1. 14th September 2023
Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
Photo by NASA on Unsplash

2. Critically reading the code
Developing a plan for take off
Troubles that may ground your plans
Decoding Micro-credentials

3. To get you ready…

4. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/micro-credentials-for-lifelong-
learning-and-employability_9c4b7b68-en
OECD, 2023
To get you ready…

5. On-campus = 0
Hybrid = 0
Online = 150
Blended = 95
30/05/2023 https://microcreds.ie/
To get you ready…

6. 88%
To get you ready…

7. What role should micro-
credentials play in your
institution’s strategy for
the future?
To get you ready…

8. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

9. Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
1. Critically reading the code
Push Me Pull You

10. Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
1. Critically reading the code
Education
in Change
Education
for Change

11. Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
1. Critically reading the code
Older Micro-
Credentials
Newer Micro-
Credentials

12. 500,000 Canadians annually seek to complete St. John’s certificates
Since 1833
TWIG, 2021
1. Critically reading the code

13. 1. Critically reading the code
Formal Non-Formal
(Presant , 2022)

14. What’s behind the language?
1. Critically reading the code

15. “It is theory that
decides what we can
observe [see]…”
Albert Einstein
(cited in Stachel, 2002, p. 238)
1. Critically reading the code

16. Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
1. Critically reading the code
Knowledge
Economy
Learning
Society

17. 1. Critically reading the code

18. 1. Critically reading the code

19. 1. Critically reading the code

20. 1. Critically reading the code

21. 1. Critically reading the code

22. 1. Critically reading the code

23. 1. Critically reading the code

24. 1. Critically reading the code
2023

25. “Learning experiences leading to micro-credentials are designed
to provide the learner with specific knowledge, skills and
competences that respond to societal, personal,
cultural or labour market needs.
(European Commission, 2022).
1. Critically reading the code
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2022.243.01.0010.01.ENG

26. 13.6%
Ireland
10.0%
Italy
1. Critically reading the code

27. 2021
Italy
Ireland
1. Critically reading the code

28. 1. Critically reading the code

29. 1. Critically reading the code

30. Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
Loss of the Sheepskin Effect
1. Critically reading the code

31. 1. Critically reading the code

32. “Microcredentialing is an outgrowth of
the neoliberal learning economy. In
this economy, education resembles a
commodity, a product, or service
marketed and sold like any other
commodity” (p. 2).
1. Critically reading the code

33. 1. Critically reading the code
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2023/5/educause-and-wcet-quickpoll-results-current-trends-in-microcredential-design-and-delivery
2023
Lifelong Learning
Employability
Revenue?

34. Equity
SDGS
(Brown et al., 2021)
1. Critically reading the code

35. 1. Critically reading the code

36. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

37. 2. Developing a plan for take off
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2023/5/educause-and-wcet-quickpoll-results-current-trends-in-microcredential-design-and-delivery
2023

38. 2. Developing a plan for take off

39. https://opentextbc.ca/bcmicrocredential
2023
2022
2. Developing a plan for take off

40. Key questions for institutions…
• What type of leadership is required?
• What type of structures are required?
• What type of business models are required?
2. Developing a plan for take off

41. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
“Get the right people on the bus
and in the right seats”
(Clayton Christensen, 2015)
2. Developing a plan for take off

42. 2. Developing a plan for take off

43. “We found that effective
leaders listen,
link, leverage
and then
lead,
in that order”
(Fullan & Scott, 2009, p. 97).
2. Developing a plan for take off

44. 2. Developing a plan for take off

45. Who provides governance?
Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash
2. Developing a plan for take off

46. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2023/5/educause-and-wcet-quickpoll-results-current-trends-in-microcredential-design-and-delivery
2023
2. Developing a plan for take off

47. 2. Developing a plan for take off

48. • Mainstreams
• Part of normal work
• Strong alignment to
macro-credentials
NEW
STRUCTURES
WEAKNESSES
ESTABLISH A PROFESSIONAL AND
CONTINUING EDUCATION UNIT
WHAT ARE
YOUR
OPTIONS?
S O
W T
CREATE A COMPLETELY SEPARATE
STANDALONE BUSINESS UNIT
INCORPORATE INTO A CENTRAL DIGITAL
EDUCATION SUPPORT UNIT
INTEGRATE INTO THE NORMAL FACULTY
STRUCTURES AND DELIVERY MODEL
STRENGTHS
CURRENT
STRUCTURES
• Less flexibility
• Added workload
• Limited disruption
to normal
business
• Greater coordination
• Builds on current
expertise
• Reduced burden
placed on academic
staff
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
• Less flexibility
• Added workload
• Limited disruption
to normal
business
• Specialist services
• Clear business owner
• Common business and
resource allocation
model
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
• Faculty disconnect
• Leveraging industry
links
• Weaker nexus between
research and teaching
• Greater flexibility
• Adopts a commercial
business model
• Easier to establish
return on investment
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
• Little cross subsidisation
• Outside of normal
business
• Loss of academic
ownership
H3 Innovation
H1 Innovation
H1 Innovation
H2 Innovation
(Brown, 2022)
2. Developing a plan for take off

49. 2. Developing a plan for take off

50. 2023
2023 https://jime.open.ac.uk/
2. Developing a plan for take off

51. 2. Developing a plan for take off

52. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

53. • Calculating the real
costs
• Failure to address
the demand-side
• Gaps in quality
assurance
• Limited evidence
of the benefits
• Challenge of
navigating
entangled
discourses
3. Troubles that may ground your plans
Photo by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash

54. Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash
Costs
Direct
Indirect
3. Troubles that may ground your plans

55. 3. Troubles that may ground your plans

56. Survey of 510 US employers
https://upcea.edu/employers-are-all-in-on-microcredentials-survey-shows-inside-higher-ed/
3. Troubles that may ground your plans

57. • No course quality rating
• Limited careers guidance
• Limited learner support information
• Lack of quality assurance information
• Weak employability outcomes data
3. Troubles that may ground your plans

58. 2023
(Hollands & Kazi, 2019)
6%
pay rise
3. Troubles that may ground your plans

59. A data desert!
3. Troubles that may ground your plans

60. 3. Troubles that may ground your plans

61. Photo by NASA on Unsplash

62. “Micro-credentials
should be in the service of
big ideas,
not as a big idea
in itself”
(adapted from Barnett, 2011)

63. https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/micro-credential-observatory

64. Thank you
Professor Mark Brown
Director, National Institute for Digital Learning
Dublin City University
Ireland
mark.brown@dcu.ie
Contact details…