What are Micro-Credentials? Unveiling the Significance in Education

April 17, 2024 admin 0 Comments

Exploring the Concept of Micro-Credentials

Micro-credentials, called ‘micro certificates’, encompass concise and targeted week-long courses. Employees primarily utilize them to acquire precise skill sets. These courses result in stacked credentials, forming a portfolio of digital badges or certificates.

Distinguished by their specificity, micro-credential courses bridge skill gaps often unincluded by traditional degrees due to the novelty of required expertise. Unlike conventional degrees or formal certificates, micro-credentials are compact, time-efficient, and hyper-focused, offering a more cost-effective and specialized learning experience.

These courses are in various educational institutes, including universities, industry organizations, and accredited online platforms.

Benefits of Micro-Credentials for Educators

Micro-credentials enhance teaching strategies and methods. It is efficient with its specificity, making its courses engaging and doable for learners. Here are the other benefits educators can receive by creating micro-credential courses.

Meeting the Demand for Skills-Based Hiring

According to a report from Coursera, 90% of graduates and students believe industry micro-credentials will make them more likely to be hired. Even 88% of employers believe that professional certificates strengthen a candidate’s application, as 77% already use skills-based hiring.

With the staggering statistics for micro-credentials, educators would be wise to meet its demand. 

Enhancing Teaching Strategies Through Micro-Credentialing

Micro-credential courses typically comprise 4-8 lessons. They are designed to accommodate learners who are most likely employed. Because of the “chunking” of the lessons, learners can dedicate a few weekly hours to acquiring new expertise. Tailored for rapid up-skilling, these courses prioritize evidence-based resources to ensure the delivery of high-quality knowledge. Each lesson is followed by short quizzes, facilitating continual learning tracking and retention of acquired insights.

Micro-Credentials: A Tool for Continuing Education to Adopt

Micro-credentials can assist educators in creating better-continuing education (CE) courses. Due to innovations constantly changing the industries, Sheila LeBlanc, associate vice-president for CE at the University of Calgary, states in an interview:

“Micro-credentials and continuous learning are critical for almost every worker’s future. It doesn’t matter if you are a nurse, an engineer, a scientist, or an artist. When I finished my undergraduate degree in marketing, social media, and digital marketing didn’t exist. Today’s need to continuously learn new skills and competencies, too, or they won’t be employed for long!”

She agrees that learners and employers must become partners in creating accessible, research-based, and work-related learning opportunities, a mentality required for micro-credentialing.

“Continuing Education teams have the tools, technology, and processes in place to act as a launching point for micro-credential practices across the academy.”

Utilizing SimpleCert®: Streamlining Micro-Credential Management

Micro-credential courses allow educators to create efficient, evidence-based, and engaging lessons for many learners who wish to be employed immediately. These learners would often look for accredited courses online that they can access at home or on their smartphones to complete at their convenience. 

You may benefit from automated micro-credential management if you’re an online educator. SimpleCert® is a systemic tool for digital certificate management. By linking your SimpleCert® account to your website or test-taker platform, your students can automatically receive their digital certificates as soon as they are done.

Because SimpleCert® is a comprehensive Certificate Management System, it can manage all aspects of your certification program. All certificates you award are automatically stored within your account, allowing for effortless management and retrieval. Your students can access their stacked credentials anytime via a direct download link, or for monthly SimpleCart® subscribers via individual recipient portals.

See our digital credentials features to learn more

SimpleCert

What Are Stacked Credentials?

April 2, 2024 admin 0 Comments

Uses of Stacked Credentials and How They Work

Stacked credentials aren’t a distinct type of credential. Instead, they represent a framework for accumulating knowledge via micro-credentials. These micro-credentials encompass smaller courses within a broader skill set or a tailored portfolio of relevant individual courses. Stacked credentials significantly enhance a learner’s job prospects and skills.

How Are Credentials Stacked

Credentials can be strategically stacked based on their difficulty level, relevance, or combination.

  • Vertical Stacking: This approach involves stacking credentials according to their complexity. For instance, one might progress through Proofreading levels 1, 2, and 3, representing an ascending level of proficiency.
  • Horizontal Stacking: Here, individuals accumulate diverse topics pertinent to their profession. A manager, for instance, might pursue courses covering conflict resolution and budgeting, showcasing a breadth of skills applicable to their role.
  • Hybrid Stacking: This method combines both vertical and horizontal stacking. Consider an accountant who completes payroll processing courses 1 and 2 alongside integrated bookkeeping 1 and 2, amalgamating specialized knowledge across multiple relevant areas.

Advantages of Stacked Credentials for Students

Individuals seeking stacked credentials often include college students aiming to expand their employment opportunities and employees strategically investing for higher pay.

Career Investment

Employees can propel their careers forward, securing promotions and higher salaries by strategically investing in learning skills by accumulating micro-credentials.

Improves Job Prospects

Possessing a diverse skill set, individuals with stacked credentials become versatile candidates, aligning seamlessly with various job descriptions.

Creates Career Flexibility

Stacked credentials allow employees to explore diverse professions, aiding them in navigating career choices and discovering their preferences.

Advantages of Stacked Credentials for Education Providers

Implementing stacked credentials also benefits education providers. The division of courses into smaller, manageable chunks fosters practical learning experiences that draw students in.

Increased Re-enrollment of Students

The availability of smaller, achievable courses leading to stackable micro-credentials has spurred increased re-enrollment. This format enables employees to balance work commitments while pursuing education, and recent college graduates can job hunt while dedicating minimal weekly study hours.

Provide More Accessible Learning

For individuals unable to invest 2-4 years in traditional degree programs, stacking micro-credentials offers an affordable avenue to gain relevant, up-to-date skills and knowledge.

Motivate Students with Faster Rewards

By accumulating digital micro-credentials, students can showcase their achievements on professional profiles and resumes, motivating them to pursue further stacked certifications.

To know how to make certificates of stacked credentials, try our Certificate Maker for free with the link below.

SimpleCert | Stacked Credentials

Una mirada al papel de Optimised Fibres International en los sectores del acero y la fundición

April 1, 2024 admin 0 Comments

En el ámbito de las industrias del acero y la fundición, el fortalecimiento de los materiales refractarios con fibras de acero representa un avance crucial, aumentando significativamente la resistencia y durabilidad de los materiales. Reconociendo el impacto transformador de esta innovación, Optimised Fibres International se ha posicionado como un proveedor clave de fibras de acero para la industria refractaria. Estos materiales diseñados, cruciales para resistir temperaturas extremas, químicos corrosivos y estrés mecánico, son fundamentales en una miríada de procesos industriales. A través de la introducción de fibras de acero, Optimised Fibres International contribuye a mejoras sustanciales en las propiedades mecánicas, la resistencia al choque térmico y la durabilidad general de los materiales refractarios, fomentando operaciones más seguras y eficientes en todos los aspectos.

Beneficios de las fibras de acero en materiales refractarios

Aumento de la integridad estructural: Las fibras de acero, al entrelazarse en la matriz refractaria, aumentan significativamente su resistencia y tenacidad. Este refuerzo mejora la capacidad del material para soportar cargas y resistir estrés térmico y mecánico, lo que lleva a una disminución notable en la probabilidad de agrietamiento o desprendimiento.

Mejor resistencia al choque térmico: Los materiales refractarios a menudo enfrentan cambios rápidos de temperatura que pueden causar choque térmico. Las fibras de acero de Optimised Fibres International ayudan a mitigar este riesgo mejorando la disipación del calor, elevando así la resistencia del material a los choques térmicos y minimizando los daños potenciales.

Mejora de la resistencia a la erosión: La incorporación de fibras de acero resulta en una estructura más densa y cohesiva dentro del material refractario, reduciendo su susceptibilidad a la erosión. Esta resiliencia contra fuerzas erosivas de metales fundidos y exposiciones químicas agresivas refuerza significativamente la fiabilidad del material en entornos exigentes de fabricación de acero y fundición.

Aplicaciones clave en la industria del acero

Revestimientos de cucharas: Esenciales para el traslado y vertido de metal fundido, las cucharas se benefician enormemente de revestimientos reforzados con fibras de acero de Optimised Fibres International, mejorando tanto la resistencia como la resistencia al choque térmico para operaciones más seguras y duraderas.

Revestimientos de tundish: Actuando como contenedores intermedios en la producción de acero, los tundish revestidos con materiales reforzados con fibras de acero exhiben una durabilidad y resistencia al choque térmico mejoradas, asegurando procesos de colada ininterrumpidos.

Canales de alto horno: Encargados de dirigir gases calientes y metales fundidos, los canales de alto horno revestidos con materiales refractarios mejorados con fibras de acero demuestran una integridad mecánica superior, resistiendo efectivamente los rigores de las operaciones de alto horno durante períodos más largos.

Aplicaciones en la industria de la fundición

Crisoles y copas de vertido: Estos componentes vitales para los procesos de fundición y transferencia de aleaciones metálicas obtienen una resistencia mecánica mejorada y resistencia a la fatiga térmica a través del refuerzo con fibras de acero, extendiendo su vida útil y reforzando la fiabilidad durante las operaciones de colada.

www.optimisedfibres.com