In its second year of operation, The Grove residence hall is launching a micro credential integrated with the year-long project to award students and mentors completing the program.
Micro credentials are “something that proves that (students) learned a specific skill, a specific competency,” Tan Gurpinar, assistant professor of business analytics & information systems and advisor of the living learning experiences Leadership Council, said.
On Tuesday, Oct. 21, is the official launch for the Foundations in Project Based Collaborative Research and Consulting micro credential offered to students and mentors.
“I realized the students are gaining some really valuable skills, and we are asking them to do something above and beyond what is typical for a residential experience at Quinnipiac,” Christine Voth, coordinator of academic integrity and accountability, said.
Faculty and students both expressed interest in adding to the program and recognizing students for their work in The Grove.
“We did a survey at the end of last year to see how we can improve the Grove experience for the next year, and when I talked to the students about the survey they mentioned that they would like to have a microcredential,” Gulpinar said.
The new micro credential is a recognition of the students’ skills and effort.
The micro-credential will recognize the work students are already doing to complete the Grove’s year-long project. The official launch will discuss the additional steps students need to take and how the micro-credential ties into experiential learning.
Aadil Latif, a sophomore health science major, is looking forward to the launch and “to see what it can offer me, not only for my resume, but for me in general,” he said.
Students who complete the program will receive an online certificate which will appear on their transcript. Micro-credentials are great resume builders and may attract employers on online platforms, like LinkedIn.
“(Last year) I developed a micro credential for the Office of Academic Integrity and Accountability and seeing the process I thought; we can absolutely do something like this for The Grove,” Voth said.
The micro-credential is designed to give students a competitive edge as they continue their education and enter the field in their chosen career.
Gurpinar meets with some of the largest employers in Connecticut every few months as part of his work with the School of Business.
“From them we know that they really look into micro credentials or other certificates that prove competency rather than just participation,” he said.
For their required year-long project, students in The Grove choose a theme and are divided into groups. It consists of research coupled with experiential learning to create a final product at the end of the year.
“(Students) work to develop topics that they’ll be researching and experiencing throughout the whole year,” Voth said. “We wrote it so that the mentors had the opportunity as well, because their work is very important and unique in its own way to what the students are doing.”
While the new micro-credential is designed for students and mentors in The Grove, other interested students have the ability to participate.
The existing Applied Research micro credential is an option for students in The Grove who go above and beyond, as well as other interested students.
“There is also room for others to join, especially for the research micro-credential, we are always open to have students join in,” Gurpinar said.
The new micro-credential will give students a unique opportunity to apply the skills they learn while completing their chosen project.
As a student last year, Latif reflected on the skills he gained from The Grove project.
“I learned how to work in a group, I learned how to put together a poster and learned how to collect survey data,” he said. This year, he has returned to The Grove as a mentor.
Last year was the first-year students lived in The Grove. According to Latif, implementation of the program was disorganized and led to miscommunication between mentors. Additionally, many incoming students did not understand the scope of the work required.
This year, faculty and mentors knew what to expect. Students are already feeling more prepared and are on track to create well rounded final projects. Voth feels that the timing is perfect for students to take the next step and introduce the new micro-credential.
“We have lots of great students that do outstanding things, and I think it will be a great way to give something back,” Gurpinar said.
He says it is possible for the program to expand in the future.
“I hope that we will have a nice blueprint with The Grove experience, and then we can see if there is demand, and if we can roll it out to other LLC’s as well,” Gurpinar said.
