微认证:能力为本的教师开放发展新路向

Micro-credentials: A New Approach to Competency-based Open Development for Teacher

Promoting teachers ' professional competence is essential in teachers ' professional development. Competency- based Education ( CBE) is consistent with teacher professional feature and adult learning characteristics. In practice ， however， there is little research and practice on how to embody and apply the CBE philosophy into professional development activities. It is imperative to conduct in-depth study and practice as the current professional development activities are transforming to professionalization. Digital Promise， a nonprofit organization in the U. S. ， has built a system of micro-credentials for educators. The system provides an instrument to identify a specific ， observable， discrete competency based on the peTjormance of teaching practice. Once educators have selected micro-credentials they wish to earn， they develop the required evidence and submit it through an online platform. Micro -credentials are competency-based， on-demand， personalized and shareable. It is a natural extension of educators ' professional learning journeys because it can recognize educators for the skills they learn throughout their careers regardless of where or how they learned. The paper introduced the following questions of Micro-credentials : 1 ) What is the definition of Micro-credentials? 2) What are the characteristics of Micro-credentials? 3) What is the basic framework for competence certification? 4) What is the basic process of certification? After an in-depth analysis， the paper discussed four design and application strategies which can embed the philosophy of CBE: 1 ) The micro-ability that can be studied， observed and evaluated; 2) Flexible space which consists of various abilities and learning methods that will meet the needs of personalized learning for teachers ; 3 ) The design of micro-credentials with bottom-up approach that can enhance external validity of peiformance-based assessment; 4) Teachers， school and organization that can apply micro-credentials flexibly to promote organizational development goals. At the third part of the paper， the authors put forward some implementation strategies based upon analyzing the challenges in Micro-credential practices. Firstly ， we should understand the value and significance of micro-credentials exactly ， since micro-credentials is not only a form of competence certification but also a teacher professional development paradigm. Secondly， we must construct the system of teacher professional development with obvious ecological consciousness in mind. The micro-credential ecosystem should include three players at least : the issuing organizations ， earners， and the recognizing entities. At last， we need to build a strict management system to ensure high-quality micro- credentials.