Micro-credentials: what are the challenges for students?

This post summarises a ‘think piece’ I wrote in 2021 for the QAA Scotland Enhancement Theme of Resilient Learning Communities on Understanding Micro-Credentials and Small Qualifications. The full paper examines micro-credentials from the perspective of students and is available here. You can read my earlier posts on the wider challenges of micro-credentials here and on … Read more

Challenges Micro-credentials and education

A silhouette of a person working on a laptop

As a follow-up to my earlier post on the difficulties of defining micro-credentials, this post outlines two key challenges of micro-credentials to the purposes of education. The claimed benefits of micro-credentials include enabling a closer linkage between education provision and labour market needs and workforce development. Such linkages both improve the employability of students while … Read more

Challenges in defining a micro-credential

In a recent blog post on WonkHE, David Kernohan states that micro-credentials should be distinguished by referring to discrete or standalone learning experiences “…not just a possible component of something bigger”. So a micro-credential is not a single module of a larger degree, or various degree programmes. While the rest of his post raises many … Read more

Teaching Groups as a bedrock of higher education innovation

I have been looking at teaching groups in relation to a broader project on enhancing institutional resilience in teaching and learning. As noted previously, resilience is about adaptability to thrive in fluidly changing contexts while maintaining the core purposes of the university – in this case, teaching. Strong teaching groups appear to be a particularly … Read more

Learning to thrive in uncertainty: resilience and higher education – notes for a Friday [8]

In the current pandemic, there is obvious interest in the resilience of higher education institutions. This is regularly framed in terms of financial robustness and the ability to bounce-back to a state of normalcy. But as I’ve argued before, resilience is about being able to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. Resilience is a … Read more

Institutional resilience

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This is an initial #sketchnote drafted as I re-engage with the conceptualisation of this project. The project aims to develop approaches to enhancing education institutions (rather than individual) resilience in teaching & learning. Like much else, the project stalled as priorities changed to respond to the pandemic. The project draws on concepts of institutional resilience, … Read more