Micro Credentials Part 1 - What are they and what are the benefits and challenges in the corporate learning environment

 Micro Credentials

Hi there, welcome to my blog.

This series of blogs explores the emerging pedagogy of Micro Credentials and will explore them in the context of corporate learning, how they can benefit employees and employers in the workforce by providing an easier way to attain skills and knowledge than current methods, and aid in career development pathways. The blog will also use the context of tertiary education as a background to support ideas that are introduced. 

It will explore what the challenges are for both employees and employers in implementing and using micro credentials in the workplace.

What is a Micro Credential?

Most people are aware of short courses, they have existed for a long time, and online short courses have been around for about 20 years, "since 2012, online short courses – often called massive open online courses (MOOCs) – have been offered by hundreds of providers, mostly universities" (Oliver, 2019). It's easy to describe a micro credential by first having the reader think about a short course, and then picture that short course broken up into smaller segments. These smaller segments could be called micro credentials and " These qualification types can take from a few weeks to up to a year to complete, all depending on the specifications and requirements of the micro-credential." according to (Blazevic, 2020).

The following video gives a brief introduction into how micro-credentials could work in the context of an employee wanting to upskill.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FyI-7wFBGs

Any person who has worked in a corporate environment may have had the opportunity to complete short courses in house, that is, through the organisation's Learning Management System (LMS), and not with an external provider such as a University. These short courses may be aligned with a current job description, or could be an opportunity to upskill and move forward on a career pathway, a short course may even award with you a formal certificate once completed. The way micro credentials work is slightly different, "The award of a micro-credential will be represented by a digital badge or, for a stack of micro-credentials, a digital certificate." (CPA, 2022)

Essentially a micro credential can provide the learner with a smaller chunk of a certification which can be built upon, if desired, to attain a complete certification.

The next blog will further explore how micro credentials could be used to enhance learning in a corporate environment.