This semester, the Community College of Aurora launched the first microcredentials in its history. These short courses offer students the opportunity to study behavioral health, which aligns with jobs in our region related to human services, sociology, counseling, psychology, and social work.
Community colleges, which have historically served as comprehensive institutions offering associate degrees with articulation agreements to transfer to four-year universities, have also served as workforce boosters through their variety of credit and non-credit educational courses. However, as industry and technology have evolved rapidly, inadequate higher education money and up costs due to inflation have affected the response capacity of higher education.
To understand the importance of micro-credentials, their ability to help meet labor demandsand the dilemma that these short-term credentials are causing traditional higher education, we must first look at the ways in which the university has evolved during its nearly 400-year history in our nation.
Origins of Higher Education in America
Since the establishment of Harvard University, America’s first university, in 1636, higher education in America was designed with an original purpose that differs very of today’s realities. Before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, nine institutions of higher learning known as colonial colleges They were established. Most were designed to educate clergy, according to investigation by Phillip R. Shriver.
Fast forward to 1862, the Morrill Land Grant College Law set aside federal land to create universities for benefit agricultural and mechanical arts. In honor of the Native Americans, it is important to note that by signing the act, more than 10 million acres they were expropriated from the tribal lands of native communities and allocated for the development of land grant institutions. According to historian Benjamin T. Arrington, in 1860 the economic value of enslaved peoples in the US it exceeded the invested value of all the nation’s railroads, factories, and banks combined. Interestingly, on the eve of the Civil War, cotton prices were at a its highest point. Although the Civil War would not end for several years, strategically, the Morrill Act positioned the US to move away from human slavery as their dependent labor force for crop production and infrastructure development.
From 1890 to 1940, higher education in the US experienced what Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz describe as the “formative years.” As his research describes, the “technological shocks” that swept through the “knowledge industry” expanded the scale of concentration, public funding, and support for the greater scope of higher education’s service to society.
The expansion of the US higher education system
During this same time period, a New class of wealthy industrialists and a prosperous middle class was born as a result of industrialization and population boom. According to the National Library of MedicineAt the beginning of the 19th century, the world population exceeded billion people for the first time. By 1920, the world had passed 2 billion people.
In the US only, the population it grew from more than 92 million in 1910 to more than 226 million in 1980. After World War II and the Vietnam War, US residents had grown more than 145 percent. The country grew up from having more than 500 higher education institutions during the 1869-1870 school year to more than 3,000 by the late 1980s, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. With such industrial, technological, infrastructural, social and economic growth in the country, higher education was seen as a key path to success.
The Dilemma of the American Workforce
During the 2019-2020 academic year, US post-secondary institutions 5.1 million prizes, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Ranging from certificates below associate’s degree level to doctoral degrees, these credentials were awarded by public, private nonprofit, or private for-profit institutions.
Clearly, the country’s higher education system has come a long way. However, as we imagine the future of higher educationthere are numerous factors converging on society that will forever affect the industry as well as Americans trust that university has a positive effect on the country.
the economy of the united states recovered the 25 million jobs it lost in the pandemic. But in dozens of states, employment is still below pre-pandemic levels. Because? Well, American labor is contraction. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, by 2022 almost 3 millions fewer Americans were participating in the labor force compared to February 2020.
To further complicate matters, the US birth rate. declining since the 1970s. Despite the US economy reporting adding 4.8 million jobs in 2022, there are simply not enough people in the job market to fill these positions. And from 2021, more than half of the US population age 25 and older had not completed a bachelor’s degree. This means that the United States not only lacks an available workforce, it also lacks a trained workforce.
This is where micro-credentials serve as a powerful and timely solution.
The power of microcredentials
Microcredentials are incremental qualifications that demonstrate skills, knowledge, or experience in a specific subject area or capability, as defined in a Forbes Article. These innovative awards can offer an alternative to traditional credentials like certificates, diplomas and qualifications by recognizing discrete skill development through digital icons called badges, according to a article published by TechTrends magazine.
With such a large proportion of the current and emerging American workforce lacking a credential, and the growing need for industry workers, the Colorado Community College System and my institution, Aurora Community College, recently partnered with Educational Design Lab to develop five behavioral health micro-credentials. pathways Designed in direct partnership with local industry partners, such as Aurora Mental Health & Recovery, these micro-credentials serve as a critical tool for increasing workforce readiness in our region.
According to the Kaiser family foundationonly about one third The need for mental health professionals in Colorado is currently being met, driving the demand for additional skilled behavioral health workers. Offering microcredential pathways in Patient Navigation, Peer Support Specialist, Behavioral Health Associate, and Behavioral Health+, these new credentials are designed to address Colorado’s mental health workforce shortage by preparing individuals for these roles in less than a year.
They are also designed to be affordable. With microcredentials ranging in length from three to 18 credit hours, resident tuition ranges from $600 to $3,000, with financial assistance available. Compared to the cost of average tuition and fees at $9,400 public four-year universities, these microcredentials create more affordable academic options that lead to economic mobility and high investment returns for students.
Describing her partnership with my institution, Kelly Phillips-Henry, Executive Director of Aurora Mental Health & Recovery, shared, “Our relationship with Community College of Aurora exemplifies the best in finding workforce solutions. Together we delve into the details to develop curriculum and training experiences that prepare students to meet the requirements of specific behavioral health job responsibilities.”
On the institution’s side, Jennifer E. Dale, Dean of Online and Blended Learning at the university, said: “Our relationships with industry were critical in the development of these microcredentials. Once drafted, we went back to our industry partners to review and revise that curriculum to ensure our students learned the key competencies needed in their entry-level positions, as well as prepare students for success as they continue. with their educational activities.
Considerations and Complex Realities
In building these innovative pathways, it is imperative that higher education institutions work in direct partnership with the industry partner prior to and during microcredential development. Such collaboration will ensure a seamless path for students seeking to gain the critical skills and knowledge needed to land the desired job. In addition, such collaboration will promote the alignment of instruction with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that industries need from their workers.
Herein lies the dilemma. By the nature of the credential design, students are encouraged to pursue these short-term credentials as an alternative to the traditional academic pathway. Critically speaking, the speed of these programs will not competently train students in gentle (either essential) skills such as teamwork, interpersonal relationships, complex thinking or emotional intelligence. Furthermore, whether built as credit or non-credit pathways, microcredentials in no way replace the intensity or breadth of traditional higher education pathways.
However, the systematic redesign of accreditation is a necessary step for the United States to address its own problems. labor shortage. As described by the US Chamber of Commerce, if every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have 4 million jobs open. With such a high level of imbalance, all solutions should be welcome.
