In early 2024, the Digital Promise piloted and launched three micro-credentials focused on global career readiness skills which focused on collaboration, research, and writing for learners in K-12 and college settings. These micro-credentials allow the demonstration of competencies through reflection and evidence submission, which is then assessed by subject matter experts using established rubrics. If the learner passes the assessment successfully, they earn a micro-credential, serving as recognized proof of their skills.
Check our Global Skills for Youth Micro-credentials here:
As we expand the use of competency-based micro-credentials, it’s important to consider how to best design for high school and college contexts. In this blog post, we share insights from our pilot study, focusing on designing and implementing micro-credentials for these age groups and settings.
To create meaningful and engaging micro-credentials, we gathered input from both subject matter experts and the audience who may engage with them. A pre-survey helped us understand the specific needs to ensure the micro-credentials developed would be relevant and beneficial to our audiences. Some key considerations for designing micro-credentials for this context include:
When designing micro-credentials, it’s crucial to align the content with students’ motivations and needs. Some guiding questions to consider:
From our pre-survey, we found that learners in high school and college settings are in the process of exploring their future career paths. Global skills are viewed as essential assets that can be showcased to potential employers. This future-focused mindset was a major motivator for students pursuing these micro-credentials.
Micro-credentials should be designed to enable students to showcase their skills across different contexts. By ensuring that the micro-credentials are versatile and flexible, learners from various backgrounds and fields of interest can demonstrate their competencies in ways that resonate with them.
Our audience comes from diverse fields, including arts, science, and the humanities, so we intentionally kept the topics broad, allowing students to submit evidence from their respective disciplines. In follow-up focus groups, students appreciated this flexibility, noting that they rarely had the freedom to choose their topics in school and valued the opportunity to align their submissions with their interests.
Ensuring that micro-credentials are accessible and inclusive for all learners is critical. Consider some of these key questions:
In our pilot, we focused on using simple, straightforward language to ensure the submission process was accessible and secure for participants.
Clear instructions and rubrics are essential for guiding students through the micro-credential process. Make sure to:
Successful implementation of competency-based micro-credentials requires providing continuous support to students throughout the process. Some few key strategies that helped enhance the learner experience include:
A smooth onboarding process is essential, especially for students who may be unfamiliar with competency-based micro-credentials or the platform itself. To help guide them, we created an introductory video that explains what competency-based micro-credentials are, how they work, and why they are valuable. The video also includes a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the platform.
Feedback from our post-pilot focus groups indicated that students found this video incredibly helpful. It helped them feel more confident and positive about the experience, especially in the early stages.
Providing students with opportunities to connect with others for ongoing support can greatly enhance their confidence and success. Offering a professional learning community either among students or with trusted mentors (such as teachers, parents, or peers), can provide valuable feedback and encouragement.
In our post-pilot focus group, participants shared that they often felt uncertain about their submissions and would have appreciated an exemplar or access to a session where they could connect with mentors for feedback on their drafts. This type of community support could help students feel more confident as they prepare their submissions.
Digital Promise has been a pioneer in competency-based micro-credentials and has more than 10 years of experience in supporting organizations with their micro-credentialing needs. Check out this eBook, The Role of Micro-Credentials in Lifelong Learning and Development: Empowering Learners, Empowering Organizations, a comprehensive resource accessible to all interested in understanding micro-credentials. If you are interested in learning more about Digital Promise’s micro-credential services, please contact us at microcredentials@digitalpromise.org.
