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Micro-credentials

Micro-credentials are a micro-sized bit of education in a specific field or skill and are traditionally awarded in a digital format. Micro-credentials recognize a learner’s successful completion of educational activities that lead to professional skills and competencies. These skills and competencies are often not explicitly reflected on an institutional transcript. Additionally, micro-credentials tend to be short-term and can be granted for any kind of learning initiative.

Kennesaw State University micro-credentials will be available across the institution. Student can earn micro-credentials to reflect their co-curricular experiences. Faculty can use micro-credentials to highlight career-focused elements of their courses, training programs, and extracurricular activities (career prep, speaker series, international, etc.), connecting in-classroom learning with real-world credentials. Faculty and staff will also have the ability earn micro-credentials to reflect professional development.

Levels of Micro-credentials (taxonomy)

KSU supports four types of micro-credentials. Each type is distinguished by the level of activity required by the earner to obtain the micro-credential.

Souvenirs document participation and are best suited for engagement in extra-curricular activities, attendance at one or more events, or active membership in a KSU organization. Participation should be meaningful and value adding for the participant but reflection or a tangible submission from participants not necessary.

Level I Badges* document introduction to skills and competencies gained from opportunities for personal, career, and professional development. Level I Badges should demonstrate learning, but not mastery, and involve practicing skills and competencies in a simulated environment. Level I Badges require some artifact to be submitted and assessed by Grantors before being awarded.

Level II Badges* document skills and competencies that have professional and career value. Learner activities should demonstrate mastery of skills and competencies and take place in professional environments. Level II Badges require some artifact to be submitted and assessed by Grantors before being awarded.

Digital Certificates show a learner is qualified and capable of employing a collection of competencies or industry standards in professional environments. Multiple pre-defined Level II Badges may be combined together to create a Digital Certificate.

*Both levels of Badges allow learners to pursue distinction, or special recognition. Distinction criteria is determined by the grantor at the time a micro-credential is proposed.

This Inventory

This Inventory is a public record that is complementary to Badgr and can be used to access details, including earning criteria for all micro-credentials both presently and historically available at Kennesaw State University. 

In the Inventory, micro-credentials follow a naming convention similar to that of courses in an academic discipline. Each Issuer has a three to four letter prefix, and a three-digit number which is automatically assigned. The number depends on the taxonomy association – 100’s for Souvenirs, 200’s for Level I Badges, 300’s for Level II Badges, and 400’s for Digital Certificates – and number of micro-credentials associated with the issuer. The title of the micro-credential will also appear in the name, which is the same as what appears in Badgr.

For example, the Office of Assessment has a badge for rubric design which is the third micro-credential the unit was approved to offer. In the Inventory, this would appear as ASMT 303- Rubric Design.

Last Updated: June 8, 2022

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