C1 - An agile approach to digital courses based on micro-credentials

The training was carried out in three sessions, held by Tor Vergata University of Rome on 9 June (together with Dublin City University), 14 June and 2 July 2021. These sessions were held digitally on Blackboard. The main goal of these sessions was to provide the participants with an innovative and shared understanding on how to pursue the design of the online modules.

The topics have been respectively:

  • 9 June, Session I: Micro-credentials: their relevance and impact;
  • 14 June, Session II: Agile methodologies in digital courses development
  • 2 July, Session III: An agile approach to digital courses based on micro-credentials 

The first session has been structured around three key speeches: an initial overview on “What, Why and How” of Micro-credentials (by Prof. Mark Brown); a presentation focused on the challenges in designing courses for Micro-credentials (by Prof. Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichil and Dr. Conchúr Mac Lochlainn); a final discussion on the Key Insights on the Micro-credentials approach, with an interactive session comparing the university and the industry view on the micro-credentials (by Dr. Elaine Beirne).

In the second session, the focus has been on the foundations of the agile approach, considering that the development of digital courses can be shaped according to an iterative approach, where each cycle of iteration (called “sprint”) is targeted to a specific outcomes (called “minimum viable product”) that can be achieved in the short-term and can be tested with actual users, in this case with course participants. The most widely agile approach - named Scrum - has been presented.

The third session has merged the contents of the previous two sessions and has been designed to actively develop new knowledge through cooperative learning activities and to see how to apply the fundamentals of agile methodology that will drive the Intellectual Outputs development. The project partners have discussed the advantages of the integrated approach (agile development of microcredentials) not only in the initial phase of the course development but also for the future updates of the contents of the courses.