Teachers Collaboratively Creating Micro-Credentials for Professional Development

Abstract

Micro-credentials are an effective means of providing teacher choice and evidence of achievement in professional development. Engaging teachers in a co-design process to create micro-credentials for professional development activities provides quality requirements and options that are valuable for improving teacher’s knowledge and skills, and impacting classroom practice, providing an opportunity to bridge the gap between research and practice. Through a research practice partnership between a suburban school district and a local university and using design-based implementation research, a co-design process for developing multiple micro-credentials was successfully implemented. Teachers with little to no previous experience with micro-credentials are capable of designing rigorous and relevant required tasks for professional development that targets improvements to classroom practices for improvements to student achievement.