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Carmen Pagés
Àngels Fitó
Carles Bruguera
Learners’ perspective
of micro-credentials:
a systematic review

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1 Duration and partners
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The project is in line with the proposal of the council
recommendations from the EU Commission, that planned steps
in 2021-2025 for the implementation and recognition of micro-
credentials in member states.
Project duration:
36 months
Starting date:
01-04-2022
Erasmus + coordinated
by EADTU (Europe´s
leading institutional
association for online,
open and distance
higher education) jointly
with 10 European
universities.

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2 Main objectives
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01
Investigate the learners’
perspective in relation to
micro-credentials
Further developing and
operationalizing the
concept of MC in Europe
02 03
Support HEIs for
organizing and creating
the conditions for
developing
transformative modular
education and micro-
credentials
Provide Evidence to
policy-makers in relation
to micro-credentials
Support evidence-based
policy dialogue at the EU
level to develop policies
and frameworks for MCs

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3 Outputs
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Tasks Objective Product / Results Impact
WP2 - Student perspectives on
MCs
Understand the preferences
and motivations of students
about MCs
Literature review on the topic
------------------------------------------
Focus groups and survey of
students
Greater ability to develop
relevant, effective and
successful MCs from:
● Better understanding
of the demand for
MCs.
● Better understanding
of institutional
strategies and
roadmaps.
● Greater capacity to
influence national
politics.
WP3 - Institutional strategies Compare and map institutional
strategies on MCs
Review and mapping of
partners institutional policies
WP4 - Institutional development
of MCs
Develop a Manual for the
Institutional Development of
MCs
Manual for the MCs design,
implementation, recognition
----------------------------------------
Seminar in each institution of
higher education
WP5 - Practical cases Implementation of a MC pilot Shared information about 2
examples of MC in each
institution.
------------------------------------------
1 pilot each
WP6 - National policies Collect information on national
policies and developments
Review of national policies

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WP2.1. Systematic review on learners’
perspective of MCs
Report publication: November 2022
4.

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4.1. Motivation of the research

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DIGITAL BADGES
ALTERNATIVE CREDENTIALS
MOOC
NANO DEGREES
MICRO DEGREES
● Ambiguity of the term MCs (Cedefop, 2022)
● Confusion for:
○ Educational institutions
○ Employers / Economic sector
○ Policy makers
○ Accreditation bodies
○ Students / Learners
● Recent efforts to a common approach to MCs
(European Union, 2022).
● Importance of "learners' needs" in official
definitions.
SHORT LEARNING PROGRAMME
4.1.1 Context of micro-credentials

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Research on micro-credentials (2018-2022):
● Conceptual papers (Brown, Mhichil, Beirne and Mac Lochlainn 2021).
● Publications focused on MOOCs (Zhu, Sari and Lee, 2020).
Few reviews directly research learners’ perspective (motivations and
preferences) towards micro-credentials.
Having this insight is of fundamental importance:
➢ to inform educational institutions and government policy
➢ to offer tailor-made learner-centric training.
➢ to support students' career pathways and lifelong education
4.1.2 Research on micro-credentials

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4.2. Research design

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4.2 Systematic review
This study presents a systematic review that tries to identify, select,
and synthesize all high-quality research evidence relevant to a
research question (Byrne, 2017)
1. Formulation of
research objectives
2. Parameters
of the search
3. Selection of
the studies
5. Presentation
of results
4. Data extraction
and analysis

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4.2.1 Research questions
RQ1: What are the main characteristics of research on
learners' perspective on micro-credentials?
RQ2: Which are the different learners' motivations for
pursuing micro-credentials?
RQ3: What are the learners´ preferences towards SLEs
and its accreditation?
Explore the perspective of learners in relation to
micro-credentials

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4.2.2 Parameters of the search
Sources of information:
● SCOPUS.
● ISI Web of Science.
● Google Scholar.
● Snowball technique.
● MCE partners.

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4.2.3 Selection of the studies
PRISMA flowchart:
48 articles selected in total

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4.2.4 Data extraction and analysis

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4.3. Results

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4.3.1 Publications by years

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4.3.2 Impact of the journals
➢ High quality of journals published (72,9% in Q1 & Q2)

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4.3.3 Country of authors’ institutional affiliation
➢ Interest in micro-credentials across many countries/regions

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4.3.4 Characteristics of the MCs
➢ MOOCs are the most studied experiences

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4.3.5 Type of participants
➢ Most studies focus on learners enrolled in particular MCs

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4.3.5 Type of participants
Learners tend to be either population at large (registered in MOOCs)
or university students

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4.3.6 Methodology
➢ The most common methodology is quantitative analysis

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4.3.7 Research methods and tools
➢ The most common tool is the Questionnaire/Survey

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4.3.8 Time of data collection
➢ The most common time for data collection is during or after the completion
of a SLE

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4.3.9 Motivations to pursue a MC
➢ Motivations are mainly related to keeping up to date, employability, curiosity
and flexibility.

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4.3.10 Benefits of MCs
➢ Flexibility, complementarity with other studies and just-in-time are the most common benefits

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4.3.11 Disadvantages of MCs
➢ Disadvantages are related to lack of motivation, lack of interaction, technological barriers.

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4.3.12 Preferences for Micro-credentials
Category F.A N.A I.A
Preferences: Online, presential, blended 2 19 27
Preferences: Synchronous, asynchronous 0 31 17
Preferences: Duration 2 38 8
Preferences: Schedule 2 26 20
Preferences: Full time, part time 3 38 7
Preferences: With / without official credential 3 17 28
Preferences: Relation with other courses / Stackability 1 33 14
Preferences: Willingness to pay 2 33 13
Total percentage 4% 61% 35%

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4.3.12 Preferences for Micro-credentials
Most studies do not elicit learners´ preferences over different
characteristics of courses or credentials.
Students satisfied with learning that is online, asynchronous,
part-time and that allows learning at own pace.
Obtaining credentials is valued by learners as they gather a
proof of learning, but uncertainty about usefulness in the
labor market.

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4.4. Conclusions

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4.4 Conclusions I
RQ1: Research characteristics
Interest in MCs across continents.
MOOCs are the most studied
Questionnaire is the most widely used research tool.
Data has been collected during or after particular courses.

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4.4 Conclusions II
RQ2: Learners´motivations
Job-related reasons are the main motivations,
Followed by providing relevant updated content and offering
learning flexibility.
Personal interest also appears in a relevant share of studies.

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4.4 Conclusions III
RQ3: few studies assess learners´preferences.
For a subset of studies, we can infer that:
Students find numerous advantages in learning experiences of
relatively short duration, 1-2 months, which need between 1-2
hours of dedication/day.
Students have a high valuation of online, asynchronous
experiences, study at a self-guided pace.
Very few papers focus on preferences over the credential.

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4.4 Directions for future research
Vision of employers and those responsible for public policies.
Studies not limited to particular MCs, eliciting the preferences of people
over:
Learning modalities and formats
Types of credentialing or information these credentials have to include,
willingness to pay for credentialing.
…to gauge and unbundle preferences on individual characteristics to
better guide future microcredentials design.

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➔ Aim: Delve into (gap on) learners perspective in more detail.
➔ Sample: Students that have participated in short duration courses (last 3 ys).
➔ Proceeding: 10 online focus groups with a total of 37 students (July 2022)
-Most work part-time or
full-time.
-55% not familiar with the
term MCs.
-52.50% have participated
in accredited short training
courses.
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Questionnaire
(quantitative data)
Focus Groups
(qualitative data)
- Disadvantages:
(1) Little recognition of
educational institutions.
(2) They increase costs in
the long run.
(3) Little credibility of
employers.
- Main motivation:
(1) Pleasure of learning
new things.
(2) Keep up to date in my
occupation.
(3) Improve my
employment situation.
- Beneficios:
(1) New possibilities of
upskilling & reskilling.
(2) Flexible learning.
(3) Learning of
key/specific concepts &
knowledge.
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5. WP2.2. Focus groups on learners’ perspective of MCs
Report publication: May 2023

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@UOCuniversitat
@uocuniversitat
More information on the project:
https://mce.eadtu.eu