FIU Micro-Credentials: The Quality Enhancement Plan Bridging Academia and the 21st Century Workplace
- 2:15 PM to 3:00 PM
Concurrent Session 2

Brief Abstract

Florida International University’s Quality Enhancement Plan enhances students’ preparation in foundational skills and competencies for the 21st-century workforce. FIU’s Office of Academic Planning and Accountability and the Office of Micro-Credentials developed these opportunities and tools to align academic rigor with workforce skills to be successful in the 21st Century. 

Extended Abstract

Florida International University’s (FIU) Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Critical Skills for the 21st Century, aims to enhance students’ preparation for the 21st-century workforce by certifying their attainment of knowledge, skills, abilities, and values. The QEP Micro-Credentials, Artificial Intelligence: How it Works and Its Impact, Understanding Emotional Intelligence, and Thinking and Communicating with Data, were developed to target undergraduate students and/or non-majors in these foundational areas of study. The FIU Office of Academic Planning and Accountability has collaborated with units across the university to develop these Micro-Credentials through curricular integration into existing academic courses and as co-curricular, or independent shells containing the Micro-Credential content. The QEP Micro-Credentials provide students the opportunity and tools to align academic rigor with workforce skills they will need to be successful.

The Office of Academic Planning and Accountability, specifically the QEP Team, is responsible for the administrative oversight of the QEP. The role of the QEP Faculty Director and QEP Manager is to oversee and coordinate the execution of the project plan for implementing, maintaining, and completing the QEP. This includes collecting and analyzing data, monitoring the reporting process of student learning outcomes assessed via rubrics, and managing the training instructors that will facilitate the delivery of the Micro-Credentials content and assessment of student learning.

The FIU Office of Micro-Credentials (OMC) was established to facilitate Micro-Credential development university wide. The OMC ensures adherence to institutional policies, provides opportunities for collaboration among instructors and supports learners in their path toward gaining skill and competencies essential for success in the 21st century workforce. The OMC requires all proposals for new Micro-Credentials to be submitted; all proposals must align with in-demand skills or competencies necessary for students or professionals to succeed in today’s workplace. Proposals are required to identify measurable Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs), intended to focus learners' knowledge and skills expected upon completion of a Micro-Credential.

Faculty QEP Co-Chairs serve as subject matter experts supervising the educational content and assessment of SLOs in the three QEP Micro-Credentials. The QEP Co-Chairs, along with faculty and assessment experts, established methods to gather evidence of learner understanding using direct and indirect measures and assess student learning using both formative and summative assessment. Direct measures of learner understanding includes quizzes and assignments (e.g., video demonstrations, projects, presentations, reflective writing). Indirect measures of learner understanding includes a written summative reflection. The OMC ensures that the SLOs are measurable and specific, that assessments methods are rigorous and measure learners’ mastery of the SLO. The proposed SLO, assessments and rubrics undergo a process of review which includes extensive feedback by OMC leadership until the expected high quality is achieved.

Faculty are required to complete a Faculty Professional Development Workshop to qualify for teaching one of the QEP Micro-Credentials, which is facilitated by the QEP faculty director, the QEP manager, and staff from the OMC and FIU’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. Upon completion of the workshop, faculty submit a Micro-Credential Offering Request Form to the OMC indicating which QEP Micro-Credential they will teach and whether it will be embedded in a course or delivered via a co-curricular offering. The OMC staff then creates the CANVAS shell for faculty to deliver the micro-credential. Credly, used to award digital badges, is integrated into the CANVAS shell and the and data is collected by tying SLO to rubric criteria. The OMC staff also enables the Learning Mastery Gradebook and Student Learning Mastery Gradebook by which student learning outcomes data are collected via standardized rubric criteria. The OMC staff provides faculty support throughout the semester. Faculty are required to submit a simplified request form each semester to continue teaching the micro-credential; this ensures each CANVAS shell is set up appropriately and faculty support is provided as needed.

Micro-Credentials involve the development and design of content in the Canvas Learning Management System. The OMC Instructional Design team supports and guides the units in Micro-Credentials development to ensure transparency, accessibility, and alignment. Additionally, the OMC has a robust resource portal to provide further guidance to units developing Micro-Credentials. The OMC review and quality assurance process, based closely on the Quality Matters rubric, is extensive; it is designed to assure learners that all Micro-Credentials launched by FIU provide them with the highest level of knowledge and skills to prepare them for the 21st Century workforce.

The OMC has created a work-flow process to support the Office of Academic Planning and Accountability in every step of launching QEP Micro-Credentials. The collaboration between the Office of Academic Planning and Accountability and the OMC consists of weekly meetings between the QEP Manager and the OMC Instructional Design Manager, monthly meetings of QEP Faculty Co-Chairs, and semesterly meetings of all QEP stakeholders. Timelines are provided to all QEP stakeholders to ensure ample time for template development, testing, and access to individual course shells. Template shells are developed and updated for each of the three QEP Micro-Credentials every semester. Documents and folders are shared to keep all stakeholders on track with updates and revisions.

The collaboration between the FIU Office of Academic Planning and Accountability and the OMC in the Quality Enhancement Plan initiative is integral to FIU’s strategic plan, which has a strategic priority to amplify learners’ success, specifically the goal of aligning curriculum with career needs to ensure employment readiness, post-graduation success, and workforce and industry advancement.