CredX Symposium

About CredX

In B.C. numerous efforts are underway to explore how micro-credentials can be used to address upskilling or re-skilling needs in a timely and efficient manner. Simultaneously, and for a far longer period, conversations about how to improve access to higher education or employment through the recognition of prior learning have been happening. In more recent years, organizations have been promoting the use of digital badges within the post-secondary and corporate sectors as a means of improving recognition for an individual’s lived and work experiences. Notably, these threads have been framed as distinct conversations within B.C.

This framing, however, fails to account for the interconnectedness of recognition, digital badges, and micro-credentials, and how these can advance efforts in higher education to align with industry. To that end, B.C. could benefit greatly from focused conversations with those who are already doing this work in other jurisdictions, as well as from invested thought leaders in B.C.

This is where the CredX symposium will make a difference. By bringing together thought leaders in these areas, as well as higher education experts, practitioners, and government, the CredX symposium will cultivate rich discussions on advancing access to higher education, addressing labour market and industry needs, and exploring the potential that lies at the intersection of recognition, badging, and micro-credentials.

Register today and be a part of these transformative conversations in B.C.

What to expect

CredX is designed as an in-person 1.5-day event hosted at Vancouver Community College’s downtown campus, and is specifically aimed at working towards three targeted outcomes:

1. Appreciate the need for and value of a system where badges, micro-credentials, and recognition are interconnected in practice.
2. Outline how such a framework can be used to affect significant and positive value for communities, industry, and higher education.
3. Identify the next steps required to prepare the framework for implementation (e.g., systems, research, project leads, investigating pockets of resistance, required funding, scope of impact).

With a particular focus on the B.C. sector’s challenges, opportunities, and roadblocks, sessions will feature a focused scope of topics delivered by thought leaders in the field, and will be structured to include ample time for discussion and reflection from all participants. Participants will be invited to collaboratively shape a summary of the ideas, priorities, and proposed next steps at the conclusion of the symposium.

Agenda

• Thursday, February 27, half day*

  • 12 - 1:30 p.m. Welcome & lunch
  • 2 p.m. Panel session 1: Establishing the context: What’s the opportunity and urgency in BC?
    • Jacqueline Storen, Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills
    • Loc Dao, DigiBC
    • Chad Doerksen, Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills
  • 3 p.m. Speaker session 1: Incremental Credentialing & the Importance of Recognition
    • Nan Travers, SUNY Empire State University | Incremental Credentialing & the Importance of Recognition
    • Terry Dillon, Skills Development Scotland | Competency Alignment in the Scottish Context
  • 4 p.m. Speaker session 2: Skills and performance in the workplace (HINT: more than courses)
    • Don Presant, Learning Agents
    • David Porter, DP Associates
  • 5 p.m. Social activity



• Friday, February 28, all day*

  • 8:30 a.m. Coffee & Welcome
  • 9 a.m. Speaker Session 3: The Messy Middle
    • Margo Griffith, Edalex | Developing the Blueprint for Success - Data Plumbing and Your Microcredential Strategy: Implementation, Scale and Sustainability
    • Wendy Palmer, Lifelong Learning Practice | The Messy Middle: Lessons from the Australian context
  • 10 a.m. Break
  • 10:15 a.m. Speaker Session 4: What’s in it for industry?
    • Katie Fitzmaurice, Invest Vancouver
  • 11:30 a.m. Speaker Session 5: Responding to Community Needs
    • Ashleigh Presenger, Ontario Northern First Nations Health Authority | Using micro credentials to support and acknowledge other Ways of Knowing
    • Susan Forseille, Thompsons River University | Recognition with Indigenous Communities
  • 12:30 p.m. Lunch
  • 1:30 p.m. Speaker Session 6: Inclusion and Recognition at Scale
    • Tom Farrelly, MTU/N-TUTORR | Enabling micro-credential provision in the technological university sector
    • Peter Scott, Commonwealth of Learning | Towards Universal Credit in the Commonwealth: Micros and Recognition at Scale
  • 2:30 p.m. Synthesizing Discussions into Action
  • 3:45 p.m. Concluding remarks
  • 4:30 p.m. Symposium ends

*Subject to change