How to develop a (digital) MicroCredential (MC) from an existing curriculum. A short guideline

How to develop a (digital) MicroCredential (MC) from an existing curriculum

A short guideline

 

Keeping in mind the idea of a learner-centered approach, educators in HE can pursue the following track for designing the content of a MC:

1. Analyse curricula and existing modules as well as student cohorts in selected accredited BA courses. As online learning requires self-discipline and suitable organisation, focus on advanced students.

2. Select one topic according to the following criteria:

● it will create a reasonable and useful learning experience for the target group of students
● it presents a self-contained learning experience,
● the acquisition of knowledge and competences for this topic should be enabled through online-teaching pedagogies,

● students' workload to learn about the topic should comply with the envisaged number of hours (including assessment tasks), respectively the adequate planned amount of ECTS.

Use professional and subject experience for determining the scope of the MicroCredential. Consider that different related single topics finally could be combined for making up a Short Learning Program (SLP) by pooling several MCs.

3. Describe learning outcomes and competences for the new learning unit and map them with ESCO or other competence frameworks.

See more in ANNEX I.

4. Re-Design and outline a teaching and learning scenario according to requirements of self-contained units for digital use, reflecting on how to ensure, enable and encourage:

  • competence-based and self-regulated learning,
  • interaction between the content and learners,
  • virtual collaboration among learners,
  • reflection and critical thinking.

5. Arrange and align appropriate elements of teaching and learning, involving students where possible, e.g.

  •   supporting scripts
  •   PDF files for download
  •   videos or podcasts
  •   OER to be integrated (e.g. YouTube, tutorials, e-books, papers, …)
  •   collaborative tasks
  •   assignments
  •   (self-) assessment tasks (e.g. quizzes, short essays, peer assessment, pitches, take home or open book exams, case studies) according to the principle of Constructive Alignment.



Figure 3.1 Constructive Alignment (after Biggs & Tang, 2010)

6. Create digital learning materials consistently, using existing tools, infrastructure and available platforms for design, distribution and process management. Consider inclusiveness and accessibility. Focus on effective, efficient and appealing learning materials.

7. Combine elements to form a MicroCredential, check if assessment tasks match the learning outcomes adequately and calculate the workload for the learners. Don’t forget setting a distinctive name or headline for the course.

8. Describe assessment topic, requirements, type/format and method, supervision and identity verification, as well as grading criteria according to the ECCOE Model of Digital Credentials, see template ANNEX II.

9. Pilot the whole material sequence of the planned MicroCredential, if possible, in your institution. Prepare the students accordingly.

10. Collect feedback from stakeholders (students, other educators, faculty, learning support dept., …) and adapt single parts of the MC-course, or re-arrange the whole setting. If needed, repeat steps 5. to 10. 

11. Celebrate the successful process and achievement!

12. Complete institutional data, credential data, curriculum characteristics etc. to suit the ECCOE Model of Digital Credentials. See template ANNEX II. If approved by your institutional processes, the MicroCredential can be part of your institution’s Learning Opportunity Catalogue. Issuing the MC as a certificate should be enabled for those who proved the achievement of the MC learning outcomes by an appropriate assessment. Specific learners’ data need to be added. Recognition by other HE providers in the EU will be facilitated. See example ANNEX III.

Optional:

13. Integrate the new MicroCredential into the formal curriculum of your institution or - due to the feature of stackability - to form a Short Learning Programme comprising several MicroCredentials.

Please check out

ANNEX I_ECCOE_How to link learning outcomes to ESCO.pdf

ANNEX II_ECCOE Model-Digital-Credential-v4 from .xls_.pdf

ANNEX III_ECCOE_MicroCredential-Module_description.pdf


References:

Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2010, February). Applying constructive alignment to outcomes-based teaching and learning. In Training material for “quality teaching for learning in higher education” workshop for master trainers, Ministry of Higher Education, Kuala Lumpur (Vol. 53, No. 9, pp. 23-25). https://web.archive.org/web/20170918084111id_/http://drjj.uitm.edu.my:80/DRJJ/MQAGGPAS-Apr2011/What-is-CA-biggs-tang.pdf

EU Commission. ESCO Skills and Competences. https://esco.ec.europa.eu/en/classification/skill_main

ECCOE Erasmus+ project: https://eccoe.eu/ particularly https://eccoe.eu/outputs/io1/ and https://eccoe.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2022/09/ECCOE_IO5_How_to_guides_Public_Report_20220731_en.pdf

Last modified: Thursday, 2 March 2023, 4:28 PM