How HERA is helping institutions develop and deliver new microcredentials
Melissa Smiley recently joined HERA as microcredential coordinator, a role made possible through the $1.5 million in federal funding HERA received last year to support member institutions as they develop short-form, skills-based, online courses focused on high-demand careers. Here, Melissa gives her perspective on the emerging popularity of these courses and how institutions can develop them to benefit employers and employees in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Q: For people who may be new to this, what are microcredentials?
A: They’re bite-sized pieces of achievable education that start with a competency: What you have to be able to do to achieve a level of mastery in a specific skill.
They’re typically geared toward adult learners, so course content needs to be immediately relevant and applicable. They’re not always cohort-based, allowing people to work at their own pace. A good microcredential will have you walking away with something you can immediately start using or a skill that you didn’t have before. That’s going to help you advance, and it’s something you can put on a resume.
For example, if you take a project management microcredential course, you will walk away knowing how to create a project management plan and how to implement it. You don’t just walk away with the theory. Typically there is case-based learning, even involving situations in their workplace that they need to solve. They can go back to their employer and show them what they created.
Q: What made you interested in this role with HERA?
A: I’ve been working in higher education for almost 11 years. I have a lot of experience working in adult learning, outside the traditional undergraduate space. In my current full-time role in the Center for Professional Education at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), we are focusing on professional development courses, short courses and certificates. I previously worked in a similar role for engineering professional development at UW-Madison.
Now I split my time between MSOE and HERA, helping institutions that are applying for the grant to understand what microcredentialing is and how it’s a little bit different than the space they’re used to working in.
This is a big opportunity. Our region has approximately a million adults in the workforce who have some college but have not finished a degree. That’s a large number of people who can be served well in programs like this. HERA can help people in our communities get the skills and the knowledge that they need, and maybe even make that bridge to completing a degree if that’s what their path is.
Now that enrollment issues are starting to hit higher education, we’re all going to be fighting for a smaller group of traditional undergraduate students. Why not start working for the people who are already in the workforce? Working together, we can make education more accessible and affordable for people in our communities.
Q: How would you characterize the popularity of microcredentials right now?
A: They’re growing significantly. The important thing is that institutions are reaching out to their local businesses and finding out what the needs are. These businesses might not have the capacity to provide internal training opportunities, or may be hesitant to make a large investment in training for employees who might leave for a new opportunity.
Even people in the workforce who have undergrad or even master’s degrees still need skill advancements — in Artificial Intelligence, for example. So we have a lot of opportunity to partner with businesses and find out what they specifically need from their workforce.
Q: What opportunities do you see for HERA institutions in the microcredential space?
A:We’ve seen the demographic trends. With increasing competition for fewer prospective traditional students in the pipeline, I think shifting to focus on individuals who had some college but didn’t finish, and reaching them through microcredentialing, is going to be a bread and butter opportunity.
And you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We are seeing a lot of our institutions repurpose traditional curriculum to focus on competencies first. They find that everything else flows out from there and it’s actually a smooth process.
The more we do this, the more we will have businesses come to our institutions and say, “I need a microcredential for this,” or “Can you come to our business and do a course on this?” That’s an opportunity for higher education to make a shift in the coming years.
At MSOE, we are working on our first HERA-approved project. We’re nicknaming it a “mini MBA.” It’s a professional certificate in business essentials that will be available for people to enroll in later this year.
Q: What makes HERA institutions uniquely well positioned to deliver these kinds of courses?
A:Our institutions know their communities very well. And because they are in this alliance, we can put aside competition and focus on the needs that are scattered throughout our region.
We don’t want duplication. Let’s say we have one institution that focuses on urban health, and another that focuses on rural health. They are teaching many of the same competencies. So they could collaborate on things that don’t need to be replicated and infuse things that are unique. At MSOE, we are working with UW-Parkside, Waukesha County Technical College and bringing in industry leaders as subject matter experts and facilitators. We are encouraging institutions that are applying for grants to consider similar collaborations — they may have more in common with another institution than they think.
Q: How can microcredential courses from HERA institutions help employers?
A:HERA is deeply involved in working with employers, advisory council members and board members. We’re taking what they’re saying and passing it along to institutions. Once business leaders start seeing microcredentials open for students that directly address specific needs, they’ll see that we acted on their suggestions. This will build trust, and they will come to us with more suggestions.
Q: And what do microcredentials provide for employees?
A:You’re investing in yourself without having to put 20-30 hours a week into coursework while having a family and having a job. We meet them where they’re at. When we do that, they may say, “I didn’t think that achieving a college degree at the time was something that I could do, and now I can.” Because these aren’t high school courses. This is college content. Some of it is graduate work. It’s just being brought down to bite-sized pieces.
These aren’t cookie cutter, mass-produced courses. They’re being done with a lot of thought and care about who is going to be using them and succeeding because of them.
Q: What else we should know?
A: Since last September, HERA has approved a total of $400,000 across six HERA institutions to develop ten new microcredentials, with an additional five microcredentials expected to be approved in the coming weeks. There will be a third round, and still time for local industry to reach out with questions, ideas or opportunities for collaboration.
Southeastern Wisconsin employers can provide feedback on how microcredential courses could meet their needs by taking this survey.
