Keynote presentation at Global Dialogue on Micro-Credentials Initiatives and Perspectives on Small Learning Units from around the World, DAAD, 23rd June, 2022.

1. Global Dialogue On Micro-credentials:
A Conversation With Many Threads
23rd June 2022
Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

2. Global Dialogue On Micro-credentials:
A Conversation With Many Threads
23rd June 2022
Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

3. Brown, M., Nic Giolla Mhichíl, M., Beirne E., & Mac Lochlainn C. (2021). The Global Micro-credential Landscape:
Charting a New Credential Ecology for Lifelong Learning. Journal of Learning for Development , 8(2), 228-254.
Retrieved from https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/525

4. State of the Art Literature Review on Micro-credentials

5. Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
A Conversation With Many Threads

6. Lifelong Learning
§
§
Employability
65%
48%
(Brown et al., 2021)

7. Equity
SDGs
(Brown et al., 2021)
Market Forces

8. Discourses
Competing

9. If the micro-credential is the solution, then what is the problem?

10. Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash
1. Unraveling definitions
2. Stitching together micro-credentials
3. Picking out some of the bare threads
Outline…
@mbrownz

11. 11
https://www.eciu.org/eu-affairs#engagement

12. 12
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
87% of
sample already
in MC Observatory

13. 13
http://www.microcredentialssf.org

14. @mbrownz
1. Unravelling definitions
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

15. Credit Bearing
Non-Credit Bearing
Bundled Unbundled
Credential
Ecology
Macro-credentials
Formal Accredited
Degrees
Micro-credentials
Formal & Semi Formal
Accredited & Stackable
Nano-credentials
Informal & Non-Formal
Digital Badges & Certificates
Non-status Awards
Semi-Formal Courses
Non-Accredited
(Brown et al., 2020)

16. (Presant , 2022)

17. Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
Older Newer
Micro-credentials

18. TWIG, 2021
500,000 Canadians annually seek to complete St. John’s certificates
Since 1833

20. “A micro-credential is a proof of learning outcomes
that a learner has acquired after a short learning experience.
These learning outcomes have been assessed
against transparent standards”

21. https://microcredentials.eu/microbol-framework-published/

22. More than 1 hour

23. Under 288 hours

24. https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A91634

25. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/micro-credential-innovations-in-higher-education_f14ef041-en
September 2021

26. (Brown et al., 2021)

27. What word best encapsulates your view?

28. @mbrownz
2. Stitching together micro-credentials
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

29. (Presant, 2020)

30. Photo by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash
Sole Institution
(Brown et al., 2021)

31. Discounts
for students
from developing
countries
Bursaries
for students
from developing
countries

33. https://www.iua.ie/ourwork/learning-teaching/microcreds/

34. https://search.ecampusontario.ca/micro-credential-search

35. €7m

36. 01/12/2021

37. OECD, 2021
Increasing Supply

38. What type of micro-credential “market” do we want to create?
• Left to market forces
• Competitive collaborative model
• Strategically targeted partnerships
Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash

39. Photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash
“Institutions have become reconfigured as
producers of economic value and human
capital leading to a global commodification of
credentials in an increasingly globally
competitive marketplace” (p. 2).
Photo by billow926 on Unsplash
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01596306.2020.1814996

40. @mbrownz
3. Picking at some of the bare threads
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

41. Costs…
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

42. OECD, 2021
Small Employers
Demand-side…

43. Demand-side…
https://www.imsglobal.org/sites/default/files/wellspring/Wellspring_II_Employer_Research.pdf

44. “Because alternative credentials are not identified in the
educational attainment component of national labour force
surveys or in international surveys of adult skills… evidence on
their effects on earnings of large-scale populations is
unavailable"
(Kato, Galán-Muros & Weko, 2020, p.28).
Benefits…

45. (Hollands & Kazi, 2019)
§
Benefits…
6%
pay rise

46. Photo by Delfino Barboza on Unsplash
Serious holes!

47. @mbrownz
Final remarks…
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

48. @mbrownz
Final remarks…
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash
“Pull a thread here and you’ll find
it’s attached to the rest of the world”
Nadeem Aslam

49. https://irelandseducationyearbook.ie
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

50. @mbrownz
Poll result…
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

51. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you