A new deliverable detailing EmpowerED’s strategy on micro-credential accreditation has just been released on the project website.
One of the core missions of EmpowerED is to provide capacity-building opportunities for the EdTech workforce in Europe. This includes offering a series of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) targeting different EdTech actors. In order to enhance the benefit of these courses and validate the learning outcomes for participants, EmpowerED has developed a coherent accreditation strategy based on the European Council principles for the design and issuance of micro-credentials.
In a constantly evolving education and professional development landscape, learners need a flexible way of demonstrating the acquisition of specific skills and expertise, based on non-traditional, short-term learning courses targeting specific skills. Micro-credentials offer an elegant solution to this requirement; they are learner-owned, shareable, and often displayed as digital badges or certificates on various platforms, allowing learners to verify, validate and attest competencies achieved while employers gain a detailed understanding of capabilities.
EmpowerED is establishing micro-credential frameworks for two target audiences:
1) Entrepreneurs
Micro-credentials can be obtained through the online course of six mini-MOOCs, which is already available on European Schoolnet Academy. Participants following each module of the will get a badge, exportable to other platforms. If they complete all six modules, they would get a certificate that might be validated by different higher education institutions (for example, by the Oulu University of Applied Sciences Master’s in Education Entrepreneurship (MEE) Degree Programme).
2) Educators
This micro-credential framework targets educators trained to become pedagogical mentors, who will assist EdTech companies in developing and testing their products. Educators that successfully complete the relevant MOOC (available end of 2024) will receive a badge recognising their developed skills, which will be visible on their EmpowerED profile page, so they can be easily found within the pedagogical mentor portal. Additionally, the badge will be exportable to other platforms. The related certificate will be validated by European Schoolnet.
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