Micro-Credentialing
Micro-credentialing is the non-traditional education path where the learner gains skill sets in a specific area and receives a credential. The micro-credential is what you earn and the badge is what you display. Innovative districts across NC are already piloting the use of micro-credentialing and offering digital badges as a way for educators to demonstrate competency and application in their classrooms. The Agency has convened a Micro-credentialing and State Policy Workgroup consisting of DPI staff, district stakeholders, and partner organizations (Winston-Salem Forsyth, Newton-Conover, Surry, CMS, UNC-G, and NCSU-FI) to inform and define a framework for using micro-credentials to transform professional learning for educators. This Workgroup is exploring the lay of the land in NC as it relates to micro-credentialing and how we can support this across the state.
Other documentation: Micro-credentialing & State Policy: North Carolina Work Group
| TERM | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| Competency-Based Professional Learning | Learning activities that result in the participants demonstrating evidence of achievement of specified outcomes. |
| Continuing Education Unit (CEU) | Credit for hours spent participating in professional learning at a ratio of 1 CEU per 10 hours of learning. |
| Micro-credential | Recognition achieved through demonstrating mastery of a defined skill or competency, including industry-recognized competencies. |
| Credential | The acknowledged completion of a thoughtfully designed series or multiple sets of recognized competencies that an educator earned by demonstrating mastery of the defined skills or competencies. (see Micro-credential) |
| Stack | One organized set of credentials that an educator earns by demonstrating mastery of the described skills or competencies. Also referred to as a cluster, collection, assemblage, or amassment. |
| Stackability | The idea that micro-credentials build upon or complement each other to represent a carefully assembled set of professional skills. |
| Badge | Digital or physical representation of a micro-credential, stack, or credential. |
| Earner | The educator or professional submitting evidence for the micro-credential. |
| Issuer | The group or organization that has created the micro-credential and validates the educator's competence in the defined skill or set of skills. |
| Recognizer | The person or organization (often the Local Education Agency or school administrator) that recognizes and accepts the micro-credential, stack, or credential as a representation of the educator's skill or competence (formally, through CEUs or licensure procedures, or informally through hiring practices and recognition). |
| Reviewer | An expert, oftentimes an educator that has previously demonstrated mastery of skill(s) required for the micro-credential, evaluates evidence to determine if the competency has been demonstrated. |
| Review Process | A reviewer utilizes a rigorous rubric and scoring guide to evaluate evidence. |
| Backpack | A repository where earners can collect digital badges from a variety of issuers. |
| Portability | The ability to earn badges from anywhere, then share them wherever you want—on social networking profiles, job sites, email signatures, and on your personal website. |
| Verifiability | There is metadata attached to the badge that provides information about who issued the badge, when it was earned, what was required to earn it, and any additional relevant details. |
| Open Badging Initiative (OBI) | A Mozilla-Created program that created standards for micro-credentials/ badges. The OBI states that micro-credentials must be a) portable, b) stackable, c) verifiable, and d) open. OBI created a free, open software designed to help individuals earn and organizations design OBI compliant badges. |