Thinking about a microcredential course? 4 things to consider first

• Earlier this week, the federal government announced the first group of courses it is supporting in a microcredential pilot program.
• Microcredentials have been around in vocational circles for several years but are starting to be offered more widely by universities.

What are microcredentials?

• They focus on updating or gaining new skills in a short time frame, typically ranging from a few weeks to a semester of study.
• They are viewed as a way to meet industry and employee needs quickly and address critical skills gaps.
• For example, the pilot program includes a microcredential on phonics for teachers to develop their skills in literacy teaching.

The benefits of short-term study

• They offer a way to update and progress your career without the long-term commitment and expense of a traditional graduate qualification.
• You can also mix and match education and training to form a more bespoke study plan.
• So it is no surprise microcredentials are gaining a lot of attention in the higher education sector.

1. What do you want out of further education?

• Microcredentials can feel more like vocational education and training – highly targeted to cover precise competencies in a specific setting.
• This means they are rarely designed to develop broader capabilities and frameworks of professional practice you can normally expect from a degree program.

2. What specific skill is on offer?

• If your career plan does call for an improvement of specific skills, there are some important questions you should ask yourself before you enrol in a microcredential course.
• The first is simply “does this course offer a skill I actually need?” Unlike the vocational system (such as TAFE), universities’ microcredential catalogue is still relatively small.

3. Am I suited to this type of study?

• In the hustle and bustle of a microcredential course, it is often assumed participants will be well prepared to manage their own learning.
• Because they are so short, microcredentials generally focus very strongly on the content itself.

4. How will I use this in my job or profession?

• A science teacher who learns some physics content, for example, may need to alter their wider assessment strategies to incorporate what they learned.
• A physiotherapist with a new treatment technique may need to decide how to explain it to the clients they work with.
• Part of the trade-off with microcredentials is they can throw this translation work back to the course participant.

Choose wisely

• A microcredential, however, is a different educational proposition to a traditional degree course.
• So it is important the consumer chooses wisely.