Blazing a Trail for Microcredentials in the Clean Energy Industry
When Jobs for the Future, a national non-profit that builds educational and economic opportunities for underserved populations in the U.S., was exploring microcredentials, they tapped IREC for its innovative expertise and leadership in the microcredentialing and credentialing space. Laure-Jeanne Davignon, IREC director of workforce and I were pleased to co-author this piece with Veronica Buckwalter, JFF senior project manager, on how microcredentials offer viable pathways for stackable credentials and career advancement for today’s rapidly evolving workforce.
By Veronica Buckwalter (JFF), Anna Sullivan (IREC), and Laure-Jeanne Davignon (IREC), originally published as a blog on Jobs for the Future 2/23/18.
The energy auditor who comes to assess your home’s energy performance may possess a microcredential earned through a program that could be a national model for developing these key skills sets while working in other industries.
IREC looked at microcredentials as it tried to answer the question of how to balance the cost and quality of credentialing while being rigorous, nimble, cost effective, and responsive to rapidly evolving skills and industry demands.
IREC saw microcredentials as smaller in scope but laser-focused, viable pathways for stackable credentials and career advancement.
JFF looked at the challenges of achieving more widespread adoption of short-term credentials as part of a recent research study for Lumina Foundation. Through this research, we discovered how IREC took a proactive approach to validating the knowledge and experience required to meet a growing specialized-skill need for energy auditors and, in addition, may have developed a framework that can be used in other industries.
Read the blog in its entirety.
