1. Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash
Looking at the Literature:
Micro-credentials Under the Microscope
EADTU Webinar
16th
November 2021
Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
@mbrownz

2. • State of the art
• State of the actual
• Degrees of separation
Outline…
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash

3. 3
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
“The light comes
through the gaps”

5. 1. State of the art
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash

6. Growth of micro-credentials evidenced by Google search traffic

7. Poll conducted in March
2021 in Higher Education
4.0: Certifying Your Future

8. Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
Sheepskin Effect

11. September 2021 - $5.6m

13. Photo by Chaiyaporn Atakampeewong on Unsplash
“Absolute catnip
to politicians”
(Usher, 2021)

14. 2. State of the Actual
Photo by Fabian Centeno on Unsplash
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash

17. Currently undertaking a major literature review
on contract to European Commission

18. Major Literature Review on Micro-credentials

19. Methodology…

22. Inclusion / Exclusion Criteria…
High EU Relevance…

23. 23
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
87% of
sample already
in MC Observatory

27. MOOCs
Employers
HEIs

28. Report launch in March 2021…

29. 3. Degrees of separation
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash

30. • Positioning
• Drivers and attractors
• Business and delivery models
• Supply as opposed to demand-side
• Public and private return on investment
Gaps, tensions and conflicts…

32. TWIG, 2021
500,000 Canadians annually seek to complete St. John’s certificates
Since 1833

33. Level of interest in micro-credentials for employee training and development
(The Australian Industry Group, 2021)

35. What word best encapsulates your view?

36. Lifelong Learning
§
§
Increase Equity

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

39. “Rather than presenting new
opportunities for social
inclusion and access to
education, they contribute to
the privatisation of education
by unbundling the
curriculum and blurring the
line between public and
private provision in higher
education” (p.14).

40. “Just as degrees are not all created
equal, short-term credentials are not all
created equal” (Craig, 2021).
D
a
n
g
e
r
o
f
s
w
e
e
p
i
n
g
g
e
n
e
r
a
l
i
z
a
t
i
o
n
s
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2021/06/11/credentials-must-be-stackable-not-sleestak-able/

41. (Presant, 2020)

45. (Selvaratnam & Sankey, 2020)
https://www.acode.edu.au/pluginfile.php/8411/mod_resource/content/1/ACODE_MicroCreds_Whitepaper_2020.pdf
Single Institution Model…

47. €12m

48. 2021
Report launch in January 2021…
€7m

51. OECD, 2021a
Increasing Supply

52. OECD, 2021b
Gender Dimension

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

54. OECD (2017) Education at a Glance
Ireland
Average

55. (Hollands & Kazi, 2019)
§

56. Studying “...the relationship between
MOOCs and labour market
outcomes is an almost uncharted
research area” (p.2).

57. A data desert!

58. Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash
Final remark…

60. 60
http://www.microcredentialssf.org

62. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you