This document summarizes a presentation about micro-credentials in continuing education. It discusses definitions of micro-credentials and the tension between positioning them as alternative or supplementary credentials versus using them to fundamentally disrupt traditional qualifications. Drivers for adopting micro-credentials include increasing visibility, experimenting with new pedagogies, generating income, and responding to learner and labor market demands. However, the impact of micro-credentials is uncertain as evidence of their effects on employment and earnings is limited given a lack of data in labor force surveys.

1. State-of-Affairs for Micro-credentials:
Modularisation in Continuing Education
Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
17th June 2021
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4. • Full disclosure
• Reviewing the literature
• State of art vs. state of actual
Outline…
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Full Disclosure
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9. DCU Futures… €20m

10. €12m

11. Report launch in March 2021…

12. €7m

14. 2021
Report launch in January 2021…

21. Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
Reviewing the Literature
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22. "Despite an increasing volume of these new credentials,
great uncertainty persists. Definitions and taxonomies
to structure these new credentials have not been widely
agreed. The extent of their offer remains uncertain,
evidence of their impacts is scant, and the response of
governments to these new offerings has not been
systematically documented"
(Kato, Galán-Muros & Weko, 2020, p.7).

23. 23
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl

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State of Art vs. State of Actual

29. Definitions

30. • An inherent tension in how micro-credentials are
positioned in the literature
• Viewpoints range from alternative or
supplementary credentials to those embedded in
mainstream educational offerings
• Very few higher education institutions are using
micro-credentials as a means of fundamentally
disrupting traditional credentials and qualifications
Definitions

31. “Instead of promoting higher education institutions to unbundle
existing macro-credentials as alternative or
supplementary short learning programmes, a more useful,
disruptive and imaginative conception of micro-credentials is
to use them as a means of forging new partnership models
with industry stakeholders. After all, the term micro-credential
may be novel but short courses are already long-standing
practices” (Brown, et al., 2021).
Definitions

32. Drivers

33. "It appears that these organisations have different motivations
to enter this market. HEIs offer alternative credentials for several
reasons, including increasing their visibility and reputation,
experimenting with new pedagogies and technologies,
generating additional income or reducing costs, as well as
increasing their responsiveness to leaners’ and labour
markets’ demands”
(Jansen and Schuwer, 2015; cited in Kato, Galán-Muros & Weko, 2020, p.21).
Drivers

34. (Duklas, 2020)
Access
Drivers

35. 2021
Labour
Market
Drivers

36. Drivers

37. Drivers

38. 38
“The so-called ‘microcredentialing
craze’ could be no more than a
fad, marketing hype, or another
case of ‘learning innovation
theater.’
New Learning Economy
Drivers

39. Impact

40. "Do alternative credentials result in increased opportunities for
employment, advancement and earnings? The labour
market impact of credentials may result from skills gained in the
course of acquiring alternative credentials, making workers more
productive; or they may result from improved signalling of
graduate skills, permitting employers to more reliably identify the
quality of skills possessed by candidates; or some combination
of the two” (Kato, Galán-Muros & Weko, 2020, p.28).
Impact

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

42. Final remarks…
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43. “You can shake sand
from your shoes but
not from your soul”.
Final remarks…
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44. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you