NWACC Will Offer Microcredentials Beginning With Fall 2025 Semester

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The first Arkansas Wayfinding Convening took place earlier this month on the NorthWest Arkansas Community College campus. It brought eight colleges together in the process of creating the first microcredential course offerings in Arkansas.

Microcredentials are a focused credential that verifies a learner has achieved a specific, measurable competency or skill set. To earn a microcredential, students undergo a shorter-term course, which can be up to one year long. The resulting certification is stackable with other course offerings beneficial to the student, whether their goal is to improve job opportunities, earn a higher salary, or ultimately earn a degree or other certification.

“Microcredentialing allows us, the educators, to develop talent in a time-efficient manner specifically for what employers need,” Dr. Dennis C. Rittle, President of NWACC, said during the convening. “This signals a priority shift observed in the workforce to a skills-first mentality, given that industry partners are looking for skills and competencies that may not be covered in a traditional degree program. Microcredentialing gives us that capacity.”

Learning sessions and professional development for the colleges were led over the course of June 11 and 12 by Bradley Williamson with Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. As Education Designer for the Community College Growth Engine, Williamson is the lead designer for all Arkansascolleges engaged in this work and ADHE staff who are in the fellowship program.

Representatives from the Arkansas Division of Higher Education, Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services and Arkansas Community Colleges were present alongside deans, directors and faculty from NWACC, University of Arkansas East Arkansas Community College, University of Arkansas Rich Mountain, Arkansas Tech University-Ozark, Arkansas State University Newport, South Arkansas College, Arkansas State University Three Rivers and North Arkansas College.

“The learn and work ecosystem is undergoing profound change, and with change comes opportunity,” Bradley Williamson said. “We are focused on turning these disruptions into possibilities for individuals for whom traditional higher education was never built for. We believe that colleges across Arkansas have a powerful role to play in shaping a more inclusive and agile system.”

During the convening, college representatives and higher education officials shared their experiences in creating microcredentials in the Natural State and found some common challenges and barriers. A variety of group discussion, breakout sessions and individual opportunities to share anecdotes allowed those attending to benefit from the resources found and breakthroughs each college experienced.

“Collaboration with our peer institutions was a wonderful experience all around,” said Lucas Paxton, Director of Digital Learning at NWACC. “As an independent community college, we are left to ourselves more often than not. This Wayfinding conference let us know that we are not alone in this institution-changing work.”

NorthWest Arkansas Community College will be the first college in the state to offer microcredential courses. General Project Management, Behavioral Health and Biological Technician will be options for students in August as a part of the fall 2025 semester:

• Project Management- This workforce/non-credit upskilling microcredential consists of three mini-courses and each are stacking, including basic, core and advanced.
• Behavioral Health- This area has three Pathways to Employment and five microcredentials that stack into these pathways. Each microcredential is earned by completing two credit courses.
• Biological Technician- This Pathway to Employment has eight microcredentials made from 30 industry-verified skills earned across a set of science courses.

NWACC faculty and staff have been designing these new, shorter course offerings since April 2024. 

About Education Design Lab:
Education Design Lab (the Lab) is a national nonprofit and intermediary with a mission to co-design an inclusive, skills-based learn+work system that facilitates upward economic mobility and closes opportunity gaps for the New Majority Learner-Earner. Our facilitated design process helps employer and education stakeholder groups co-design and launch scalable, skills-based education-to-work pathways that align talent supply and demand.

About NorthWest Arkansas Community College (NWACC):
NWACC is an accredited, public two-year institution that serves and strengthens its surrounding communities by helping students maximize their potential and exceed expectations. With state-of-the-art facilities, NWACC provides excellent academic instruction, workforce training and personalized attention from highly respected faculty, staff and administrators. For more information about NWACC, visit www.nwacc.edu.

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