TY  - JOUR
T1  - UNBOXING MICRO-CREDENTIALS FOR ODL UNIVERSITIES: COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT FOR HUMAN CAPITAL
AU  - Subramaniam, Nantha Kumar
AU  - Raghavan, Santhi
AU  - Awang, Ahmad Izanee
PY  - 2025
DA  - January
Y2  - 2024
DO  - 10.17718/tojde.1408308
JF  - Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education
JO  - TOJDE
PB  - Anadolu University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1302-6488
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
VL  - 26
IS  - 1
LA  - en
AB  - The rising prominence of micro-credentials started during the COVID-19 pandemic, where online resources offered competency-building opportunities for the work-from-home (WFH) human capital. During this pandemic, traditional universities faced total halt to face-to-face lectures, but ways paved for open and distance learning (ODL) universities to showcase their prowess in higher education by successfully continuing to offer programmes digitally. Lesson learnt from the lockdown, higher education institutions (HEIs) have begun implementing online programmes, including micro-credentials. This paper investigates the role of microcredentials in competency development and employment opportunities and the trends and challenges in offering micro-credentials. This study employed a triangulation approach for data collection from the workforce, universities, employers and statutory bodies. The findings indicated that the workforce desired more options to upgrade and upskill themselves, opting for shorter durations and lower fees. Employers surveyed, prefer employees with high-value skills and competencies. The findings also indicated that conventional HEIs have started to actively engage in short-term programmes for adult learners via ODL too. The implication of these findings indicates that ODL universities implementing micro-credentials must consider the acceptance and stackability of micro-credentials from different HEIs, with clear validation metrics, and allow transferability among ODL institutions in different countries, through AAOU as an international consortium.
KW  - Micro-credentials
KW  - Competency development
KW  - Human capital
KW  - open and distance learning
KW  - ODL
CR  - Abd Karim. (2021). 4 groups of non-traditional learners for micro-credential program. 
https://twitter.com/openlrning/status/1462706908389797890/photo/1
CR  - Brown, M., Mhichil, M., Beirne, E. and Lochlainn, C. (2021) The global micro-credential landscape:charting a new credential ecology for lifelong learning. Journal of Learning for Development, 8(2),  228-254
CR  - Calonge, D., Shah, M., Riggs, K., & Connor, M. (2019). MOOCs and upskilling in Australia: A qualitative literature study. Cogent Education. 6(1). Retrieved February 20, 2023 from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1687392
CR  - Camilleri, A. F. and Rampelt, F., 2018, Concept paper on quality assurance on credentials. Retrieved February 20, 2023 from https://oepass.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/03/OEPass_O1A1-report_v5.pdf
CR  - European Commission. (2020). A European approach to micro-credentials – Output of the micro-credentials higher education consultation group - Final report. Retrieved March 12, 2023 from https://education.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document-library-docs/european-approach-micro-credentials-higher-education-consultation-group-output-final-report.pdf
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.1408308
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3613946
ER  -