Microcredentials

The SUNY Microcredential Principles should guide the proposal and review of curricular and co-curricular microcredentials and competency badges: 

1. Academic quality is paramount and faculty governance participation is required. 
2. Microcredentials are initiated locally, developed, and approved according to local campus policies and procedures, consistent with campus mission and strategic goals. 
3. Microcredentials designed to meet market needs should be informed by current data from appropriate markets and align with relevant industry/sector standards.
4. Microcredentials can provide opportunities for industry/education connections and partnerships.
5. Microcredentials are inherently more flexible and innovative. 
6. Microcredentials should be portable (have value beyond the institution). 
7. Microcredentials should be stackable (multiple microcredentials lead to credit bearing coursework, a more advanced badge or a registered certificate or degree). 

1. General Requirements 
   1. Anyone who is eligible to take the required credit or non-credit courses/programs or engage in the co-curricular activities may earn a microcredential. At the discretion of the faculty, the eligibility requirements might include a minimum GPA or other criteria for matriculated students, and/or an application process for non-matriculated students.
       
   2. Microcredentials are awarded upon successful completion of the specific requirements for that credential.
       
   3. All microcredentials should have clear, measurable outcomes, assessments aligned to the outcomes, and evidence of mastery of the outcomes through reliable and valid assessments. 
       
   4. Microcredentials proposals must address transferability. 
       
   5. Microcredential proposers should consult with their chair, dean, and/or other appropriate administrators about resource and enrollment management issues necessary to support a new micro-credential. 
       
   6. Microcredential proposals must explain how the experience will support learners from various backgrounds.
       
   7. Microcredential proposals must address issues of equitable access, success, and completion for learners. 
       
2. Specific Requirements for Curricular Microcredentials 
   1. Curricular microcredentials must contain a minimum of one credit hour (15 contact hours) of coursework with a specific area of focus or concentration. 
       
   2. Credits earned for microcredentials may be used toward minors, majors, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, certificates and/or advanced certificates subject to degree/program requirements and college requirements. 
       
   3. Proposals for curricular microcredentials must articulate the number of transfer credits that may be accepted. 
       
3. Specific Requirements for Co-curricular Microcredentials
   1. Faculty/staff submitting proposals for the Summit Leadership program must demonstrate how their offerings meet the criteria for specific Summit Competencies, are aligned with stated learning outcomes, and will be assessed. Forms for submissions can be found by clicking on the following:
      1. Faculty/Staff Workshop Submission Form
      2. Specialty Badge Application
      3. Summit Leadership Program Engage Application
          
4. Specific Requirements for Competency Badges 
   1. The unit(s) coordinating a competency badge proposal is(are) responsible for articulating the standards for the badge together with the criteria for assessing achievement of the competencies. 

1. Curricular Microcredentials 
   1. Undergraduate curricular microcredentials of fewer than nine credit hours must be approved by the appropriate curriculum committee(s) and processes set forth by the school(s) of the proposer(s). Proposals of nine or more credit hours must also be reviewed by the SUNY Potsdam Faculty Senate.  
       
   2. Graduate curricular microcredentials of fewer than nine credit hours must be approved by the appropriate curriculum committee(s) and processes set forth by the school(s) of the proposer(s). Proposals of nine or more credit hours must also be reviewed by the SUNY Potsdam Faculty Senate.
       
   3. Curricular microcredentials that combine undergraduate and graduate coursework must meet the requirements of both (1) and (2) above.
       
   4. Curricular microcredentials may be stacked toward courses or programs (e.g., advanced certificates, graduate degrees, undergraduate degrees, certificates, minors). Plans to stack micro-credentials towards a program or degree must be articulated in the proposal.
       
2. Co-Curricular Microcredentials
   1. Program submissions are reviewed by the Summit Leadership Committee including representatives from both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.  
       
3. Competency Badges 
   1. Competency badges arising out of academic departments, must be approved by the appropriate Dean(s) after school-level governance body review(s). 
       
   2. Competency badges arising out of Student Affairs, must be approved by the Dean of Students (or designee) after an appropriate governance body review.
       
   3. For competency badges that involve both academic and Student Affairs divisions, the approval process for both must be satisfied.
       
   4. Competency badges arising out of any other part of the college, must be approved by the appropriate Vice President (or designee) after an appropriate governance body review.

Overview

SUNY Microcredentials:

• verify, validate and attest that specific skills and/or competencies have been achieved;
• are endorsed by the issuing institution;
• having been developed through established faculty governance processes; and 
• are designed to be meaningful and high quality.

Definitions

Advanced certificate:
A certificate program composed of graduate-level courses only.
Badge: Use of digital technologies to represent competencies and various learning achievements; electronic badges should include meta-data on the evidence of learning and link back to sponsoring institution and evaluation criteria.  

Certificate:
A credential issued by an institution in recognition of the completion of a curriculum that usually represents a smaller domain of knowledge than established degrees. Credit bearing certificates must be approved by SUNY and registered with the State Education Department. These certificates typically contain fewer credits than a degree program. All credits must be applicable toward a degree program at the issuing institution. Noncredit certificates need no external approval and must be identified as such.

Competency:
Learnable, measurable and/or observable knowledge and skill sets gained.

Competency badge:
A credential that documents the attainment of one or more discrete, assessable skills. They may be offered as components of one or more courses or through one or more non-credit-bearing experiential activities, or a combination thereof.  

Co-Curricula microcredential:
A credential that documents the attainment of one or more discrete, assessable skills. Co-curricular Microcredentials are managed through Student Affairs and are part of the Summit Leadership program. These are largely co-curricular experiences, but credit bearing components can be included if they are first approved through appropriate academic channels. 

Contact hour:
One contact hour is equivalent to a 50-minute class session of scheduled instruction.  Credit: A unit of academic award applicable towards a degree offered by the institution. One credit hour is equated to 15 contact-hours of academic instruction. 

Curricular microcredential:
A microcredential program that involves one or more credit-bearing courses, including programs that may combine credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing activities.  

Degree:
Title given by an institution (usually a college or university) that has been granted the authority by a state, a recognized Native American tribe, or the federal government to confer such credentials. A degree represents satisfactory accomplishments within an accepted body of knowledge. 

Learning outcome:
That which a learner is expected to know, understand, or be able to do after successful completion of a planned process of learning.  

Microcredential:
A credential that verifies, validates, and attests that specific skills and/or competencies have been achieved through credit-bearing and/or non-credit bearing activities.  

Stackable microcredential:
Part of a sequence of credentials that can be accumulated over time to build towards a certificate or degree program. 

Transparency:
Easy to understand and compare, clear learning outcomes and/or competencies.