Invited presentation at MicroCredX Partner meeting, Graz, 4th November 2022.

1. What Type of Leadership and Internal Structures are Required to
Develop and Execute a Micro-credential Strategy?
Prof. Mark Brown
https://www.deviantart.com/tag/loneranger
Graz, 4th November 2022
MicroCredX

2. We have important choices!
https://www.deviantart.com/tag/loneranger

4. • Are micro-credentials right
for my university?
2. What type of institutional
leadership is required?
1. If yes, how do you plan to
strategically position them?
2022
3. What type of internal structures
are required?

5. 1. How do you plan to strategically position them?
Germany
EU
Average
What are your strategic drivers?
Austria

6. Drivers Attractors
Micro-
credential
Force Field
Analysis
Future
of Work
Increase
Employability
New
Revenue
Skill
Gaps
Lifelong
Learning
Restraining
Force 1
•Example text
•Fill in your own
•Example text
Online
Learning
1. How do you plan to strategically position them?
Restraining Force 1
•Example text
•Fill in your own
•Example text
Value
of CPD
COVID
Crisis
Knowledge Economy Knowledge Society

7. 1. How do you plan to strategically position them?
Where do they fit?
Credit-bearing
or not?
Stackable
or not?
Size?

8. 2. What type of institutional leadership is required?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
“Get the right people on the bus
and in the right seats”
(Clayton Christensen, 2015)

9. Laissez-faire
Transactional
Transformative
Effectiveness
Engagement
Who should be leading?
?
Fit-for-Purpose
Leadership
2. What type of institutional leadership is required?

10. “We found that effective
leaders listen,
link, leverage
and then
lead,
in that order”
(Fullan & Scott, 2009, p. 97).
2. What type of institutional leadership is required?

11. 2. What type of institutional leadership is required?
(Bigelow, et al., 2022) Key interfaces
- Finance Office
- VLE Support
- Teaching Support
- Learning Support
- Library Support
- Marketing Office
- Recruitment Office
- Admissions Office
- International Office
- Alumni Office
- Graduation Office
- Who Else?

12. 2. What type of institutional leadership is required?
Who provides governance?
Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash

13. Sets priorities
Is outcomes focused
Is evidence based
Makes clear who is responsible
Is strategically networked
Engages all staff across the
organisation
Is accountable
Is transparent
Zooms in and out
Shares ownership and
development plans with faculties
Manages the risks and rewards of
strategic partnerships
Is strongly team-focused,
pacesetting and transformative
2. What type of institutional leadership is required?
12 Principles for a Micro-credential Leadership Culture
(adapted from Fullan & Scott, 2009)

14. • 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 ONLINE
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
How do you decide? Brown, 2022
3. What type of internal structures are required?

15. 3. What type of internal structures are required?
https://zenodo.org/record/6483288#.Y2JT7C8w3Up

16. 3. What type of internal structures are required?
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/microcredentialtoolkit/

17. 3. What type of internal structures are required?
https://learninginnovation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/LCmicro-credentialHandbook_2021.pdf
Example

18. • What are the risks?
• What could possibly go wrong?
• Do you need to plan for an exit strategy?
Final remarks…

20. Thank you
Mark