Lorie Bell

My Learning Plan

My personalized learning through microcredentials this Summer has felt more like developing a new hobby than gaining new skills. As a lover of learning, I have had to limit myself from allowing this exploration to sidetrack me from other priorities and obligations. I’m excited that this enthusiasm might be extended to other educators as leaders allow them the flexibility to choose their own professional development learning pathways.
When this journey began, I was already familiar with digital badges, having earned and displayed a few of them in the past. However, I was not actively pursuing any competencies then and had lost access to my collective badge display. My work helped me to recognize increased options in microcredentials, which seem to be growing exponentially.

I blogged about most of the microcredential courses as I completed them, providing feedback along the way, and created a new display space for my digital badges. However, in recent days and weeks, I have completed many more digital competencies than the ones featured in my blog, and I am currently working to add additional earned badges to my collection. Meanwhile, I continue to enroll in courses as I learn of more (and intriguing!) opportunities daily.

More important to me as a leader, though, is that I have a keen interest in creating my own digital badges (as an organizational representative and as a leader) and was most excited to learn how to offer these competencies to other educators. This interest in offering microcredentials is where I have found true value in creating my framework.

My Framework

According to my rubric results, the courses I pursued were all fairly equally rated, with fewer than 10% differences in “total scores.” I suppose I had an “internal framework” of sorts based on my prior experiences with digital badges that I just translated onto paper, so the rubric would be more useful in a setting with a larger leadership team or with evaluators who are less familiar with digital competencies from the beginning.

However, the framework will serve as a guide for my exploration of microcredential development and is an incredibly valuable resource. While I do not yet want to share the details of a course that I want to offer, I can use the rubric to rate my own work as I progress.

My Project – Writing from the Rubric

To this end, I have recreated my rubric to make it worthwhile for developers who can consider the guiding questions to ensure that all the identified components of high-value digital competency courses are integrated into a microcredential’s design.

Final Reflection

This summer’s journey through microcredentials has been an enriching experience, combining my love of learning with practical skill development. By blogging about my courses, creating a display space for my badges, and developing a framework for future microcredential offerings, I have laid the groundwork for continued professional growth. Most importantly, I am excited to extend this enthusiasm and these opportunities to other educators, fostering a culture of personalized and flexible professional development.