Call for Book Chapter Proposals

We invite scholars, educators, researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals to submit chapter proposals for Mapping the Landscape of STEM Microcredentials: Frameworks, Applications, and Future Directions to appear as an edited volume in the Educational Communications and Technology: Issues and Innovations book series.

About the Book

This edited volume will assemble leading experts to comprehensively map the STEM microcredential landscape for the first time. Microcredentials are digital certifications that demonstrate professional learning or competency through rigorous assessment. They offer specialized, focused content that is less time-consuming and less expensive than formal degrees, making them widely accessible—especially to underrepresented or disadvantaged groups (Boyer & Griffith, 2023; Clausen, 2022; McGreal & Olcott, 2022; Moore, 2022).

Unlike short-form digital courses that merely provide content and award a digital badge upon completion without verifying mastery, microcredentials require learners to demonstrate competency through rigorous assessment. This distinction is crucial, as microcredentials validate participation, actual skill acquisition, and proficiency.

STEM microcredentials are of specific interest because they offer flexible and targeted educational approaches often lacking in traditional degree programs (Maina et al., 2022; Moore, 2022; Tamoliune et al., 2023; Woods & Woods, 2021). In rapidly evolving STEM fields, where new technologies and methodologies emerge frequently, microcredentials provide specific, skills-based education that can be acquired and applied quickly. This meets the needs of a dynamic job market that demands up-to-date competencies (Boyer & Griffith, 2023; Smith & Fong, 2023).

In the context of higher education, microcredentials offer an alternative pathway, allowing students to gain specific skills and knowledge directly relevant to their career goals. This approach not only enhances employability but also supports lifelong learning. Microcredentials can be integrated into workforce development initiatives, providing employees with opportunities to upskill or reskill in response to new job requirements. Earning and displaying these credentials can significantly impact career progression and job satisfaction (Ashcroft et al., 2021; Gallagher, 2019; Oliver, 2019).

Major Contributions:

 

  • A comprehensive mapping of the STEM microcredential landscape.
  • In-depth analysis of foundational frameworks.
  • Forward-looking perspectives on future opportunities and research directions.

These contributions are crucial for stakeholders leveraging STEM microcredentials to enhance education and workforce development. We invite various scholarly proposals, including conceptual, theoretical, or design chapters, institutional case studies, review studies, and empirical research.

Editors


Target Audience

    • STEM Educators and curriculum designers.
    • Researchers and practitioners in diverse and likely interdisciplinary STEM fields, including medicine and the health sciences.
    • Policymakers in education and workforce development.
    • Industry professionals engaged in microcredentials development and evaluation.

Proposed Sections

    • Section 1: Overview of STEM Microcredentials
    • Section 2: Foundations and Frameworks
    • Section 3: Current Landscape and Applications
    • Section 4: Future Directions and Opportunities

Submission Guidelines

Proposal Submission Deadline: December 16, 2024

Submit a proposal using the Book Chapter Proposal Form.

Proposal Requirements

    • Extended Abstract: Please submit an extended abstract of up to 2 pages that outlines the focus, objectives, methodology, and expected contributions of your proposed chapter. The abstract should clearly define key terms and concepts, explain the relevance to STEM microcredentials, and indicate how your work aligns with the book’s themes. Include key references and up to five keywords that represent the main topics of your chapter.

If authors are invited to complete a full chapter submission, all chapter authors will be requested to peer review at least one other chapter submission. Reviewers will be provided guidelines to complete peer reviews. If authors decide not to participate in the peer review process, the book chapter proposal may no longer be considered for publication.

Final Chapter Requirements:

  • Length: Approximately 8,000 – 10,000 words (excluding references).
  • Formatting: Adhere to APA 7th edition guidelines.
  • Peer Review: Submissions will undergo peer review and editorial review.

Timeline

  • Proposals Due: December 16, 2024
  • Decisions Sent to Authors: December 20, 2024
  • Full Chapter Submissions Due: March 3, 2025
  • Peer Reviews Returned to Authors: March 31, 2025
  • Revisions Due: April 28, 2025
  • Final Acceptance Notifications: May 26, 2025
  • Completed Materials from Authors: June 9, 2025

References

Ashcroft, K., Etmanski, B., Fannon, A. M., & Pretti, T. J. (2021). Microcredentials and work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 22(3), 423–432.

Boyer, N. R., & Griffith, M. L. (2023). Technology enablement of the skills ecosystem. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-12-2022-0229

Clausen, J. M. (2022). Learning to fly: Development and design of a micro-credentialing system for an educator preparation program in the absence of a required educational technology course. TechTrends, 66(2), 276–286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-021-00673-x

Gallagher, S. (2019). A new era of microcredentials and experiential learning. University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190213103113978

Maina, M. F., Guàrdia Ortiz, L., Mancini, F., & Martinez Melo, M. (2022). A micro-credentialing methodology for improved recognition of HE employability skills. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-021-00315-5

McGreal, R., & Olcott, D. (2022). A strategic reset: micro-credentials for higher education leaders. Smart Learning Environments, 9(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-022-00190-1

Moore, R. L. (2022). Introducing mesocredentials: Connecting MOOC achievement with academic credit. Distance Education, 43(2), 271–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2022.2064823

Oliver, B. (2019). Making micro-credentials work for learners, employers and providers. https://dteach.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/103/2019/08/Making-micro-credentials-work-Oliver-Deakin-2019-full-report.pdf

Smith, A., & Fong, J. (2023). Disengaged Learners & Return Paths to Higher Education. https://19906495.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/19906495/DisengagedLearnersReturnPathsHigherEd_2023Research.pdf

Tamoliune, G., Greenspon, R., Tereseviciene, M., Volungeviciene, A., Trepule, E., & Dauksiene, E. (2023). Exploring the potential of micro-credentials: A systematic literature review. Frontiers in Education, 7, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1006811

Woods, K., & Woods, J. A. (2021). Less is more: Exploring the value of micro-credentials within a graduate program. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/07377363.2021.1966923

UF AI Days: College of Ed Event

UF AI Days: College of Ed Event

Researchers at the UF College of Education are using AI tools to transform education and dramatically improve learning outcomes for all learners. Through funding from NSF, IES, U.S. Department of Education, Google and more, our faculty are exploring the outer boundaries of what’s possible. Kicking off UF AI Days, we’ll share how we’re creating the future of teaching and learning.

Join us:
Friday, October 25
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Norman Hall, Ground Floor (by Opus)

Demonstrations, Games, Food, Fun!

Presented by the Institute for Advanced Learning Technologies and CSEveryone Center, you’ll have the opportunity for hands-on AI experiences, full of fun and surprises along the way.

Activities Includes:

Creating chatbots with AMBY

Led by Maya Israel, Ph.D. 

AI Unplugged

Playing Guess Who and using GenAI for visual puns 

Led by Nykema Lindsey, CSEveryone Center 

Digital Games 

Using LLMs to assess human creativity
Led by Ahmad Rahimi, Ph.D.

PRODUCTIVE

Using LLMs to Design for Productive Failure
Led by Ahmad Rahimi, Ph.D. 

AHA! AI Hardware Adventures

How edge AI can be used for home security
Led by Andrea Ramirez-Salgado, Ph.D. and Pasha Antonenko, Ph.D.

Shark AI

Using Google Teachable Machine to classify shark teeth
Led by Christine and Pasha Antonenko, Ph.D.  

AI4K12 resources 

Pasha Antonenko

Pasha Antonenko, Ph.D.

Ahmad Rahimi

Ahmad Rahimi, Ph.D.

Maya Israel

Maya Israel, Ph.D.

UF AI Days @ College of Education

UF AI Days @ College of Education

Researchers at the UF College of Education are using AI tools to transform education and dramatically improve learning outcomes. Through funding from NSF, IES, U.S. Department of Education, Google and more, our faculty are exploring the outer boundaries of what’s possible. During day five of UF AI Days, we’ll share how we’re creating the future of teaching and learning.

Join us:
Friday, October 20
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Dorfeld Plaza (outside of Opus)
Norman Hall (College of Education)


Predicting movement using AI

Using sensors and programming hardware, we’ll teach AI to determine a user’s movements. Typical programs can recognize movements, but detection accuracy decreases significantly if the user’s movement differs, even slightly. Using real-time data we’ll train a machine learning model to improve movement detection accuracy.

Presented by Dr. Pasha Antonenko, Andrea Ramirez-Salgado


AI Chatbot, unplugged!

This station provides an opportunity to play a fun card game and learn about the roles of users, developers, and chatbots in chatbot development.

AI Made By You (AMBY)

This station introduces you to our innovative learning technology for young children to develop AI chatbots! Our AMBY (AI Made By You) software allows young children to understand the working mechanism of AI chatbots and develop their own personally relevant chatbots in an easy, intuitive way.

Machine Learning, unplugged!

This station provides an opportunity to play a fun game and learn about how machine learning (e.g., supervised learning, unsupervised learning) works in an easy, engaging, and intuitive way!

offline version of data training using utensils of varying materials

Presented by: Dr. Maya Israel, Meize Guo, Nykema Lindsey, Minji Yun, Tiaoyi Tan, Don Miller and Carly Solomon.


AI-enhanced math learning

Using our innovative conversational AI created to enhance K-12 math learning, we’ll illustrate the seamless integration of educational strategies rooted in learning science principles with the capabilities of large language models (LLMs), and demonstrate AI’s proficiency in extracting math concepts, providing clear explanations, recommending personalized instructional videos and enabling efficient semantic video searches. Emphasis is placed on our commitment to addressing ethical concerns associated with LLMs by employing style control and data augmentation techniques, promoting responsible AI usage.

Classroom Assessment Ecosystem

We’re using a powerful analytics tool designed to empower instructors with data-driven insights for precise interventions to address student learning disparities. Beyond quantified insights into learning process and performance, this tool delves into a granular question-level analysis, assessing difficulty and discrimination levels with performance gap visualizations and natural language processing to examine student discussions to provide comprehensive solutions for educators.

Presented by: Dr. Wanli Xing, Hai Li and Zifeng Liu


Find your future at the UF College of Education

Student Services staff will be on hand to help guide you through options to take you where you want to go. From an education minor to the education sciences technology track, there’s an option here for you.

Presented by: Aaron Ganas and Scott Davis

Pasha Antonenko

Pasha Antonenko, Ph.D.

Maya Israel

Maya Israel, Ph.D.

Maya Israel

Wanli Xing, Ph.D.

“As one of the preeminent universities in the United States, the Univeristy of Florida is committed to improving educational environments for all learners,” said Tom Dana, IALT Director. “The researchers working within the College of Education are collaborative, multidisciplinary and singularly focused on the idea of improving learning for everyone.”

UF College of Education is Number 1 in the Nation

UF College of Education is Number 1 in the Nation

The College of Education at the University of Florida continues its six-year tradition of being a national leader in online graduate education. Again this year, UF is the nation’s top online graduate education degree program according to the 2021 Best Online Programs rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.

UF earned the No. 1 spot nationally out of 296 other colleges of education for online graduate degree programs. The college has earned the top rank four of the last six years (2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021), dipping only one spot in 2018 and 2020. 

Students’ experiences and outcomes are continually being enhanced through faculty embracing the research and best practices identified by scholars associated with the college’s Educational Technology program, Institute for Advanced Learning Technologies, and new Artificial Intelligence in Education initiative.

“This ranking reflects acknowledgement by higher education leaders across the country that we have exceptional students, develop and apply engaging methods of instruction, and employ superb faculty and staff well trained in supporting the needs of students at any stage of their careers,” said Tom Dana, senior associate dean and director of the Institute for Advanced Learning Technologies.

Specialty Area Rankings 

Last year, U.S. News began ranking specialty areas of Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Administration and Supervision, Special Education and Educational/Instructional Media Design, “to help guide prospective students who have particular interest in pursuing a degree or coursework with one of these focuses.”

These specialty area rankings are based on peer assessment of academic reputation. Eligibility requirements include the institution having “received at least five ratings from peer institutions, been ranked in the main online master’s in education rankings, and verified in the peer assessment they offer the specialty or else had this verified by U.S. News.”

The college was recognized as leaders in all of these specialty areas, with the following rankings:

  • No. 2 – Special Education
  • No. 3 – Educational Administration
  • No. 3 – Curriculum and Instruction
  • No. 6 – Instructional Media/Educational Technology

“Our extraordinary faculty collaborate with ever-increasing effectiveness to provide the highest caliber of engaged educational experiences for our online students,” said College of Education Dean Glenn Good. “Faculty are developing and studying learning technology innovations.

“It is natural that their discoveries become incorporated into college-wide exceptional instructional practices. Ultimately, the successes of our online students have elevated the college’s academic reputation, which is recognized by our peers across the nation.”

The college has placed emphasis on a growing demand for online learning for years, as evidenced by continuous strong performance in rankings, and has developed a highly-skilled team of instructional designers, videographers and editors, web and graphic designers, and systems developers. The e-Learning, Technology and Communications team works in partnership with faculty and students to implement best practices and build learning environments that leverage emerging technologies and support learning objectives.

“Our expert faculty have worked closely with our instructional and graphic designers and videographers to continuously refine the online learning experience for our students,” said Jason Arnold, director of e-Learning, Technology and Communications. “We use the most current research and frequent student feedback to always improve so that we may create courses that truly prepare and empower students.” 

According to U.S. News, a master’s degree in education can help further careers in teaching, instructional design and educational administration. Programs are ranked based on five general categories: student engagement (30 percent), student services and technology (20 percent), expert opinion (20 percent), faculty credentials and training (20 percent), and student excellence (10 percent).

“We are proud to have regained the No. 1 ranking,” Good said. “It is a direct reflection of the work our faculty and staff have done to provide our distance learners with an exceptional education.”

Testimonials

Alyson Adams, Ph.D.

Our online programs are not online simply for convenience; we purposefully design online programs for full time educators because we want their workplaces to become the laboratories for their learning. What they learn in their online classes is situated and connected to their daily work. Our students use practitioner research or inquiry to examine their contexts and make meaningful change for their students, teachers, leaders, families, and communities. They develop as educational leaders who disrupt the st atus quo and challenge systemic inequities in their contexts and beyond.

Alyson Adams, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Teaching and Teacher Education

Catherine G. Atria, Ph.D.

UF faculty, comprised of nationally known, experienced and successful school leaders and researchers, are approachable and available with a rich presence in their courses through the use of videoed lectures, robust discussion forums and experiential just-in-time learning activities. Synchronous opportunities exist within courses affording collaborative relationships with peers, instructors, and other content experts. Students are able to easily and quickly contact and connect with instructors via the course management system, video-conferencing, email and telephone. 

Our program utilizes a cohort model with each group of newly accepted students progressing through coursework together. In this way, deep collegial peer relationships are formed transcending the program and continuing long after graduation. 

Coursework in the program is designed using best practices in online instruction and relevant and up-to-date research on school leadership. We successfully bridge the gap between research and practice as students engage in experiential learning opportunities applicable to both their current work environment and future career endeavors.

Catherine G. Atria, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Educational Leadership Online M.Ed.

Magdalena Castañeda, Ph.D.

TLSI is a “job-embedded” online graduate program. This means everything students learn is directly related to their practice, no matter what their role is in education. Students make major shifts in their practice that demonstrate their development in the 3 TLSI goals: Teacher Leader, Teacher Researcher and Master Teacher. 

The program helps teachers feel empowered to come out of their comfort zone to become leaders in their school living up to the program name, Teacher Leadership for School Improvement. Becoming leaders entails sliding their classroom doors open and sharing their practice and what they are learning in the TLSI graduate program. This is significant because enrolling in this graduate program benefits not just one teacher and one classroom but their colleagues and all students at their school. There is a mind shift in that it’s not just about my students and my classroom, but all students. 

Magdalena Castañeda, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Teacher Leadership for School Improvement (TLSI)

Domenic Durante, M.Ed.

The College of Education is the meeting place between educational theory and instructional best practice with both our instructors and supporting instructional design team collaborating on the design of online courses that actively promote and create a community of practice.

Domenic Durante, M.Ed.
Senior Instructional Designer

Zhihui Fang, Ph.D.

Faculty in the Reading and Literacy education program has invested a considerable amount of time in identifying, recruiting, preparing, and graduating highly qualified candidates from the state, nationally, and internationally. Our enrollment is at a historic high. Our students benefit tremendously from a rigorous, flexible curriculum that addresses practical concerns of those “in the trenches” and a dedicated faculty that is knowledgeable, supportive, and accessible.

Zhihui Fang, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Reading and Literacy Online M.Ed.

Cliff Haynes, Ph.D.

The online program in Student Personnel in Higher Education focuses on the practical application of the competencies of student affairs educators while incorporating technology into every class. Our graduates have been using technology to build community and to learn and are able to be forward thinking when asked to perform their duties virtually or remotely.

Cliff Haynes, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Student Personnel in Higher Education (SPHE) Online M.Ed.

Daneen Johnson

Beyond the classroom, students in our online programs have access to career readiness resources including customized virtual career workshops, individual coaching sessions and career conversations designed to help create opportunities for students to feel empowered in their professional growth now and after graduation. These resources and programs are also infused into the curriculum for some of our online programs.

Daneen Johnson
Assistant Director for Integrated Partnerships – Education
Career Connections Center & College of Education

UF improved one spot to No. 3 in the Best Online Bachelor’s Programs rankings.

The Bachelor of Arts in Education Sciences is one of the college’s newer programs designed to establish a foundation of knowledge, to allow graduates to pursue a variety of careers in the field of education. New to the college’s bachelor offering are the Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood and the Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education. Both programs are set to launch in fall 2021.

For more information on the college’s distance learning program, visit online.education.ufl.edu.

Contacts

Source: Tom Dana, senior associate dean, UF College of Education, 352-273-4134

Source: Jason Arnold, director of e-learning, UF College of Education, 352-273-4442

Writer: Kevin Coulson, communications manager, UF College of Education, 352-273-4370