The State of Micro-Credentials Implementation and Practice in Australasian Higher Education

Abstract

Micro-credentialing is rapidly growing globally as learning that is both life-long and life-wide and this has only accelerated due to COVID-19. To understand what this means for higher education, The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and eLearning has conducted two surveys on the implementation and practice of micro-credentialing in the Australasian sector. With the surveys conducted a year apart, before and after the pandemic, significant changes are noted in the delivery of learning. The results show an increased interest and intention in rolling out micro-credentials, as evidenced, particularly, in work undertaken at the policy level. However, in relation to actual implementation and practice, there is still a lot of work yet to be done. What is evidenced, in the results, is that this form of credentialing will continue to grow rapidly. Higher education institutions are investing in infrastructure and establishing working groups that are placing a governance model for micro-credentials in universities, while ensuring dedicated resourcing is channeled to this endeavour. Moving forward institutions will require significant planning and coordinated delivery at both at the local and global level, if the potential benefits of implementing micro-credentialing, such as portability and stackability over time, are to be realised. Implications for practice or policy: Universities can use this data to plan their implementation of micro-credentials Policy makers and regulators can use this information to monitor this field in higher education