Alternative Credentials Track

Starting Small: Implementing Digital Badging for Existing Programs as a Foundation for Growth
Alternative Credentials | Foundational | Fiesta 7-8
As University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill expands its digital and lifelong learning programming, it was important to also expand the alternative credentials portfolio. The first step was to implement a Digital Badging Pilot for non-credit offerings, with dual goals of highlighting marketable skills gained by graduates and laying a foundation for future organizational growth. This presentation shares key project milestones, lessons learned, and best practices uncovered. Leave armed with a roadmap for implementation at even the smallest scale!

• Hilary Culbertson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Alexandra Lamperti, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Moderator: Anna-Bradley Schoenfeld, Riipen

Innovating Work-Based Learning Programs: Meeting Diverse Learner Needs and Measuring Success
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Coronado CD
Around 70% of adult learners say skills and knowledge directly relevant to the workplace are essential when choosing a school. COE units can differentiate themselves by introducing innovative virtual work-based learning projects that are accessible for learners and easier to manage at scale. In this session, presenters will share the challenges they overcame in expanding access, how they are tracking ROI, and the impact these projects have had on learner satisfaction.

• Midia Shikh Hassan, Riipen
• April Abernethy, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Lorraine Carter, McMaster University

Moderator: Tara Dryer, University of Arkansas

Building a Digital Marketing Microcredential at Western Governors University
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Fiesta 7-8
GreenFig, like many WGU Labs partners, lives in the murky area between universities and business. It provides skill certificate courses for working adults pursuing high-growth, tech-enabled professions. In a recent pilot, WGU leveraged the depth of GreenFig’s Digital Marketing resources to provide a new non-degree offering for interested students. Merging these resources into WGU’s competency-based model posed many challenges, but we learned a great deal from the initiative, and are excited to share our results.

• Sara Leoni, GreenFig
• Michelle Love, Western Governors University

Moderator: Brian Blakeley, University of Washington

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: Bridging the Non-credit, Credit Divide
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Fiesta 7-8
Non-degree credentials are becoming commonplace, with one-quarter of Americans holding them in some combination. Many of these learners are looking to utilize these credentials (and existing credits), to shorten their degree completion.  Regrettably, these standalone learning units often remain unrecognized, leaving students a long way from graduation. Fortunately, interest in creating non-credit to credit pathways is growing. In this session, participants will learn to design credentials and governance structures that bridge the divide.

• Deirdre Christofalo, New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Desiree Young, Thrive DX (formerly HackerU)

Moderator: Brian Crose,

Practicing What We Preach: UPCEA’s Venture into Online Professional Development Certificates
Alternative Credentials | Strategic | Yucatan
UPCEA has earned a prominent leadership role in the importance of adult learners, and the impact that online learning and alternative credentials can and should have in American higher education.  This past year, UPCEA launched one of its most important and most daring initiatives in its century-long existence – and one that tests its commitment to what UPCEA stands for.  We created fifteen month-long courses, taught by luminaries in the PCO field, each offering a badge and, in combination of five courses, a certificate.  In this first year, we generated over five hundred enrollments.   This panel will consist of the faculty director, two of the founding faculty, a dean who sponsored several participants, and two students who earned their certificate.  Often, those who work in PCO are not themselves participants in teaching and learning in the types of courses and programs they manage.  This effort has provided experiential learning for those who work and lead in professional, continuing, and online education.  Our goal is to share an honest account and assessment of how we created and delivered these courses – what worked and what we learned about synchronous and asynchronous teaching, alternative credentials, and, most importantly, the nature and the needs of our profession.   This session will look back on this past year, but also forward as we extend our vision into the years ahead.  Ideally, the audience will probe in ways that help us better understand the role that professional development can play in our field.

• Kelly Otter, Georgetown University
• Roxanne Gonzales, New Mexico Highlands University
• Michael Jones, University of Connecticut

Moderator: Jay Halfond, UPCEA

Alternative Credentials Network

Spotlight Session -
So Much More Than A Transcript: The Power and Potential of Digital Badges for Career Self-Advocacy
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Coronado CD
Many institutions are just starting to consider how they can leverage digital badging to support the professional portfolios of their students. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota stands out as an example of how taking an innovative approach to badging can allow smaller institutions to scale digital badging successfully in a relatively short amount of time. Our story is changing what other higher ed institutions are seeing as possible.

• Carrie Wandler, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
• Andrea Carroll-Glover, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Moderator: Melissa Peraino, Grand Valley State University

Getting Started With Digital Credentials: Perspectives From Two Research Institutions
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Monterrey
The University of Texas at Austin and Continuum College at the University of Washington in Seattle are beginning a journey into digital credentials. As large research-intensive institutions, considerations of scale, sustainability, purpose, and governance are crucial. As a nascent approach to credentialling, however, digital implies the need to be nimble, innovative, and iterative. Join us to learn about our journey and to share how your institution is approaching digital credentials.

• Rovy Branon, University of Washington
• Art Markman, University of Texas at Austin
• Bryan Blakeley, University of Washington

Moderator: Trina Poe, Emsi Burning Glass

Skills Alignment at Scale
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Fiesta 7-8
The world of work is changing. The skills required, the technologies we engage with, and the types of decisions we will make are evolving at an unprecedented pace. As a result, the rate at which people are seeking learning opportunities through multiple workforce efforts is increasing. This presents a tremendous opportunity for colleges and universities in regards to how they serve lifelong learners and working professionals. This interactive session focuses on how one major workforce organization is a prime lead in a citywide collaboration with multiple funding streams creating a win-win between higher education and the workforce investment board.  Defining the value proposition in partnerships and moving away from a program-focused paradigm is the key to leveraging employer-focused upskilling. Robust technology plays an important role in the employer-driven and data-informed workforce for the future.

• Melissa Sadler-Nitu, LearningMate
• Andrea Guerrero-Guajardo, Workforce Solutions Alamo

Moderator: Yakut Gazi, Georgia Tech University

To Grow Alternative Credentials, Build Your Registration Team
Alternative Credentials | Applied | Fiesta 7-8
In order to develop and grow alternative credentials, it is important to provide high-quality registration services that help students to select, register, and pay for their courses. Often, the systems and workflows used to support non-credit students are very different than those used to support students in degree programs. Attend this session to learn how the University of Minnesota has set up a non-credit registration team supporting thousands of learners each year.

• Ryan Torma, University of Minnesota
• Katherine Hagberg, University of Minnesota

Moderator: Stacy Chiaramonte, Worchester Polytechnic Institute