Microcredentials and how ePortfolios can highlight them

From shifting student demographics to distance learning, higher education has seen its fair share of changes in recent years. As the industry continues to evolve to meet the needs of today’s students, new trends emerge. Microcredentials and ePortfolios are two new trends your institution can implement to stay competitive.

Higher education microcredentials help individuals quickly acquire new skills that benefit them in the job market. Programs awarding microcredentials have expanded significantly to meet the labor market’s evolving needs. By offering microcredentials at your educational institution, you can adapt to the changing higher education landscape and take your enrollment rates and revenue to the next level.

Discover what microcredentials are, why they’re so popular, and how they benefit individuals, businesses, and higher education institutions. You’ll also learn how to create microcredentials that people want and see value in.

What is a microcredential?

A microcredential or microdegree is a small certification students receive for acquiring a specific skill. They’re shorter courses intended to supplement traditional degrees but can also be a stand-alone option. Both young adults and advanced professionals seek microcredentials to learn new skills and advance their careers.

Microcredentials typically align with hard and soft skills employers value, making them an effective strategy for increasing hireability. They differ from traditional degrees in that they are:

Short and focused: Microcredentials are focused forms of education that cover a smaller amount of information, so they take less time to complete than a traditional degree. Students can complete microcredentials in a few weeks or months. Their size and length also make them more affordable.
Performance-based: Unlike traditional certificates and degrees, students earn microcredentials based on subject mastery and not test grades or class time. A rubric outlines the specific criteria for each skill, and students earn the microcredential once they successfully demonstrate the competency.
Flexible: Microcredentials can also be modular or stackable. Some microcredentials contain one-off learning and assessment experiences, while others are modules that can be stacked to create a larger qualification. Thanks to this flexibility, students can decide which microcredentials they want and how they fit into their academic journey.
Personalized: Students can choose microcredentials tailored to their specific goals, enjoy flexible start and end dates, and select from online or in-person settings to best accommodate their schedules.

The growth of microcredentials

Microcredentials are becoming increasingly popular, with more higher education institutions offering them now than ever. Today, 51 percent of higher education campus leaders say their institution offers microcredentials with academic credit. Over two-thirds of those who don’t offer microcredentials plan to adopt them in the next 5 years.

The factors contributing to the growth of microcredentials include:

Skills-based hiring: The rise in educational institutions offering microcredentials aligns with the shift toward skills-based hiring and diversity in the workplace. Many employers struggle to find people with the right skills for roles, so they’re loosening their educational requirements and adopting skills-based hiring — a hiring approach focused on skills rather than qualifications. In 2024, less than 18 percent of U.S. job postings require a four-year degree, and more than 50 percent don’t have any educational requirements at all.
Educational relevance: Educational leaders are integrating microcredentials to increase the relevance of academic offers and enhance immediate and long-term career prospects for students. Microcredietials also strengthen innovation and the institutional reputation, making them essential for student and institutional success.
Rising costs: Students are also increasingly choosing microcredentials over traditional degrees because they’re more affordable. The cost of tuition has increased significantly in the past years, even after considering inflation. Today, a bachelor’s degree costs $89,556 on average. Many students are questioning the value of traditional degrees and choosing microcredentials or forgoing education instead.

Types of microcredentials in higher education

Microcredentials in education are diverse and vary from institution to institution. They may cater to undergraduate students or those seeking professional advancement. They also have varying names and structures, contributing to the general confusion people have about them. However, there are usually three types of microcredentials available at educational institutions today:

Badges: Some institutions advertise microcredentials as digital badges. Digital badges are exactly that — a badge you receive digitally that you can add to your online resume or ePortfolio. Most digital badges — called open badges — use blockchain technology to store data on the badge, making them independently verifiable. Consequently, digital badges offer more concrete proof of the skills you have acquired.
Certificates: Certificates are similar to degrees but take less time to complete and cover less information. Microcredentials are usually shorter than certificates, but some institutions may offer their microcredentials in the form of short certificate courses. At the end, students receive a certificate to prove they completed the course. Sometimes, multiple microcredentials can stack to create a larger, traditional certificate.
Boot camps: Boot camps are another form of microcredential. During a boot camp, students learn a specific skill in person or online over a short time. Coding boot camps are particularly popular. At the end, students typically receive a certificate of completion and have projects they can add to their portfolio.

Microcredential examples for students and educators

Students and faculty alike can grow and benefit from microcredentials. These short courses cover various topics and usually align with industry trends and requirements.

Students

Most higher education institutions offer students microcredentials for hard skills like computer programming, photography, project management, and graphic design. However, they can also cover soft skills and other useful knowledge areas like:

Leadership: Students learn the skills they need to confidently assume a leadership role, such as good communication, mentorship, delegation, decision-making, and time management.
Mental health: Students gain an understanding of human emotions and behaviors and learn techniques that improve mental health.
Sustainability: Students learn the principles of sustainable development and how to incorporate sustainable changes into their organization.
Research: Students discover how to research effectively for professional and academic projects to produce high-quality work.

Educators

Educator microcredentials present a unique opportunity to connect professional learning to practice. Some examples of microcredentials for educators offered by the National Education Association (NEA) include:

Arts integration: Educators learn how to integrate the arts into their classroom instruction and engage students in the creative process.
Classroom management: Educators develop the skills to create a student-centered learning community and explore classroom organization and routine.
Educator ethics: Educators examine various ethical situations to understand complex relationships and make ethical decisions.
Technology integration: Educators learn how to leverage digital tools to support students using communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.

Benefits of Offering Microcredentials

Administrators can give their institutions a competitive edge in the fast-changing higher education landscape by offering microcredentials. With microcredentials, your higher education institution can:

Help students fill the gap: Microcredential programs offer the perfect solution for individuals looking to strengthen their skill sets and resumes. Many educational institutions offer degree programs that train students on the technical skills they need for their desired profession. However, bite-sized courses and training for soft skills are less prevalent. Microcredential courses fill this gap to help individuals gain the necessary skills for a successful career in less time.
Grow enrollment and revenue: By offering microcredentials, your institution can attract students looking for nontraditional higher education options, helping you reach your enrollment and revenue goals. Microcredentials are especially well-suited to technical and community colleges where performance- and skill-based mastery is vital to the student’s desired occupation.
Offer flexibility: Some students may have other commitments and struggle to meet traditional degree requirements. With microcredentials, your institution can give students learning options better suited to their unique skill sets, goals, and schedules. Student satisfaction and retention may also increase with the added flexibility as students may cope better and enjoy the learning experience more.
Use scalable solutions: You can take a scalable approach to adopting microcredentials, starting with just a few and expanding as needed. By eliminating a large upfront commitment, you can minimize costs and analyze the effectiveness of each microcredential before incorporating more.
Stay competitive: Offering microcredentials can help your higher education institution stay competitive. While other institutions scramble to remain relevant, you’ll be one step ahead of the curve with microcredential options already available.

How to create relevant microcredentials

Including microcredentials in your higher educational institution’s offerings can be beneficial, but only if they are relevant and worthwhile for students and employers. Try these strategies to ensure your microcredentials align with student and industry needs:

Gather student feedback: One of the most effective ways to ensure your microcredentials are what people want is to ask them directly. Before developing anything, elicit feedback from current students and alumni. You can gather even more feedback from students who take the microcredentials after launch to determine if the course meets their expectations.
Partner with employers: Higher education institutions can also improve the relevance of their microcredential courses by collaborating with employers. Employers can provide insights into what skills they need and value in job candidates, and institutions can increase student employability and satisfaction through these partnerships.
Offer credits: Some people may view microcredentials as less relevant if they can’t earn credits after completion. When microcredentials offer credits, they provide tangible benefits that may convince people of their worth. Credit-bearing microcredentials also act as stepping stones in people’s educational journeys, allowing them to progress quickly to other qualifications.
Align with degrees: Microcredentials benefit students as they help them determine whether to pursue that skill further. Higher education institutions can facilitate this process by creating microcredentials that align with their traditional degrees. Additionally, students studying for degrees may see more value in microcredentials if they align with their chosen career path and can supplement their knowledge.

Use ePortfolios to incorporate microcredentials into academic programs

Higher education institutions may see more success with their microcredential offerings by helping students create ePortfolios to show them off. At Watermark, we have software solutions that make it easy to incorporate microcredentials and digital badges in higher education programs.

Watermark Student Learning & Licensure provides a centralized location for students to submit assignments, organize course artifacts, and log their field experiences. Along the way, evaluators assess student progress and provide feedback. At the end of their learning journey, students have a robust ePortfolio, allowing them to market themselves to employers confidently. What’s more, ePortfolios serve as evidence of program quality and outcome achievement, which is required for program accreditation and state reporting.

Our platform integrates with major learning management systems (LMS), so students can easily pull artifacts from the LMS to their ePortfolio. Grades also flow to and from your LMS, automatically eliminating duplicate entries. You can run accurate, detailed reports, allowing for an easier accreditation process.

Request a demo from Watermark today

We offer a range of software solutions that give higher education institutions the insights they need to evolve. Our comprehensive ePortfolios make it easy to highlight your microcredential programs.

To see our software in action, request a demo today. Our friendly, knowledgeable team will walk you through all the program features and answer any questions you may have.