Exploring Microcredentials through the Use of Personas

With a variety of microcredential programs in the Higher Ed space today, how does a university identify relevant offerings for its learners?  How do we begin to conceptualize programs with the learner at the center of design and development?  Come share the journey of the Southern New Hampshire University’s Digital Credentials Lab to hear about how they grappled with these questions as they explored microcredentials. The team was convened to recommend a strategy for SNHU to offer microcredentials. Highlights of the team’s findings, including the challenges and opportunities, will be shared to provide context for the session. In their initial research about microcredentials, the team utilized personas to approach the task from a learner-centered perspective. Through their work with personas, they identified learner motivations to pursue microcredentials. In this session, participants will learn about the persona model utilized in this research and then create a persona related to their organization and work.  Working in small and large groups , they will then brainstorm how microcredentials or other alternate solutions can meet the needs of learners.

In this session, participants will:

1. Examine different approaches to microcredentials
2. Explore the benefits of using learner personas to conceptualize new offerings such as microcredentials
3. Brainstorm how microcredentials could be used to meet the identified needs of learner personas