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Digital Promise Micro-credentials

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 2 studies (2 design), q1–q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

Digital Promise runs a platform and programme through which educators earn competency-based micro-credentials, with issuers including universities, nonprofits, districts, and the NEA.

Components

  • Micro-credential stack pairing data analysis with algorithm creation: The deck lists micro-credentials teachers can pursue alongside the boosters: under Data and Analysis, "Analyzing and Communicating with Data" and "Collecting and Structuring Data"; under Algorithms, "Creating Algorithms." These credential offerings frame the professional-learning pathway around the same data-and-analysis content. (Computational Thinking Boosters: Data et al. (2020))
  • Digital Promise's Computational Thinking micro-credentials recognize educators whose students apply CT practices: The Computational Thinking Micro-credentials are professional learning tools in which "A micro-credential is a digital certificate that verifies an individual's competence in a specific skill or set of skills." To earn one, teachers submit evidence of student work from classroom activities applying a CT practice, along with documentation of lesson planning and reflection. The report positions micro-credentials as useful for professional learning and credentialing pathways, illustrated by a Compton teacher earning the Analyzing and Communicating Data micro-credential after a pandemic-data unit. (Powerful Learning with Computational Thinking: Our Why, What, and How of Computational Thi)
  • Digital Promise educator micro-credential ecosystem and online platform: The ecosystem is Digital Promise's infrastructure for the design, development, and implementation of educator micro-credentials. It includes "more than 20 partners with content expertise" and, as of January 2016, "more than 120 micro-credentials are available through an online platform that facilitates selection, submission, assessment, and awarding of micro-credentials." Issuing partners include CTQ, the Friday Institute, Relay Graduate School of Education, and the University of San Diego's Mobile Technology Learning Center, covering competencies from data literacy to deeper learning practices. Digital Promise, CTQ, and partners also work with states, schools, and districts to provide forma (Barnett Berry et al. (2016))
  • Micro-credenciales de Digital Promise: Las micro-credenciales son certificaciones digitales que verifican la competencia de una destreza específica o un conjunto de destrezas. Según el informe, "Están basadas en competencias, respaldadas por investigaciones, bajo demanda, personalizadas y compartibles". En el piloto, líderes escolares, coaches y maestros se comprometieron con micro-credenciales sobre cambio de sistemas, coaching y tecnología, y una líder escolar las describió como "una gran estrategia para aumentar el desarrollo profesional de los docentes de mi escuela". (Lopez et al. (2021))
  • Educator micro-credentials: five-step competency-based professional learning credential: Digital Promise defines educator micro-credentials as a professional learning credential in which educators select a skill, develop evidence, submit it, and are evaluated by experts. 'There are five steps to earning a micro-credential,' beginning when 'Educators select the micro-credential they want to earn based on their students' needs and their own interests.' If evidence demonstrates competence, the educator earns the credential and may share a digital badge. (Micro-credentials: Igniting Impact in the Ecosystem (2016))
  • Micro-credentials as digital competency certifications for educator professional learning: Micro-credentials are "digital certifcations that verify an individual's competence in a specifc skill or set of skills." The report describes them as "competency-based, researched-backed, on-demand, personalized, and shareable." In the pilot, school leaders, coaches, and teachers engaged with micro-credentials around systems change, coaching, and technology, and coaches supported teachers in earning micro-credentials aligned with the challenges and strategies they were working on. (Carol Lopez et al. (2021))
  • Spanish-language micro-credential system with Journey Map and TUPS assessment for personalized technology professional learning: The project offered teachers a curated list of 22 Spanish-language micro-credentials on the Digital Promise Micro-credential Platform, earned by submitting evidence such as classroom recordings and annotated lesson plans. Micro-credentials are described as "competency-based, research-backed, personalized, on-demand, and shareable." Teachers took the TUPS assessment, which placed them on a Journey Map and suggested micro-credentials matched to their stage of technology integration, with assessor feedback supporting resubmission. (Carol Lopez (2021))
  • The educator micro-credentialing ecosystem: Digital Promise's PK-12 platform, 400+ micro-credentials, and the NEA partnership: The micro-credentialing ecosystem is a set of platforms and issuers through which PK-12 teachers and administrators demonstrate and earn recognition for specific skills. Digital Promise launched the nation's first educator micro-credentials in 2014; by the brief's writing, more than 50 universities, non-profits, and school districts had developed more than 400 micro-credentials, and the NEA had partnered with Digital Promise to develop more than 150 micro-credentials with a platform for members. The brief uses this ecosystem as the context for its policy analysis, noting credentials cover topics from critical thinking strategies to supporting English language learners. (Berry et al. (2019))

Claims

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Key Sources

  • Computational Thinking Boosters: Data & Analysis in 3-8. (2020). Webinar slide deck, NSF grant #1923314. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/?AwardId=1923314
  • Digital Promise. (2021, March). Powerful learning with computational thinking: Our why, what, and how of computational thinking. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/115
  • Barnett Berry and Karen Cator. (2016). Micro-credentials: Driving teacher learning & leadership. Center for Teaching Quality and Digital Promise. http://teachingquality.org/micro-credentials
  • Lopez, C., & Younge, O. (2021). Cultivando una Cultura de Coaching para Apoyar el Uso Poderoso de la Tecnología: Resultados del Modelo de Coaching Basado en Retos Piloto en Puerto Rico. Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/511d82db-a4ab-4a3d-8475-ea217c22baad
  • Micro-credentials: Igniting Impact in the Ecosystem. (2016). Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/bd6ad6c4-3903-4870-a911-6ee05ba0ae8e
  • Carol Lopez and Odelia Younge. (2021). Cultivating a Culture of Coaching to Support Powerful Use of Technology: Results from the Challenge-based Coaching Model Pilot in Puerto Rico. Digital Promise report. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/71c26d6b-e789-4ca3-b643-dcc98422a36d
  • Carol Lopez, Odelia Younge. (2021). Creating Conditions for Powerful Technology Use: Teachers' Technology Journey in Puerto Rico. Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/bcbf5887-7cf2-48be-b776-c19cb5ef979f
  • Berry, B., & Byrd, P. A. (2019). Micro-credentials and Education Policy in the United States: Recognizing Learning and Leadership for Our Nation's Teachers. Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/65a7d0ed-66b1-4d5b-ac51-6bcf25285dd3. doi:10.51388/20.500.12265/104
Page metadata
Field Value
type product
id digital-promise-micro-credentials
title Digital Promise Micro-credentials
description Digital Promise runs a platform and programme through which educators earn competency-based micro-credentials, with issuers including universities, nonprofits, districts, and the NEA.
status review
moved_from element/ct-booster-microcredentials-data-algorithms, element/digital-promise-ct-micro-credentials, element/digital-promise-micro-credential-ecosystem, element/digital-promise-microcredentials-element, element/educator-micro-credentialing-ecosystem, element/educator-micro-credentials-five-step-process, element/micro-credentials-digital-competency-certifications, element/pr-spanish-micro-credential-journey-map-system
product_kind programme
generated by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 8 — computational-thinking-boosters-data-analysis-in-3-8-2020, digital-promise-2021-march-powerful, barnett-berry-and-karen-cator-2016, lopez-2021, micro-credentials-igniting-impact-in-the-ecosystem-2016, carol-lopez-and-odelia-younge-2021, carol-lopez-2021, berry-2019

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