Review of Australian Qualifications Proposes Recognition of Microcredentials

A Review of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), has proposed recognising credit-bearing microcredentials, and implementing a national credit points system is proposed.

The report uses the example of the EdX Micromasters, where students can obtain credit towards up to one-quarter of a Masters (six months of the two years full-time study) for completing a series of online courses. This is a curious choice, as the EdX MicroMasters is comparable to a Graduate Certificate in the AQF, and so not very "micro", compared to recognition of much smaller microcredentials in New Zealand. The NZ micro-credentials are equivalent to 1 to 8 weeks study, whereas the EdX MicroMasters is 12 weeks of study. Also the Report's endorsement of the term MicroMasters (an EdX trademark), is troubling. What is next, Masters degrees rebranded as "DemiDoctorates"? ;-)

The report claims a national credit points system "would make learning outcomes more comparable between different institutions". However, that is likely to be opposed by institutions which strive to differentiate themselves, in particular universities wanting to be be seen to be superior to Vocational Educaiton and Training (VET) institutions, contrary to the report's wish for a credit point scheme to "contribute to parity of esteem between VET and higher education by expressing the equivalence in value of learning from both systems". Also research intensive universities are unlikely to want to be part of a scheme which equates their offerings with that of education focused universities, let alone the VET sector.

I put some thoughts on how to reform Australian higher education last year when invited to give evidence to the an Australian Senate Committee on the Future of Work and Workers, at Parliament House in Canberra, alongside Rob Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), and just after the ANU VC.

Except from the  Review of the AQF Final Report 2019:

"The Panel has proposed a comprehensive set of reforms and an implementation plan that would see a future AQF evolve as follows:

1. A less complex AQF structure with a primary focus on the qualification types in the AQF (Degrees, Certificates etc.).
2. A single and clearer taxonomy comprising eight bands of knowledge and six bands of skills more flexibly applied. Application is not rigidly locked to other bands (or levels).
3. Contemporary definitions of knowledge and skills are used. Knowledge, Skills and Application are defined in terms of action – the information to inform action, the capabilities to take action and the context for action.
4. Using these features, the AQF is refocused on the design of qualifications linked to learning outcomes for individual qualifications.
5. Additional information is included to help define qualification types, particularly for qualifications leading to Nationally Recognised Training delivered through the VET sector, for apprenticeships and for research-oriented qualifications.
6. General capabilities (such as digital literacy and ethical decision making) are identified for use in individual qualifications.
7. A prototype national credit points system is developed for voluntary adoption by institutions and sectors.
8. Qualification types are realigned against the revised taxonomy (based on options outlined in this Report) including the addition of a higher diploma qualification. VET certificates can be more meaningfully titled to reflect their purpose.
9. The Senior Secondary Certificate of Education is more clearly defined and represented in the AQF in terms of its role in preparing young people for a range of pathways into VET and higher education (including with credit).
10. Volume of learning is expressed in terms of hours, not years, and applied as a benchmark for compliance and quality assurance.
11. An ongoing governance body for the AQF is established to give effect to decisions of the Review of the AQF and to provide advice on revisions to the AQF where required in the future.
12. AQF policies are updated or assigned to the relevant agency, with redundant policies removed. The AQF is more consistently referenced and applied in VET and higher education sector standards and guidelines."

From: AQF Review 2019 (numbering and emphasis added).

Reference

Review of the Australian Qualifications Framework Final Report 2019, Peter Noonan, Allan Blagaich, Sally Kift, Megan Lilly, Leslie Loble, Elizabeth More, Marie Persson, Australian Department of Educaiton, 24 October 2019

Australian Higher Education at E-Learning Tipping Point

The University of Queensland,  Australian National University, University of Adelaide and Curtin University are offering 25% credit towards masters programs for those completing an on-line edX Micromasters. I suggest this indicates that Australian Higher Education is at the e-Learning Tipping Point, where on-line becomes the way most university students study.

In the 1990s I was a computer professional in the Australian Public Service. This was when the Internet went from being something experimental, which we were not allowed to use for official purposes, to a routine everyday tool. I was part of a cabal (as the media described it), working to have the Internet and the web approved for official purposes. This took years to accomplish, but it then just seemed to happen (One day I was asked why I was putting documents on the Defence Department Website, the next day I was asked why I was not putting them up faster). I was expecting a similar transition from classroom to on-line education to take place towards the end of this decade. However, the transition in HE seems to be happening faster than expected.

The University of Queensland,  Australian National University, and University of Adelaide are three of the Group of Eight (Go8) leading universities in Australia. By offering credit for edX Micromasters they are endorsing the use of e-learning for the second highest level of university qualification recognized in Australia (Masters). The universities have not directly recognized the Micromasters as a qualification, but have done so indirectly, by giving  25% credit for a Masters. This is similar to the process used for adopting the Internet in the Australian Government: from being not permitted, to an "interim" step.

The Australian Government had planned to implement the Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile (GOSIP), not the Internet. However, GOSIP never really worked, so the Internet was declared to be an interim measure. That interim measure than became permanent and GOSIP was quietly abandoned. This same approach will likely be used to implement e-learning in Australian universities: the proportion of e-learning in blended programs will be increased until they are effectively on-line degrees. My estimate is that by the end of the decade, the average student will be studying 80% on-line (up from about 40% today).

A Micromasters is not a formally recognized Australian qualification. However the universities have now set the precedent of recognizing the edX Micromasters as the equivalent of six months graduate study(one quarter of a Masters program). A six month graduate program is a "Graduate Certificate" in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). So it would seem reasonable for these universities to award a Graduate Certificate to students who complete the edX Micromasters.

As an example those completing the ANUx Evidence-Based Management MicroMasters Program ANU are offered 25% credit for an ANU Master of Management. ANU also offer a Graduate Certificate of Management, which is made up of four courses from the masters, which is 25% of the masters. The edX Micromasters is 25% of the same Masters, which suggests it is equivalent to an ANU Graduate Certificate of Management.

Micromasters offered:

University of Adelaide

• Big Data,

Curtin University

• Human Rights
• Marketing in a Digital World

ANU

• Evidence-Based Management

University of Queensland

• Leadership in Global Development

While a Graduate certificate is the lowest level graduate qualification offered in Australia, any qualification from an Australian university is valuable to a student, and particularly one from universities as globally respected as UQ, ANU, Adelaide and Curtin.

One difficulty for universities will be dealing with the much lower completion rate for e-learning. On-line courses, which have small cohorts of students and a tutor have been run by universities for several decades. Experience shows these have a lower completion rate than face-to-face courses. So called MOOCs, which have hundreds, or thousands of students for each instructor, have a much lower completion rate than conventional e-learning. There are methods for engaging student on-line, which e-learning teachers are routinely trained to use. Also the lower completion rates on-line are not necessaries a problem with the courses, but a side-effect of the greater access to courses.

On-line courses are attractive to students who are unable to attenuated campus due to other commitments and those other commitments tend to intervene to prevent completion. Also students have less invested in a free, or low cost course, than a high cost face-to-face one. The students of my on-line ICT Sustainability course at ANU had a similar completion rate as for campus based courses. This could be partly because of the care taken to keep the engaged with the material, but also because they were paying the same fee as for campus based courses.

The Australian edX Micromasters is a significant development for Australian Higher Education. My suggestion that Australian university students will be primarily study on-line by the end of the decade has met with a considerable level of skepticism. I set out how this can be done in the book "Digital Teaching in Higher Education". Many assumed this would not be acceptable, especially not at the top universities, however, now it is.

Georgia Tech Masters On-line for US$10,000

Georgia Tech is offering an Online Master of Science in Analytics for US$10,000. Also offered will be a shorter introductory so called "MicroMasters" program. Both will use the edx platform. It should be noted that Georgia Tech is planning to accept only 250 masters students initially, making this more like conventional distance education programs (which some universities have been running for decades), rather than a called MOOC.

For comparison, the Masters of Education I recently completed on-line at Athabasca University (Canada) cost about US$15,000. This was with classes of  a couple of dozen students and a human tutor. The Georgia Tech Masters is structured similarly to Athabasca, in that the student completes ten courses and then a capstone project.

It is likely that the coursework with capstone will become the standard format for graduate programs, both on-campus and on-line. However, I found the capstone process remarkably difficult. This was remarkable as I was a student of education and was studying the pedagogy of the process, so was much better prepared than the average student would be. 

Institutions need to put in place a process to prepare students for the capstone from the start of their program (including assessment of their progress). Leaving it to the end, as students will otherwise do, will extend the time taken and increase the non-completion rate.

Also we may see use of tools such as Mahara's SmartEvidence, to provide more flexibility. This would allow students to show they have met program requirements using a wide range of courses and non-course activities. However, this will require training students (and staff) to think strategically about learning, rather than just ticking boxes to meet requirements. If we could do this we could offer students additional certifications easily, for example in teaching. 

Australian Universities in EdX MicroMasters

Three Australian universities: ANU, Curtin and Queensland, are offering masters level blended courses as part of EdX MicroMasters Programs. Students can obtain credit towards up to one-quarter of a Masters (six months of the two years full-time study) for completing a series of EdX courses:

1. Australian National University: Evidence-Based Management
2. Curtin University: Human Rights
3. The University of Queensland: Leadership in Global Development

However, it should be noted that these course are not free and are not pure on-line courses, requiring attendance for a capstone examination. Also the completion rates for such on-line courses is lower than for conventional on-line distance education and campus-based courses.

The completion rate for the EdX MicroMasters could be expected to be less than 1%. Rather than a low cost university program, the MicroMasters could be seen as a form of extended for-fee university entrance examination. Rafael Reif, MIT President, is quoted as saying EdX MicroMasters is "an experiment in what I call inverted admissions. Anybody anywhere can try to take those courses online."

Under the Australian Qualifications Framework, the EdX MicroMasters is closest to a Graduate Certificate, as part of a nested qualification. The use of the term "Masters" is misleading and may not comply with Australian law.