{"id":17603,"date":"2022-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachonlinecn.wpengine.com\/tools-trends\/articles\/micro-credentials-three-things-to-stop-improve-and-start\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T12:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:35:23","slug":"micro-credentials-three-things-stop-improve-and-start","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/tools-trends\/articles\/micro-credentials-three-things-stop-improve-and-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro-Credentials \u2013 Three Things to Stop, Improve and Start!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Need to make sense of micro-credentials? Check out the <u>fourth instalment of<em> Stop, Improve, Start,<\/em><\/u> a new series on what faculty, instructors and education &#038; training providers need to stop doing, improve on and start doing to make micro-credentials fulfill their potential.<\/p>\n<p><b>STOP<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Stop seeing micro-credential courses as equivalent to a three-credit college or university course. Instead, see them as focused on a small bundle of skills, competencies and capabilities. Too many of the offerings across Canada are existing courses that have been \u201cre-bundled\u201d as a micro-credential. Each should be focused on knowledge and 3-4 related skills, competencies and capabilities known to be in demand by employers.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Stop seeing a micro-credential as a qualification that must ladder to a diploma or degree. They need to stand on their own as a demonstration that a student who has the credential has the skills that are in demand. While they can ladder, they do not need to.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Stop assessing students with multiple choice exams only. Instead, examine their competencies using video-based review, demonstrations, performance evaluation or other skills-based assessment methods. Employers want to know what the holder of a micro-credential knows and can actually do.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>IMPROVE<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Improve searchability for micro-credentials, which can be difficult to find, register in and start. One of the reasons 660,000 Canadians registered for a massive open online course (MOOC) in 2020 with Coursera, EdX or FutureLearn is that their micro-credentials are easy to find. Work is in progress, but we need a national search engine.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Improve the connection between a specific micro-credential and qualifications frameworks. Canada\u2019s patchwork quilt for education, in which each province has different qualification frameworks and requirements, reduces our productivity and competitiveness. We need a national qualifications framework, which we have for some skill sets, and we need to connect qualifications and credentials to that framework.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Improve the quality and integrity of competency-based assessment. The assessment models traditionally used in academic courses are not as robust as those required for a micro-credential. They need to be transparent and legally defensible assessment of whether or not a learner can demonstrate a competency and a statement of the level of their proficiency in that competency. Rigour is key.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>START<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Start offering more micro-credentials on-demand, with 365 start dates a year or at the beginning of each month. A person seeking a set of skills for a new job or needing to upskill to keep their current job wants to be able to learn anytime, not at the convenience of a college, university or training provider. Skills development is not a semester-based activity. Given the growth of gig work, many people need new skills to secure their next gig and cannot wait weeks or months for a course to start.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Start offering assessment-only micro-credentials. Some colleges, polytechnics and universities are offering either course + assessment or just assessment as a route to a micro-credential. They are also using \u201csmart\u201d assessment systems such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vametric.com\/learning-management-validation-assessment\/\">Valid-8<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criteriacorp.com\/\">Criteria<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/get.vervoe.com\/assessment\/?utm_feeditemid=,utm_device=c,utm_term=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools,utm_source=google,utm_medium=ppc,utm_campaign=,hsa_cam=10576100578,hsa_grp=105971746778,hsa_mt=b,hsa_src=g,hsa_ad=449321988859,hsa_acc=745763118,hsa_net=adwords,hsa_kw=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools,hsa_tgt=kwd-304229041818&#038;utm_feeditemid=&#038;utm_device=c&#038;utm_term=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools&#038;utm_source=google&#038;utm_medium=ppc&#038;utm_campaign=Skill+Testing+Tools+-+Non-Brand+-+Search+-+BMM&#038;hsa_cam=10576100578&#038;hsa_grp=105971746778&#038;hsa_mt=b&#038;hsa_src=g&#038;hsa_ad=449321988859&#038;hsa_acc=7457631188&#038;hsa_net=adwords&#038;hsa_kw=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools&#038;hsa_tgt=kwd-304229041818&#038;hsa_ver=3\">GoReact<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/get.vervoe.com\/assessment\/?utm_feeditemid=,utm_device=c,utm_term=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools,utm_source=google,utm_medium=ppc,utm_campaign=,hsa_cam=10576100578,hsa_grp=105971746778,hsa_mt=b,hsa_src=g,hsa_ad=449321988859,hsa_acc=745763118,hsa_net=adwords,hsa_kw=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools,hsa_tgt=kwd-304229041818&#038;utm_feeditemid=&#038;utm_device=c&#038;utm_term=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools&#038;utm_source=google&#038;utm_medium=ppc&#038;utm_campaign=Skill+Testing+Tools+-+Non-Brand+-+Search+-+BMM&#038;hsa_cam=10576100578&#038;hsa_grp=105971746778&#038;hsa_mt=b&#038;hsa_src=g&#038;hsa_ad=449321988859&#038;hsa_acc=7457631188&#038;hsa_net=adwords&#038;hsa_kw=%2Bcompetency%20%2Bassessment%20%2Btools&#038;hsa_tgt=kwd-304229041818&#038;hsa_ver=3\">Vervoe<\/a> to enable focused, transparent, competency-based assessment.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li>Start offering apprenticeship through a set of modular micro-credentials, which the apprentice can stack to secure their \u201cticket.\u201d Breaking apprenticeship down into modules that can be undertaken with different employers through online or in-person learning would increase completion rates and reduce the risks associated with becoming an apprentice with a particular employer. This may also improve the consistency and transparency of assessment for apprentices.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Need to make sense of micro-credentials? Check out the fourth instalment of Stop, Improve, Start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17604,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","article-categories":[194],"ai-resource-hub":[],"micro-credentials-resource-hub":[],"oer-resource-hub":[],"class_list":["post-17603","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-categories-stop-improve-start-series"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/17603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-categories?post=17603"},{"taxonomy":"ai-resource-hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ai-resource-hub?post=17603"},{"taxonomy":"micro-credentials-resource-hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/micro-credentials-resource-hub?post=17603"},{"taxonomy":"oer-resource-hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oer-resource-hub?post=17603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}