New Partnership Will Provide Micro-Credentials to Teachers
A
new partnership between a company that provides
professional development for educators and a nonprofit that attempts to
foster
innovation in educational opportunities will provide teachers with a
wide
variety of micro-credentials.
BloomBoard,
a technology platform that helps
teachers set their professional development goals and then recommends
third-party providers to help meet them, will work with Digital
Promise, the nonprofit
working to accelerate innovation in education, to create the
micro-credentialing
system.
Micro-credentials
are meant to
recognize teachers' professional development and efforts to expand
their
knowledge base and teaching methods. Educators will apply for and earn
the
credentials through an online system that offers criteria about the
tasks
required to earn them. Once earned, they can add the credentials to
their
portfolio, carry those on to other positions or share what they learned
with
their fellow educators.
"Teachers
develop skills
throughout the course of their careers and micro-credentials are a way
to both
support and strengthen professional practice," said Digital Promise
President
and CEO Karen Cator.
Digital
Promise will identify
and curate the micro-credentials while BloomBoard will provide the
access
teachers need to the content.
"We're
always looking for new
ways to support personal learning and professional growth for
teachers," said
BloomBoard CEO and Co-Founder Jason Lange.
The
first set of about 100 micro-credentials
includes topics like deeper learning, data literacy and teacher
leadership. To
meet the criteria for attaining the micro-credentials, similar to
badges,
teachers will have access to BloomBoard's library of professional
development
resources.
The
two partners demonstrated
the need for the micro-credentialing system with the results of a recent report by Digital Promise that found that nearly 70 percent of educators surveyed said they want
more
professional learning activities.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.