprofit 1EdTech as “information-rich visual tokens of verifiable achievements earned by recipients and easily shared on the web and via social media.”
2 MICROBOL stands for “Micro-credentials linked to the Bologna Key Commitments.” The aim of the mission was “for ministries and stakeholders to explore, within the Bologna Process, whether and how the existing Bologna tools can be used and/or need to be adapted to be fit for micro-credentials.”
3 These pointers are outlined, for instance, in the 2015 ECTS Users’ Guide. They advocate that establishments grant ECTS credit “for learning outcomes acquired outside the formal learning context through work experience, voluntary work, student participation, independent study, provided that these learning outcomes satisfy the requirements of their qualifications or components.”
