Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The Evolution of Micro-credentials and Short Courses

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Alex Usher highlights the New Zealand Micro-Credential Framework, arguing "this approach is necessary if you think micro-credentials need to be both stackable and portable." In the New Zealand framework, micro-credentials need not only to be small, but also show strong evidence of need, not duplicate current approved learning, and be reviewed annually. Usher also notes that the Singapore  Skills Future program "has done a truly ludicrous amount of work to try to standardize skills" and suggests that the European Framework "is pretty clearly thinking about how to graft a New-Zealand like attempt to put microcredentials into a national credential framework into a multi-national online platform."

Usher follows up with an article discussing criticisms of micro-credentials, including a response to Gig qualifications for the gig economy: micro-credentials and the 'hungry mile by OISE's Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie. Not only does the article not show that micro-credentials lead to gig employment, he writes, a approach like New Zealand's would address the criticisms. "Even if it was something bespoke for a particular industry or firm, the "value" of the credit could be objectively defined and understood." But I think there is a danger, as Wheelahan and Modie argue, that micro-credentials " accelerate the transfer of the costs of employment preparation, induction, and progression from governments and employers to individuals." Image: HEQCO, Making sense of microcredentials.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 12:35 a.m.

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