The experts included representatives of the Lodz University of Technology leadership, including its Rector, representatives of the University of Lodz and the Lodz Film School, workshop presenters from the National Agency of the Erasmus+ Program and the European Solidarity Corps. Whereas, among those who came to seek knowledge, or as it is trendy to say these days in Poland, for the know-how, there were individuals who, on a daily basis, prepare applications for funding for a variety of projects, who hailed from universities, high schools - often combining this task with their teaching jobs, non-governmental institutions, from Łódź as well as from other Polish cities.
Since I was not entirely unfamiliar with the topic of microcredentials, I had the opportunity to focus my attention on the context in which they were discussed.
University under threat of extinction
The opening session of the workshop carried a whiff of doom: the collapse of mobility, the exodus of young people from university, or their downright failure to take up college education, ChatGPT and other AI-based tools, the ever-faster rate of change, and with it the pressing need to skill, re-skill and skill up professional personnel in less and less time, with less and less effort, which, in turn, promotes the advancement of MOOC platforms offering this type of training, e.g., Coursera, EdX, and Class Central. All of which means that the situation in which universities find themselves today is one of crisis, and unless proper measures are taken, universities will become extinct just like the dinosaurs did.
Saved by microcredentials
For those readers who have not yet heard of microcredentials, let me offer an explanation of the term provided in the workshop materials and attributed to dr hab. Paweł Poszytek, Director General of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System, National Agency for Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps:
Microcredentials validate individual learning outcomes drawn from short learning opportunities, courses, or training. In a flexible and purposeful manner, they help expand knowledge, skills and competences required for personal and professional development.
Often the English-language term microcredentials was used rather than its Polish equivalent mikropoświadczenia, and in general, many English words and phrases were used by the presenters, all of them native speakers of Polish talking to a Polish audience, even when the Polish equivalent was readily and easily available.
Microcredentials were described as the emergency evacuation route that universities should take to save themselves from falling into oblivion. Competence-based learning, specific skills that can be mastered in synchronous or, better yet, asynchronous learning, in up to six months, although that is plenty long - that is the recipe for success for universities in the 21st century.
How do we do it?
During the "Partnerships for cooperation: step by step" workshop, the participants were given practical guidance on how to prepare applications for funding under the Partnerships for cooperation Action and their must-have elements. They also had the opportunity to practice, for instance, how to substantiate partner selection decisions. Those attendees who had previously been exposed to drafting applications under this Action, although not with regard to microcredentials, shared their experience and good practice.
During the second workshop, 'Microcredentials. From theory to practice', the difference between a digital badge (e-badge) and a digital microcredential (microcredential) was explained. My participation in the workshop is rewardable with a digital badge. However, should a validation procedure be conducted that found that I had achieved the learning outcomes set for the workshop, then the acquisition of those skills would be acknowledged with a microcredential.
Attention was drawn to the proper description of the skills to be included in a microcredential. Hence, part of the second workshop session was spent on the now classic (it was introduced at the beginning of the second half of the last century) Bloom's taxonomy and its application to the description of competences.
In addition, during the presentation given by an expert from the National Europass and Euroguidance Center, Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps National Agency, the participants learned about an effective way to accumulate, store, and share with others, e.g., employers, the microcredentials earned.
Closing thoughts from an intellectually curious arts and humanities person
The workshop offered a solid chunk of insight and practical guidance on microcredentials as well as pathways to partnership projects that shall contribute to the development of the microcredential system. Microcredentials are intended to facilitate lifelong learning, which, it was emphasized, is essential in the job market today.
The workshop session concluded with a short discussion. One question that emerged rather clearly was one about the identity of universities: will they, trying to satisfy the expectations of employers, be reduced to the part of an academy of skills? Skills required for tasks that will soon be performed by artificial intelligence. Or will they hold firm to the tradition, one that dates back to ancient times, of being curious about the world, expanding and deepening our knowledge of it to better understand the reality around us, the laws that govern it, as well as our own selves. A tradition that is not exclusive of the arts, literature, and philosophy. STEAM rather than STEM. Would it not be ironic, should the former prevail, that the motto of many a university has been drawn from the works of the great ancient philosophers?