Survey of micro-credentialing practice in Australasian universities 2021 An ACODE Whitepaper – October 2021

Abstract

Since the last whitepaper, there has been significant progress in the sector at a national level. Highlights of current and recent work to provide guidance to the higher education sector in Australia include the work by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) in setting up a Micro-credential Marketplace. As a prelude to that, a working group produced a framework that will guide the establishment of the Marketplace. Universities Australia also produced a Guidance for the Portability of Australian Microcredentials. At a global level, UNESCO has produced a draft preliminary report attempting to produce a common definition of micro-credentials, in consultation with global experts. Another global effort of note is pulling together an international Taxonomy, Quality Criteria and Quality Grid by the International Council on Badges & Credentials, acknowledging the important need to move to digital micro- credentials.

The data from the 2021 ACODE survey will help institutions to contextualise local activity and effort against this larger global backdrop of work in the micro-credentialing space. The method employed in this survey is similar to previous years. ACODE members were given the link to the Qualtrics survey via the members’ forum and subsequently follow- up emails were sent as reminders where needed. With participants’ permission, the responses are collated and shared with ACODE members as per usual practice of knowledge sharing and wider dissemination via presentations and publications. Members who are unable to answer the survey with the information needed were encouraged to consult or ask other colleagues in the institution with expertise in the area, ideally at Pro-Vice Chancellor level, to respond to the survey.