Microdegrees

Last reviewed: February 2017

Abstract

Microdegrees seek to bring practical job skills into the classroom. These degrees are awarded following a highly specialized intensive course of study, usually in the very competitive fields of business management/accounting and the technical sciences, particularly computer programming. Microdegree programs prepare a student for a skilled job often with a particular company. Unlike four-year and two-year degree programs, microdegrees are completed in a single year and focus on training a person in a specific, highly technical job skill.

Overview

Until the late 1990s, students really had two choices: A traditional four-year degree or an associate’s degree. Neither was without problems and neither actually guaranteed any sort of long-term secure employment. Four-year degrees carried with them more prestige, but as the market came to be filled with jobs that required highly technical expertise, the prestige of a bachelor’s degree was in many areas less useful than actual skills.

A traditional four-year college education introduces a student in the first two years of the educational process to a wide array of ideas and perspectives and follows up with two more years in which the student is asked to think broadly (and often theoretically) about a specific field that they might want to pursue after graduation. The goal of colleges was to produce not workers who think but rather thinkers who work. In theory, a college degree created a highly educated person who could apply his or her honed intelligence and considerable body of knowledge to a career in any field from the hard sciences to the humanities. A college degree was training not for employment but for life.

Colleges and their faculty and administrations actively and often disdainfully resisted the notion that they should limit their curricula to simply preparing students for jobs. Some level of advanced knowledge, however, is required for many occupations. Further, many people want a higher level of education than a high school diploma but are not willing or able to make the enormous and costly commitment required by a four-year program. Associate degree programs, which offer two-year professional certification in a field, were developed to fill this need in the mid-1960s.

Associate degree programs flourished. Enrolling large numbers of fresh high school graduates, community colleges, which offered most associate degrees, not only worked as a bridge for many hoping to transition to four-year programs but also allowed undecided students to explore subject areas that might eventually lead to a career. Two-year programs served another population that four-year colleges were ill-suited to serve: Workers locked into dead-end jobs could obtain an associate’s degree with advanced, specialized infield course work and move into a more lucrative field.

By the 2000s, even as the pool of job candidates with bachelor’s degrees expanded, critics began to question the desirability of a liberal arts education for the average worker. If a company needs computer programmers, for example, a candidate with the appropriate skills might do as well as or better than one who had also studied impressionist paintings or the causes of World War I. In addition, four-year degrees were expensive. The average debt for a student completing a degree at a public college was nearly $25,000; the most prestigious private school received that much for a single semester of study. More particularly, critics charged, college graduates were schooled in analytical thinking and broad-based theoretical frameworks but often had little experience in hands-on problem-solving and the dynamic of working with a team, both critical job skills in the technical sciences.

Associate’s degrees, while far less expensive and specializing in specific jobs and specific skills, still carried the disadvantage of time. During the two years a student spent in school, the training they received could actually become obsolete. Because businesses doing the actual hiring had no input in the curriculum of an associate’s degree, graduates were often seen as risky hires who might need to be retrained into the specific protocols of the hiring company.

By the first decade of the twenty-first century, massive international technology companies headquartered in the United States and responsible for developing and launching cutting edge computer software and designing new apps, became less and less patient with the processes of American education. The two choices seemed unworkable and distinctly anachronistic in the face of evolving technologies. The need for skilled and competent computer programmers and web designers, for instance, created the impetus for these major tech industries to seek a solution.

These massive companies began to work with third parties to produce certification programs that could be completed in a single year. The pace would be far less casual than colleges tended to be and more rigorous as jobs tend to be. Students would attend specialized workshops and labs for the standard eight-hour workday. Classes would be smaller, and the programs would be highly selective, choosing only applicants with the most promise or those sent directly by computer companies for the training.

Rather than being taught by professional academics, these students would be taught by professionals in the field of computer programming. The programs were based less on a school model than on the old apprentice model, with instructors who were active in their field and well-equipped to prepare apprentices for a specific job. Certification programs were able to pay their teachers more than the average college instructor received, however commitment to a program was seen as voluntarily opting out of a potentially more lucrative career in the field.

These “colleges” were really more like divisions of the global corporations that sponsored them. Perhaps most attractive of all to students, because these corporations actually licensed these training programs, the graduates would be placed almost automatically within the corporate framework and there would have a far better chance to work productively and successfully without the usual lengthy orientation and training required for other incoming employees from universities or professional schools.

Applications

By the close of the first decade of the twenty-first century, programs offering microdegrees had been established by computer giants such as Apple, Google, Intel, and AT&T. In addition, accounting firms, seeing the advantage of such closed and directed certification programs, began to create their own version of microdegrees in an effort to provide industry and business with accountants. Universities began to take notice of how these degrees, offered as streamlined versions of college degrees and available much faster and directed specifically to careers, had begun to gain traction in the increasingly competitive market for available students. As noted in late 2015 by the Brookings Institute, a conservative economic think tank headquartered in Washington D.C., prestigious universities with stakes in hard sciences have begun to reach out to corporate organizations and high tech firms to create joint microdegree programs. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology put together a task force that issued a report in 2014, proposing a scenario in which students assemble course work for themselves from online sources.

Microdegree programs actively resist the student label, preferring to call their enrollees clients or participants. Usually, participants already have a traditional undergraduate degree or an associate’s degree. By industry estimates, only 20 percent of the student-participants in microdegree programs seek a microdegree instead of rather than in addition to an undergraduate degree. For the rest, microdegrees are ways to enhance their resume and in many cases considerably enhance their earnings potential. Many already work in the computer/high tech field, but new gadgets this week are obsolete by next month and technicians and programmers need to stay current. Microdegrees serve as professional development courses.

How a Microdegree Works. The most high profile microdegree providers include Udacity, Axion, Edevate, and Courseca. Udacity alone registered more than 11,000 students for its online microdegree program in 2015. A prototypical microdegree for these programs is composed of three elements: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) course work, face-to-face instruction, and a capstone project.

The lion’s share of course work is done online through interactive apps known as MOOCs in which trained and certified instructor manage the material being presented. Participants can advance together and chat in real-time with each other and with the instructor. Each online instruction unit is also supplemented by practicums and example problems that the participant can, in turn, work through at their own pace and on their own schedule.

Many microdegree programs offer participants the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the instructor and a limited number of co-participants in ways that do not merely simulate a classroom. In the view of many microdegree providers, such arrangements are outdated and ineffective. Rather, the instructional environment is intended to simulate a workplace where participants can work together, understand the concept of collaboration, and work on specific problems or practice specific skills.

Most microdegree technology programs conclude with each participant completing some sort of capstone project, a largely independent project that is often a draft of a computer program already being developed by the affiliated company. Alternatively, the project may be a proposal for a new but important direction for the computer business which has jointly developed the microdegree program. In either case, the capstone project is considered a link project with the company who will presumably employ the participant at the end of the program. Indeed, the capstone project becomes part of the participant’s program portfolio, a gathering of the work completed during the program itself.

In many cases, the firm that develops and offers the microdegree is headquartered at a site where participants can come, sit in classes/workshops with in-field instructors who have real experience in the field, and work through assigned problems in labs, all in the same building, putting in a standard workday. In many cases, companies maintain a presence at number of sites as these education centers tend to be franchised nationwide.

These microdegree students, research has begun to indicate, are generally extremely dedicated to the work of their education. Because they are driven by employment opportunity and because they understand their education is a means to that end, they are often more willing to put the time and effort into excelling at their program than traditional undergraduates. College life has many distractions and many opportunities to explore, often having nothing to do with vocational training. Microdegree programs accept only a limited number of applicants to maintain the focus on directed learning and practical skills. In microdegree programs, the focus is narrow, the pace accelerated, and the payoff is directly employment related.

The average microdegree program is targeted to take approximately a thousand hours of learning, half of which is defined as supervised contact hours monitored by instructors. This is merely a ballpark figure that approximates the time investment for one year of college study. Most participants can complete the program in nine to twelve months. As the degree has found wider acceptance, some programs have been developed for three to six months. The average fee, most often pro-rated by month, is just over $200 a month. Even for a full year program, that is considerably less than the average cost of a year of college.

Viewpoints

Microdegree programs offer no graduation and no diploma—only a PDF certificate of completion. The traditional trappings of university education are dispensed with. More to the point, these education centers are not accredited. Colleges must periodically submit to a rigorous approval process that ensures the quality of the education. Microdegree programs do not come with the assurance of accreditation, and participants must be diligent in investigating the value and legitimacy of a program. Critics are quick to point out that microdegree participants have a far more likely chance of dropping out than students in a more structured program. Microdegree programs really succeed only with dedicated and driven individuals because a large part of the work is self-directed.

For its advocates, however, microdegrees have redefined the entire premise of higher education. Though most people seeking a microdegree already have a college degree, the “well-rounded” student is no longer the only model for professionals. Computer engineering programs at universities, for example, often eschew the general education requirements of a liberal arts education and focus on the major.

Other models are beginning to compete with traditional higher education, offering practical training in a variety of fields that is available, affordable, and quick (Salisbury, 2016). Rather than dealing with course credits—the vague and often highly subjective value placed on the various courses a typical undergraduate takes to complete a degree—microdegrees are narrowly designed to produce credentials. This alternative method of evaluating learning offers the participant specific and concrete experience that can be used on resumes and on the job.

Traditional colleges remain averse to the idea that education is centrally about creating “drones” for the workforce. Developers of the microdegree initative propose that a person’s well-rounded education is a lifetime endeavor, but in a highly competitive job market education needs to produce skilled and competent workers. The Department of Education estimates that under a fourth of the American full-time workforce has a four-year college degree. Microdegrees offer a model for expanding the skilled workforce without requiring workers to incur the personal sacrifices and financial expense of a college education.

The microdegree program eliminates the extraordinary indirect costs of a college degree—that is, costs associated with building maintenance, food services, security services, administration, and so on—and can, therefore, be offered with a much lower price tag. The challenge is to earn the trust of student-participants and to establish and maintain a relevant curriculum. Advocates often use metaphors to explicate the logic of unbundling higher education into job-specific modules: Consumers routinely purchase a single tune rather than the entire CD. Because microdegrees allow just that kind of focused concentration, their appeal is growing as a viable alternative to four- and two-year degree programs.

Terms & Concepts

Accreditation: Approval by one of several accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The accreditation process involves evaluating a college’s programs of study and its faculty to ensure a level of quality in its presentation.

Associate’s Degree: A program of study designed to prepare a student for a particular job, such as paralegal, information technician, or nurse.

Capstone Project: A major student effort in a chosen field of study and completed largely independently during the student’s senior year. Many microdegrees, particularly in technology, have a capstone project as a major component.

Contact Hours: Time during a standard college work week that students and instructors meet.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Online courses enabled by interactive software that creates real-time classroom environments digitally.

Portfolio: The gathered archives of original in-field materials produced by a student and used as part of employment applications.

Bibliography

Burnette, D. M. (2016). The renewal of competency-based education: A review of the literature. Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 64(2), 84–93. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=116268289&site=ehost-live

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Dragoo, A., & Barrows, R. (2016). Implementing competency-based business curricula in higher education. Journal of Education for Business, 91(7), 374–379. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=119150760&site=ehost-live

Rego, S. L., Burrell, C., Nielsen, M., Grove, T., Kidiyoor, A., Flournoy, V., & ... Ayers, M. (2016). Identification of the most commonly used laboratory techniques in regenerative medicine: A roadmap for developing a competency based education curriculum. Education Research International, 1–7. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=118760396&site=ehost-live

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ten Cate, O. T. (2015). The false dichotomy of quality and quantity in the discourse around assessment in competency-based education. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 20(3), 835–838. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=103687280&site=ehost-live

Trujillo Maza, E. E., Gómez Lozano, M. T., Cardozo Alarcón, A. A., Moreno Zuluaga, L. L., & Gamba Fadul, M. M. (2016). Blended learning supported by digital technology and competency-based medical education: A case study of the social medicine course at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 13(1), 1–13. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117419498&site=ehost-live

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Suggested Reading

Gruppen, L. D., Burkhardt, J. C., Fitzgerald, J. T., Funnell, M., Haftel, H. M., Lypson, M. L., & ... Vasquez, J. A. (2016). Competency-based education: programme design and challenges to implementation. Medical Education, 50(5), 532–539. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=114490780&site=ehost-live

Ponelis, S. P., Hudson, A. A., & Zahrt, C. Z. (2015). Competency-based education as a new modality: The UW flexible option. Proceedings of the European Conference on E-Learning, 265–269. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=108723244&site=ehost-live

Sullivan, S. C., & Downey, J. A. (2015). Shifting educational paradigms: From traditional to competency-based education for diverse learners. American Secondary Education, 43(3), 4–19. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=108991086&site=ehost-live

Joseph Dewey, PhD