ACD Releases Insight Series on Micro-Credentials

Over the past year, Alamo Colleges District embarked on a journey to redefine the learning experience for working learners. Dr. Mike Flores, Chancellor of ACD, stated, “as the largest provider of education and training in south Texas, it was incumbent on us to provide an expanded set of credentials of value to our region and, in support of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Talent Strong TX.” Through this work, the District has become a national thought leader on micro-credentials.

Under Chancellor Flores’ leadership and commitment to innovation and with support of five College Presidents, a strategy design team jumped into action. The Board of Trustees approved the project and invested seed funding to make it possible. Taking an entrepreneurial approach of learn, test, and iterate, ACD developed a suite of micro-credentials to quickly upskill adult learners. 

Now - they are sharing the findings from their work with the hope others can benefit from their time and investment. 

A new insight series from ACD aims to document and share what transpired. This six-part series tells the ACD story of exploration, innovation, and learning:

1. Micro-Credentials and Digital Badges: The demand for skills
2. Micro-Pathways: Pathways to high-demand jobs
3. Digital Marketing: Finding our target population
4. Learner-Centered Design and Personas: Understanding learners
5. Badge Practitioner Community of Practice: Faculty thought-leadership
6. Credit for Prior Learning: Aggregating all types of learning

Download Insight Briefs today.

Each 2-3 page brief shares the opportunity driving each area, the ACD pivot to better reach and serve learners, a key learning insight, and a how-to guide for how others can take a similar approach. 

“Faculty, staff, and leaders from across Alamo Colleges District have done phenomenal work over the past year to change how we design for, find, and serve working learners. We are eager to share our story and learnings with the broader ACD community and others in this space,” shared Dr. Luke Dowden, Chief Online Learning Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor at Alamo Colleges. “Our hope is to learn with and from others as we continue to re-envision how to help working learners upskill and improve their social and economic mobility,” noted Dr. Dowden.

Ultimately, this effort to find and serve a new population of adult learners has been about being more responsive to the San Antonio and greater Bexar county community. ACD focused on deeper engagement with employers through this project and partnered with the business community to address talent pipeline needs through SA: Ready to Work. This project and insight series are just the beginning of micro-credentials at ACD.

See ACD Micro-Credential Insight series.