De Rosa, Mattia (2023) A multidisciplinary microcredential basket for the sustainable transition in cities | Deliverable D2.3. Project Report. RES4CITY.

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Abstract

RES4CITY is committed to cultivating a skilled workforce by promoting sustainability and circularity in the field of renewable energy and fuel technologies, specifically in urban contexts. This mission is achieved through a pioneering educational initiative developed in collaboration with stakeholders. This forward-thinking educational program serves as a platform for individuals to develop specialized skills and knowledge, aligning with the European Union's overarching goal of enhancing digital literacy and lifelong learning, in line with the Bologna process. Amidst the evolution of Europe's educational structure, micro-credentials are gaining traction as a student-centred approach to lifelong learning. Generally, micro-credentials are short, focused, and specialized educational programs that provide learners with the opportunity to acquire and demonstrate specific skills and knowledge that are in demand in the workforce. The main pillars of the European approach to micro-credentials can be summarised as follows: • Micro-credentials must be measurable, comparable, and understandable learning units, with clear learning outcomes, workload, content, level and learning offer. • They must be modular to allow the possibility of stacking, validating and recognising their learning outcomes across different systems. • Their design must be carried out with a meet-the-needs approach. • Micro-credentials are owned by the learner and may be stored and shared safely through secure digital wallets. Starting from its alignment with the ongoing transformation of the European educational framework under the Bologna process, RES4CITY's educational programs primarily focus on renewable energy and sustainable fuel technologies, with a specific emphasis on creating strategies tailored to urban settings. RES4CITY has assembled a curated selection of diverse multidisciplinary micro-credentials, co-designed with relevant stakeholders. This collection forms the basis of an MCs basket designed to cater to a broad spectrum of learners, including students and professionals, regardless of their STEM or non-STEM background. The main features of RES4CITY approach to micro-credentials are summarised as follows: Target audience: RES4CITY educational programmes targets two types of audience: • Students enrolled in accredited university courses at EQF (European Qualification Framework) 6-7-8, corresponding to a Bachelor, Master and PhD courses, in both STEM and NON-STEM disciplines (section 2.2) • Young professionals working both in energy and non-energy related areas with both STEM and NON-STEM background. Need assessment and competence definition: RES4CITY implemented a co-design process by leveraging on the Innovation and Stakeholder network. The identified educational needs were translated into specific learning units which forms the MCs. A hierarchical framework for categorizing educational goals based on the Bloom’s taxonomy was used to guide the development of learning objectives and to ensure that the learning objectives span across different levels to promote a comprehensive understanding and application of the subject. Micro-credential learning units: each MC in the RES4CITY basket was sized according to the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), adopted by the EHEA, to support the transparency and stackability of the obtained credentials. A size of 2.5 ECTS for each MCs was selected since it allows (i) to correctly define the learning outcomes of each MC, (ii) to ensure a successful delivery of the MC content, (iii) to organise each MC in week-based subunits with an average student effort (total) between 12-18 hours per subunit and a total duration between 4-6 weeks. Subject classification: RES4CITY adopted the ISCED-F (International Standard Classification of Education – Fields of education and training) as a reference to classify and organise the micro-credential basket based on its fields of education. The following ISCED-F codes were used to classify RES4CITY micro-credentials: • 031: Social and behavioural science (including economic and finance) • 041: Business and administration • 052: Environmental science • 061: Information and communication technologies (including data science) • 071: Engineering and engineering trades • 072: Manufacturing and material • 073: Architecture and construction Referencing to the detailed description of the education fields, the ISCED-F codes were selected and used to indicate the main discipline (i.e., primary discipline) of each MC. It is important to highlight that due to the intrinsic multidisciplinary of RES4CITY’s learning programmes, most of the MCs can be related to multiple disciplines. Consequently, secondary ISCED-F codes were assigned to each MC where relevant (i.e., complementary disciplines).

Item Type:	Monograph (Project Report)
Keywords:	multidisciplinary microcredential basket; sustainable transition; cities; RES4CITY; Renewable Energies System for Cities;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	17819
Depositing User:	IR Editor
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2023 12:34
Publisher:	RES4CITY
Funders:	HORIZON-CSA
URI:	Organisation
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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