The Implementation of Micro-Credentials in Formal and Informal Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

When educational institutions across the globe closed because of the COVID-19 crisis, they rapidly had recourse to emergency remote teaching, online learning, and self-paced training. Such an unprecedented situation accelerated the movement and uptake on courses from online platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, etc. As such, modular learning was seen as a way for learners and professionals to keep on upskilling and reskilling themselves both in academic and professional areas. The recognition of the knowledge acquired, and competencies demonstrated by learners, via a new credentialing system, termed as micro-credentials, is seen as a novel, but ambitious approach that is being portrayed as a highly probable future of education systems. However, several research studies have been conducted in this area with little breakthrough or widescale implementation that has led to substantive changes in existing educational systems and models. This paper presents a systematic literature analysis to understand how micro-credentials concept has so far been implemented in educational contexts, its potential to be recognized as transferable credits in formal higher education and the technologies being implemented to store, stack and manage micro-credentials. The data collection process consisted of selecting articles published in the past ten years. The results show that although there is a growing interest in this research area, there is significant divide between applications and recognition of micro-credentials. Hence, this paper reports a summary of prior research conducted and help in identifying the gaps in research studies with respect to the implementation of micro-credential in formal and informal learning.