EdTech Trend Spotlight: Microcredentials and Digital Badges

     Will you humor me?  I have a personal worry.  After I eventually complete my degree in Educational Technology, it will be a number of years after that before I can enter a compatible sector's workforce.  Furthermore, I am concerned that, should I want to work for a certain company or within a more narrow field, my prospective employers will see my generalist degree from a few years in the past and assume my knowledge, skills, and abilities have atrophied, were possibly never focused enough for the job duties required, or are legitimately antiquated due to advances in technology.  What can I do to avoid this awkward unemployment outcome?  Enter: Microcredentials and Digital Badges.

What are "Microcredentials" and "Digital Badges"?

Before I confuse you with side notes about lexical semantics, I'll present the following definitions.  To my knowledge, based on my research, these are both the clearest and most widely accepted/commonly utilized definitions of the terms:

          Microcredential:  "A micro-credential is a short program of learning focused on the gaining and evaluation of demonstrated competencies, specific skills or knowledge related to a topic.1"

          Digital Badge:  "Badges are digitally-coded objects containing hyperlinks to: Proof; Achievement description; Earner’s name; Awarding body’s name; Issue date; Expiration Date; and Sponsor information (if applicable). Badges allows students to utilize a platform to “showcase” evidence of their gained competencies.2"

Video: 7 Things You Need To Know About Micro-credentials

     Now, I will take the time to point out that, "microcredentials," "micro-credentials," "digital badges," "digital certificates," and "digital credentials" are, well...yeah, they are exactly what you might be thinking after reading that list: No one "owns" the rights to the terms, and different institutions and organizations use the terms for different reasons--sometimes interchangeably.  For example, where one organization may claim that, "All micro-credentials are digital badges but not all digital badges are micro-credentials,3" a particular university may alternatively state their position as, "All Digital Credentials are Microcredentials, and some Microcredentials have Digital Badges or Digital Certificates to document the accomplished learning.4"  Even the video inlaid above seems to use "microcredential" to cover both bases.  In either case, for the purpose of this post, we will say the microcredential is the course and coursework while the digital badge is the modern, digital combination of a post-completion diploma, transcript, and course description.

     This definition of the digital badge really puts the tech in this trend of educational technology.  An increasing number of valuable and/or high-stakes credentials are being coded into blockchains.  As most are probably relatively familiar by now, a blockchain is a decentralized, unchangeable, and digital public ledger.  For digital badges, coding into a blockchain provides a verification of credentials that is available 24/7 worldwide, nearly instantaneously, and delivering of both authenticity and security against forgery.

So... Why Microcredentials (and Digital Badges)?

     While microcredentials and their corresponding digital badges are far from new, the terms are certainly "trending" in academia right now, and both their offerings, and demand, are surging.  I first came across the concept upon stepping into the IT space (read: fumbling with the handle before tripping over the carpet on my way into the room).  CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) certifications such as A+, Network+, and Security+ were regularly brought up in conversations ranging from minimum standards (i.e. Network+) to a benchmark of good knowledge (i.e. Security+).  Their corresponding 3- and 7-day courses were the microcredentials (we didn't use the term at the time) to their certification's future digital badge.  

     So what is the benefit?  Using my and my employees' personal experience with Network+ and Security+ as an example, I can tell you that they certainly can become simultaneous barriers, or keys, to job position entry.  A couple years ago, on an extended job travelling to many work locations abroad, I quickly noticed a measurable difference in the knowledge and abilities between my two assigned IT specialists.  The first, Network+ certified, could get us set-up and somewhat connected.  At some point she would invariably call in (or call, if geographically separated) the other, coincidentally certified in Security+, to get us fully connected to our US-based databases and automation tools.  Prior to the trip, the second had requested the additional training and testing for Security+ while the former had said it would not be necessary.  Which level of microcredential and digital badging do you think my trip report recommended as the minimum levels of training and certification?  For the team that did a similar tour the following year, you couldn't have gotten into an IT slot without possessing the right "digital badge."  

     Today, microcredentials are booming in both demand and availability at institutions of higher learning.  Rutgers University, as an example, currently issues 87 different digital badges--and counting.  SUNY put their microcredential counts on steroids and now offers over 500 different microcredentials, the vast majority of which span just 1-2 semesters.  Rutgers university encourages its faculty and staff to seek out, create, and apply for digital badge issuance through the university in order to capitalize on the "ability of badges and certificates to document a baseline of learning that earners can share with those who recognize the importance of this level of comprehension.4" To further promote efforts, the university has streamlined the design and application process through the provision of templates, process guides, and application examples.

     In my opinion, microcredentials and digital badges speak at a level of specificity that is often hard to ascertain from a degree or diploma.  Even a transcript's provision of credit hours and course names such as "Intermediate Computer Programming" versus "Introduction to Computer Programming," will fail to provide the specificity inherent to digital badges such as "C# Web Applications" versus "C++ Operating Systems," as examples.  Hiring organizations are taking notice, and many are marketing microcredentials as the future of professional development--and employees rarely disagree.  Attending a death-by-PowerPoint seminar might draw some enthusiasm from the per diem and road trip crowds, but who can argue against a digital proof of training and ability-level that will follow someone long after the per diem is gone--even to the next job search?

Not me, for one.  But with everything, there's likely a drawback or point of diminishing returns.  Remember what I mentioned earlier about SUNY having over 500 different microcredential offerings?  Critics are quick to point out that a basic fundamental of value lies in scarcity.  If there is a microcredential for everything, then why have microcredentials at all?  Proponents counter that that is the point--everything could be have a microcredential; however, only those things represented by a digital badge would be known to be within the toolbox of the owner.  What about YOU?  Does your institution offer microcredentials yet?  Does your employer recognize digital badges?  Let me know in the comments!

Sources:

1. Metropolitan State University of Denver. (n.d.) "About Digital Badging and Micro-Credentials". Retrieved from https://www.msudenver.edu/badging/about-micro-credentials-and-digital-badging/#:~:text=Explanation%20of%20Terms%20*%20A%20micro%2Dcredential%20is,to%20the%20sponsoring%20institution%20and%20evaluation%20criteria.

2. University of Denver Office of the Registrar. (n.d.) "Micro-credentials and Badges". Retrieved from https://www.du.edu/registrar/academic-programs/micro-credentials-badges#:~:text=A%20micro%2Dcredential%20is%20a,What%20are%20Micro%2Dcredentials?.

3. Micro-credential Multiverse. (6 Feb 2024) "Micro-credentials vs Digital Badges". Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOfg6jLA_b4.

4. Rutgers University Academic Affairs. (n.d.) "Microcredentialing, Digital Credentials, Digital Badging, and Digital Certificates at Rutgers University". Retrieved from https://academicaffairs.rutgers.edu/microcredentialing-and-digital-badging.

 

EdTech Individual Spotlight: Pat Yongpradit

"Every student and educator deserves the opportunity to learn about AI, 
understand its risks, and explore the power it has to enhance human
 capabilities like cognition, creativity, and interaction." 

 

     When I first read that quoted line from Pat Yongpradit, I knew this was someone that had given  thoughtful consideration to the way-ahead for Artificial Intelligence in education and academia.  As I learned more about him, that thought became quite an understatement.  Early in his career, for nearly 12 years, he worked in Montgomery County Public Schools as the Curriculum Lead/Writer, a Computer Science and Science Teacher, as well as the New Teacher Induction Coordinator.  In 2010, Pat was recognized as a Microsoft Worldwide Education Innovator.  In 2013, he was featured in the book, "American Teacher: Heroes in the Classroom" by Katrina Fried.  He led the development of the K–12 Computer Science Framework, a collective pathway, curriculum, and professional development strategy for bringing AI and CS education to all schools and districts.  For over 10 years, Pat has served as the Chief Academic Officer at Code.org.  Today, Pat Yongpradit is everywhere (figuratively speaking of course).

     As the leader of TeachAI, an initiative designed to shepherd education leaders and policymakers in the transformation of education and academia in the AI era, Pat is a leading voice calling for moving past fear or simple denial of AI to a future that embraces and leads with it in the classroom.  To do this, Pat's primary call at the moment is to educate intentionally with a goal of "AI Literacy."  And as Yongpradit explains it, it just makes sense.  

What is the goal of primary and secondary education?  Very simply put, it is to give students the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need for adulthood.  In the AI era, this calls for an education complete with a clear understanding of how AI works and how it can be used safely, responsibly, and effectively.  "AI literacy represents the technical knowledge, durable skills, and future-ready attitudes required to thrive in a world influenced by AI. It enables learners to engage, create with, manage, and design AI, while critically evaluating its benefits, risks, and ethical implications."1  

My personal key takeaway and idea for classroom implementation with adult learners is the use of AI to augment problem decomposition.  Recognizing both a human's and AI's limitations to decompose problems into suitable tasks for myself/my students and an AI assistant is a fundamental first step toward effective use of AI.

To hear more from this very inspirational voice in Educational Technology, check out any of the links above, or listen to Pat Yongpradit's conversation with Cognia Leader Chat.  I highly recommend it!

Drawing Inspiration Across Industry Lines: What Can Civilian Education Learn from the Military?

     I'll start by saying that I'll be the first to admit  the military takes most of its educational cues from the civilian sector.  The first things you'll notice when dipping your toes in the waters of online military training and education are the many similarities to civilian education. Do you have experience with Blackboard?  That's the same LMS (Learning Management System) used by the US Special Operations Command's Joint Special Operations University (JSOU).  Did your undergraduate feature classes on Moodle?  That's the same LMS used by the Marine Corps for their "MarineNet" online education ecosystem.  Even unique Learning Management Systems such as the Navy's Waypoints and Army's ATIS appear heavily patterned after civilian systems--and for good reason!  The familiarity requirement remains, 

as enclave institutions such as the Naval War College, the Army's Medical Center of Excellence, the Army's Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College all continue to use Blackboard for delivering online courses and managing student work.  

     What is vastly different, however, is the course pacing and scheduling.  Military literature is rife with metaphorical usage of a "death by 1,000 cuts", be it to describe attrition warfare or to explain the importance of the battle for the narrative to indigenous populations.  Military education, it seems, approaches education in a metaphorically similar manner.  Education is achieved by many dozens of micro-courses and short duration classes that a military service member attends over the span of their career.  But just as the metaphor 

implies small effects combining to cause a devastation, the military approach provides bite-size lessons combining to form an education.

The United States Marine Corps' "MarineNet"

Classroom teachers and education administrators are by no means "strangers" to similar forms of the periodic "annual training" required of military members.  Comparatively speaking, though, the military takes it to another level--perhaps to excess.  Do we want service members to quit tobacco?  Let's make an online class for that.  Do we want to lower the prevalence of sexual assault?  Let's make an online class for that.  Also sexual harassment?  Another online class for that.  Should I continue with Operational Security, Information Security, Records Management, Suicide Awareness, and more?  I think you get the point.  Many will admit that these can be excessive and most units have transitioned these to leader-led discussion group delivery methods.  

More broadly speaking, however, the military has achieved an effective incentive basis for continuing education through curriculum advancement and certification progression.  Risk Management, for example, follows a tiered approach based on rank--something easily repeatable in the civilian sector based on time and/or position within an organization.  The training starts at the entry-level and continues through the most senior positions.  As individuals advance, so does the curriculum, and so does the certification.  And some lessons are repetitive by design.  Cyber Security, for example, is something the military both highly values and reasonably expects many members to yawn at.  With enough repetition, however, the thought process hopes for correct actions coming from habit.

The higher an individual climbs in rank, the higher the education requirement.  A 6-month "Basic School" for Lieutenants is raised to a 41-week "Expeditionary Warfare School" for Captains.  This is again raised to a 10-month "Command and Staff College" for Majors.  

At every level, there are online primers, counterparts, and/or equivalents.  The Basic School online portion runs concurrent with the seated course curriculum as a supplement.  The Expeditionary Warfare School has an online alternative ("EWS Distance Education Program") to the resident school that follows a Marine Corps Captain for a full two-year course schedule.  Each of the enlisted ranks' resident schools feature an online course primer of multiple modules of classes.    

It is undeniable that the military focuses so heavily on such "vertical" training and education due to a uniquely prevalent attrition dynamic that is far less often encountered in the civilian sector.  But civilian educators and administrators can still draw much inspiration from the progressive nature of the military's educational approach for its employees.  My personal key takeaway and idea for classroom implementation with adult learners is to recognize that sometimes the full plate can be overwhelming.  Breaking up instruction or lessons into "bite size" pieces may help students with their own workload management.  

Could continuing education at the size and scope of the military also be a beneficial addition for civilian educators, or just more thrown onto already full calendars?  Is there any application to students on 2- and 4-year programs?  Is there room for new and/or radically re-formatted programs within higher education programs?  These are additional takeaways to ponder.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Spotlight on Organizational Leaders in EdTech: The Agua Fria High School District

Here's one for all of you Administrators out there (or those with their minds on organizational impacts).  The Agua Fria High School District, serving approximately 11,500-12,000 students across its six high schools and three alternative programs located in the Phoenix area of Arizona, first caught my attention for their incredibly in-depth and comprehensive district-level policy on AI in schools.  

While most schools and school districts seem to be kicking the proverbial AI-can down the road in order to react to the culture and a (hopefully) clearer role of AI in the future, the Agua Fria High School District has simultaneously clarified its position and charted its course. 

In their groundbreaking district-level policy on Artificial Intelligence, packaged as an AI Acceptable Use Framework, the Agua Fria High School District provides educational information, positional clarification, and acceptable use prescription to both students and staff.

Most impressively, the Agua Fria High School District appears to be swimming in the opposite direction from so many schools and school districts who defaulted to outright bans and other forms of prohibitions.  Instead, the district's policy is written with a tone that seems concerned with reassuring their students, staff, and parents that they are doing enough with AI, and this to ensure their students graduate with AI literacy.  Assignments are to be clearly labeled according to the photo above, with AI intentionally comprising some assignments.  Parents are assured that all students will have equitable and inclusive access to AI tools and resources.  Staff are to be equipped with AI-focused professional development and directed to integrate AI into their curricula.  Meanwhile, district informs its ongoing collaborations and intent to partner with industry leaders and higher education institutions to ensure their collective efforts remain relevant.

Outside of AI, the Agua Fria High School district certainly isn't coming up short.  Not surprisingly, the district maintains a 1:1 student to smart device ratio, with both student and device protection being provided by Go Guardian software.  The district also supports a ParentVUE/StudentVue school information portal, a Google Classroom learning management system, and a Remind App subscription to streamline classroom-to-home communication.  Parents or guardians of students without home access to the internet can even request a district-provided wireless hotspot device!  And parents or guardians even have the ability to track their student's bus location in real time using the BusRight Transportation App--something I have never even heard of before!  

Finally, I'd like to highlight the Agua Fria High School District's provision of an extraordinary distance learning program, Agua Fria Online.  The district's approach here is one of maximum flexibility.  Students can enroll online in a full-time manner, dually enroll while taking the majority of classes online and select classes (think "Cut and Shop"-type classes) on a campus, or even dually enroll while attending mostly on campus and knocking out an additional credit or two online.  The learning is asynchronous but the supervising teachers host regular virtual office hours to communicate and provide direct instruction to students as needed.

My personal key takeaway and idea for classroom implementation with adult learners is to provide absolute clarity of acceptable AI use within assignments.  I love the AI-use graphic in Agua Fria's Acceptable Use Framework!  This provides such clarity to students and could easily be adopted by myself and other teachers.  I also like the reminder that sometimes AI should be the assignment.  For all of these reasons and more, the Agua Fria High School District is an EdTech voice that inspires me!

EdTech Fundamentals: Touch Typing as an Early Goal

     I didn't take a typing class until I was a junior in high school.  As a self-sufficient sophomore who only bothered my mother with "unsolvable" math problems, she was surprised to observe me toward the end of the year, finger-pecking my way toward the finish line of a writing assignment.  This was not acceptable in her eyes, and not the way I wanted to enter the professional workforce--whether I knew it yet or not.

     If you had asked me--as she quickly learned from my protests--I was actually very proud of just how fast I could type with only my two index fingers.  "I bet I type faster with two fingers than most of my classmates do using all of theirs."  My mother quickly defeated my straw man argument.  "It doesn't matter," she said, "YOU will type faster using all of your fingers than YOU type using just two."  When enrollment opened for the next semester, I was promptly signed up for a typing class.

     Fast forward over 20 years and I am about to continue the cycle:  I just gasped at my high school sophomore son's surprising-even-though-it-shouldn't-be inability to type using "touch typing" (the accepted term for typing using all fingers) and vowed to find a solution.  Unfortunately, his high school is not providing me with an easy solution, so my search quickly hopped online.  But this raised a fair question:  Is typing still a fundamental skill?  In the age of Artificial Intelligence and speech recognition, is touch typing actually beneficial?  I think that it is, at least for now.  At the end of the day, touch typing is still faster.  Can most people touch type faster than they can talk?  Of course not.  However, the realities of speech recognition text generation include substantial editing.  Our worlds are noisy and filled with other voices too.  Our thoughts are disjointed and the words we want to create on a page are rarely available to proceed from our lips unedited.  I re-wrote portions of that last sentence (and already this one!) numerous times.  Making those changes and corrections using touch typing was quick--faster than I could have even explained it to an AI agent.  And much faster than the process of speech-to-text (to hold-to-select, to delete, to position, to new speech-to-select, to repeat...).  Yes, touch typing is (still) a modern fundamental skill.  From writing code to writing prose, our current and future students would be benefited by having touch typing as an early goal in their educational path.

     So we're back online and looking for typing programs and--whoa!  There are a lot of options nowadays.  But take heart because at the end of the day, this is a good thing.  There are lots of different methods and approaches, but most programs out there will get you (or your child) to the goal of touch typing.  But in case you'd like my recommendation, here it is:

Anyone can start using Typing.com as a student for free, and nearly instantaneously.  The sign-up process is simple and fast--just create a unique username and password and you're in!  

While there is a significant difference between the student and instructors/admin accounts, one of the great things about Typing.com is just how simple it is to create a student account.  Instructors and admin are easily able to see the learning experience for themselves and gain both a familiarity and comfort with the website and program from the perspective of their students (and possibly add a few words per minute to their own typing pace while they're at it!).  On the opposite side of the coin, the options for instructors and administrators are varied enough to establish a far reaching network that covers both administrators in charge of multiple teachers, and teachers in charge of multiple classes of students.  There is even an option for parents of homeschoolers!  For current teachers, Typing.com has established seamless integration with web-based learning management systems such as Google Classroom, Class link, Clever, and Microsoft.  

Once inside the teacher dashboard is comprehensive and informative of students' progress.  In my example at left, I don't have any of my students' private data displayed, but you can see it provides a great overview of the class.  At the same time, individual students can be selected and examined for very extensive progress information.  Without a doubt, Typing.com is a useful tool for schools, school districts, and homeschools facing budget constraints that have put touch typing classes on the chopping block.  My personal key takeaway and idea for classroom implementation with adult learners is to never skip the fundamentals and to never assume the starting point.  Typing.com isn't just for the young.  Statistics are varied, but the majority of reported statistics reports less than 35% of adults in the USA can touch type fluently. But this lesson applies across all disciplines, resources, and tools of EdTech!

Don't miss out on this inspirational resource that can truly establish a firm foundation for your students' future with Educational Technology!