Episode 6: Silver Buckshot

What if a student would like to earn credit in bite-sized pieces? What if employers valued shorter-time, competency-based credentials? Micro-credentials might be an answer. Intrigued? Podcast guest Timothy Thomas says that learning opportunities need to shift to be more personalized, more practical, more applied, and nimbler. After working with industry to design their initial AAS degree in Unmanned Aerial Systems Technology, he then asked them whether they would find value in shorter-term, competency-based credentials. This gave birth to the micro-credential, a sequence of 9-15 credit hours, often 3 courses, designed to facilitate the attainment of a single competency. The road to micro-credentialing was not easy. There were faculty and departments to convince this was a wise course of action. Thomas graciously shared the language that Mohawk Valley adopted to describe their micro-credentials so you can get a head start!