Quinnipiac University offers a variety of credit and non-credit micro-credentials and digital badges made for undergraduate and graduate students, to showcase their specialized training, abilities and skills to future colleagues and prospective employers.
Micro-credentials and digital badges are educational programs that teach career-oriented skills or competencies tailored to students’ needs, with a focus on experiential learning. Students can register for these through Self Service.
Alison Witherspoon, director of the department of lifelong learning, said that micro-credentials are still relatively new in higher education
“By leveraging their earned micro-credential as a talking point in interviews, students are able to demonstrate their ability to apply professional skills in ways that align with the next step in their professional journey,” Witherspoon wrote in a March 18 statement to The Chronicle.
Nathaniel Johnson, program specialist, said that micro-credentials can be helpful to students in trying to find a job after college.
“Micro-credentials are a good mechanism to show the kind of commitment to lifelong learning that help employers see the potential in a person to keep growing and adding value to their organization,” Johnson wrote in a statement to The Chronicle.
Students are able to earn micro-credentials on multiple levels. They are earned based on the intensity of the course and the rigor of assessments, per the Quinnipiac University website. Students can pursue any level. Micro-credentials and badges do not expire the way licenses and certifications do, but the effectiveness of skill sets could decrease if it isn’t practiced.
Micro-credentials and badges for undergraduate students include applied Google data analytics, engineering writing, foundations of web development, gender and society and undergraduate nursing research distinction.
For graduate students, there is applied healthcare, cyber risk management, designing educational resources for the health professions, ethical hacking and penetration testing and oncologic physical therapy.
Other courses such as community and civic engagement, applied research and interprofessional relationship-centered leadership are also available to all students.
The most popular micro-credential available to both undergraduate and graduate students is currently interprofessional healthcare education.
Kimberly Hartmann, a professor of occupational therapy, serves as the director of the Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education.
“Micro-credentials help students highlight a particular foci of learning that is outside of a course of a degree and demonstrates a cohesive program of learning,” Hartmann said.
The Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education promotes collaboration between the various healthcare disciplines. The multidisciplinary microcredential provides students with the opportunity to engage with the local Hamden Community.
Interprofessional education is designed to have students from various majors learn alongside one another to develop team-based skills that can help improve the quality of healthcare.
Meaghan Johnson, a senior nursing major, learned about the IPE microcredential in her health science class as a sophomore.
“As a nursing major, sometimes we are unable to learn about the responsibilities of social workers, occupational therapists, (and) physical therapists,” Meaghan Johnson said. “Pursuing this credential has allowed me to develop a greater understanding of each field of practice.”
Meaghan Johnson said that participating in the Legacy Project, which is geared toward patients with dementia, was her favorite experience.
In the Legacy Project, two students from different disciplines interview an individual with dementia and use their stories to create a memory book about their life. The students later present it to the individuals at the end of the project.
“I was able to develop a deep connection to an individual within the community and make an impact,” Meaghan Johnson said.
Her partner was an occupational therapy major, and due to the partnership she was also able to gain insight into the discipline.
“With this credential, I believe that I have the skills to collaborate with the multidisciplinary team and provide quality care to my future patients,” Meaghan Johnson said.
