Professionalising Youth Work through Micro-Credentials

Okay, welcome. I am Dr. Shantal Moore, advisor for the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth. And on behalf of the Commonwealth of Learning, we are so happy that you took the time just for you to be here. And by doing so, you're actually committing to yourself to build your capacity and to develop and to expand your knowledge around small state matters across the Commonwealth. And we are certainly thankful that you took the moment. So, whether you're joining us from Africa or Asia, good morning. No, it's actually good evening in Africa or Asia. Or if you're from the Caribbean or the Pacific or Europe, then I want to say a pleasant good morning. And as we go throughout this webinar, we are inviting you as you engage, as you listen, to feel free to use the chat space to drop your comments, your questions, your concerns. And certainly we will be acknowledging those. But more than ever, we want to know where our participants, where our stakeholders in today's webinar are joining from. So, if you'd be so kind just to go ahead and type in the chat space your country or your region so that at some point towards the, you know, as we engage some more, I can give you a shout-out and your country or region from which you hail from to join us today. So, colleagues, today is our 11th webinar in the VOSS Voices series. And we have a large representation from across Africa, Botswana in particular, and the Americas, Canada, joining today to share their voices and feedback on the project that they are exploring within their own sphere of the Commonwealth. And they're going to be digging deeply into the business of professionalizing youth work through micro-credentials. And so we are just thankful for the group. And I want to introduce them to you so that you have a fuller sense of the persons who are sharing with us this morning. Um just before the introduction, just two bits of housekeeping matters. Just to say that for those of you who have registered and you're here today, after this webinar at some point during the rest of this month, you will be receiving your certificate and your badge to acknowledge your participation in today's conversation. And we value you so that um we we send that out so that you can use it as professional development hours at your institution where or in whatever way. If you want to put your badge on LinkedIn, you have that option as well. But just to acknowledge that you will be receiving your certification and badge for engaging in today's webinar. And the second bit of housekeeping matter has to do with um how we will um conduct a brief survey at the end of the webinar. And so we ask you to remember to take a few moments to complete that survey before we before you log out. All right. So now, let's turn our attention to today about professionalizing youth and doing that through micro-credentials. And we have with us our presenters. I'm going to introduce them starting with Dr. Mabu Rakaleetso, who is the director of the SADC Centre for Distance Education at Botswana Open University. And she's also the executive secretary of D E A S A. She brings over 20 years of experience in open and distance learning with regional and international service including UNESCO International Literacy Prizes and the UK R I International Peer Review Work. Our second presenter is Dr. Gary Who who is the associate who is an associate professor at Lakehead University with um quite a number of years of experience in the area of youth work. He focuses on global citizenship faith-based learning youth voice and applied ethics. So, his scholarship centers around those areas. And he's held um educational leadership roles across the Pacific, East Africa Canada, the Caribbean and he brings a very strong small states and international education experience to today's session. Our third presenter, Dr. Kirk Perris he's very much involved in digital learning as strategist and researcher with experience across K-12, higher education, adult education and workforce development. Dr. Perris' work focuses on how technology can democratize access to quality education and support authentic assessment and meaningful learner outcomes. Our fourth presenter Mr. Jacob Carey Morland PhD student, educator very much into agroecological farming and he's an advocate for democracy through just and sustainable food systems. He has supported the development and facilitation of youth work courses across the Commonwealth states including Fiji and the Bahamas. And finally, we want to introduce to you Dr. Kaba direct it so lecturer at Botswana Open University and he's also a research associate at the University of Pretoria. And with expertise in social policy, youth employment and youth employment, it's great to have him on the team today. He has strong He has a strong publication record and places emphasis on connecting research, practice, program design, monitoring and evaluation. So, the group is going to be doing a joint presentation. Shortly, they will tell you what their topic is and you know, dive into it. So, ladies and gentlemen, as we listen I encourage you to engage and again with your questions, comments, feel free to drop them in the chat and then after their presentation, we will have that interaction with the group. So, colleagues, thank you. It's over to you for your presentation. Thanks. >> Thank you, Chantal. As she said, my name is Kirk and I will be the the facilitator for today's session and so I'll start and end the talk today. So, as we get started here is our presentation and I'll speak through this and then I'll gesture to Gary to move from slide to slide. So, the title of our presentation micro-credentials, youth work and professional identity, lessons from Botswana and we're really glad that and thankful to to Chantal for inviting us to participate in the VOSC Voices series of of of webinars. You've mentioned the different individuals that are here today and these are the four different organizations who are represented in our presentation. So, our agenda introduction I'll just skim through that rather quickly given that Dr. Moore has offered an introduction for all of us. Objectives content is of course the the main crux of the presentation and there's five components there with the respective presenters. Then we'll speak to the BOMIC credentials experience and our facilitators Jacob representing both Dr. Monty Madisa and himself. Dr. Monty could not make it today and then I'll close off with a path forward which will be more of like a lessons learned and perhaps considering next steps that would segue into the Q&A. So, introductions I won't go through this other than that SADCDE is really the anchor of this presentation. They have a close tie to Commonwealth of Learning as one of the four regional centers. SADC is the Southern African Development Community region which comprises 16 states. You're all coming from different parts of the Commonwealth and or the globe and you're members of whether it's CARICOM, OEAC, SAARC, PIFS, there's all sorts. EAC East African Community recognizing one of our colleagues from Tanzania. So, yes there are certain you could say clusters of countries that come together in different organizational settings and SADC is one of those and then of course the other part of that acronym is a center for distance education. COL of course you know Botswana is the the host of SADCDE. The organization is nested within the university and Bo has a very close client tie to Commonwealth of Learning given that COL was very instrumental in moving Botswana Open University from a college it was known previously as BoCADOL to Botswana Open University. And of course Lakehead University has been a close Um, a close partner to COL give going back to 2019, but Gary will speak to that during his session. So, I'll just go to the next slide, please, Gary. So, the objectives, you've probably seen these before. These have been frankly copied from the outline that we received from Dr. Moore, and I think it sort of transposes or um it uh it covers the the various VUSC voice presentations. So, overall, it's naturally to expand the alliances but amongst the VUSC VUSC stakeholders. Of course, we're going to be sharing experiences, lessons learned, challenges faced by small states of the Commonwealth. As you all know, there's over 30 small states in the Commonwealth, which makes up the bulk of the the the the member states. And the other I think you could say binding uh you could say commonality is that small states are young young populations amongst other issues as well. Um but generally speaking, there are, you know, I guess you see a lot of synergies. Um and uh some are island states, some are landlocked states, whatever the case. And of course, naturally, how VUSC is a central point to address how challenges through this kind of engagement can um be both addressed and perhaps um uh you could say resolved, if you will. Okay, next slide, please. So, um the bulk of the presentation content, I'm going to speak first to micro-credentials, which you might have some familiarity with, you might not, but it's certainly a term that's been bandied about uh quite a lot over the last several years. So, Gary, can you just go to the next slide, please? Uh I think I use this graphic I used this before in a previous presentation for VUSC, and I think the one question I say is micro-credentials, is it the same puzzle but smaller pieces? Often times, micro-credentials have been construed as taking what would otherwise be a conventional course and breaking up into smaller chunks. That is sometimes a distortion of what a micro-credential is. Micro-credentials are generally Gary, maybe you can just shift to the next slide. Sorry, I I should just give you a cue there. What they are. Um and I kind of say not so much what they are, what they may be. Because it's still an emerging kind of understanding of what a credential this kind of credential is. Um Bev Oliver who wrote a rather seminal report for UNESCO identified a micro-credential as having these four components. A record of focused learning, just like any other credential. Showing what a learner knows, understands, or what they can do. An assessment based on clear standards. So, very much similar to a conventional credential. Has standalone value and may also contribute or complement to other credentials. So, it might have a sort of its own credential as a as a separate entity. Dr. Mor mentioned that you're going to get certificates from your participation in various activities. That could be considered a credential. And that could be considered a micro-credential. I think the other part about micro-credentials is that they can be built together to create something larger, which I'll speak to later on in this presentation. Which is probably um what you could say is an aspiration of this project. Which again is focused on two micro-credentials, um which we'll speak to in a moment. Of course, the last part is meets the standards required by relevant quality assurance. And I'll also speak to that later on, given that the two micro-credentials we'll be speaking about have been actually accredited by the Botswana government. Next slide, please. So, um I think the other part I I won't actually dwell on this too much, but I'm just referring to the last five bullet points. And in Canada, micro-credentials um have become more and more into the mainstream. And they're eligible for scholarships or for loans from the government. Um in New Zealand, they're transferable from one institution to another, which is often um very valuable in terms of the interoperability of a micro-credential. There's parts of a recognition of prior learning frameworks in Malaysia. There's industry endorsements in some places. In any event, um so there's different kinds of ways of looking at micro-credentials or rather how they're being interpreted in different parts of the world. Uh next slide, please. So, this also juxtaposes micro-credentials on the right to what we'd otherwise say conventional or macro-credentials on the left. I won't dwell too much on that for the sake of time. Other than that, micro-credentials are generally viewed as short. The ones we're going to speak about have been 5 to 6 weeks in duration. Um sometimes they are less regulated. They are you could say um you know, they don't have to necessarily go through the normal approvals that other courses um are required. And of course can inform in rather formal, non-formal, or informal learning environments. Uh next slide, please. And that's just the end of my presentation on micro-credentials. Um we'll come back to this in terms of how they've been interpreted at Bo. Um and um that'll come out in the following presentations. So, I'm going to now shift to my colleague Gary to speak about youth work and the concept of education transfer in the Commonwealth. >> Thank you, Kirk. So, this backdrop about micro-credentials is useful because our interest is to develop um and implement micro-credentials in the field of youth work. So, for people who want to become youth workers, for youth workers who want to upskill, uh or credentialize their experiences, and so on. So, a short backdrop of the importance of youth work. You youth workers work with youth. And across the Commonwealth, 50% of citizens in the Commonwealth are youth. Um you we're thinking of young people who are transitioning between childhood and adulthood. And this is a very diverse group. Um but there are some global challenges uh across youth across the world um including issues of employment uh and underemployment, um changing job landscapes with increasing and changing technologies. Um there are health issues, there are issues related to the climate crisis, and also around political participation and citizenship and so on. So, our focus in thinking about youth work is to help support people who want to work with youth to develop skills um and uh and aptitudes to be able to work in this field. So, the line of logic is that youth issues can be addressed by a robust um field of youth work. And um within that field, we would have youth workers and the training of youth workers through micro-credentials. So, youth work as as a field is all forms of rights-based youth engagement approaches that build personal awareness and support the social, political, and economic empowerment of young people delivered through a non-formal learning within a matrix of care. So, we borrowed this from the Commonwealth Secretariat as a definition. But those of you that work in these spaces know of its complexity, that there are everythings from outcomes frameworks to national occupational standards, quality standards, uh and the UNCRC. Um we have processes and practices, there are ethics, there are values, and there are all sorts of different kinds of topics that you can see within this wheel. So, lots of sort of scholarship around youth work and what it entails and the complexities. In our work, we have certain values that guide our work. So, one is when we think about youth and youth work, we think about youth as socially active agents, not just passive individuals, but they are active and so thinking about the degree in our courses, for example, to which youth are are positioned to design and have agency in these courses. Um when we uh work on the research within this project, we evaluate the projects and so on, we take participatory approaches such as a YPAR youth participatory action research approach. And we also think of youth work as positive development. So positive youth development versus problem-based youth work. In other words, we don't just think about the problems and challenges associated with youthhood, but also the opportunities and possibilities. So this our project um began uh upwards of of seven or eight years ago uh when we took a um a cadre of uh curriculum from the West Indies. And we took uh youth work uh 10 different youth work courses from the University of the West Indies. Uh and we tried to see of its applicability to other small states across the Commonwealth. And our question our guiding question for this was is whether it's reasonable to excep- expect and assume that we can share online curriculum between small states and in this way uh case small states of the Commonwealth. So our project began by looking at curriculum in the West Indies uh and then we um worked with the University of the South Pacific to um curate that curriculum and redesign in local contexts um to develop micro-credentials uh across the Pacific. Um that curriculum was also used in the Bahamas at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and we curated curriculum there uh to repurpose it for that country. And our current project is with the Botswana Open University, um, using the framework of those courses in the context of the of Botswana. Um, last year at the VUSC Voices Present uh, series in the VUSC Voices Present series, I presented in-depth um, that history of this project. So, I won't go into great detail about it right now. You can find it in the in the [clears throat] repository of VUSC Voices uh, presentations. But, very quickly, we went through a fairly elaborate process in each of these cases. So, in the case of the University of the South Pacific of going through stakeholder meetings from workshopping the courses, course writing, evaluation, implementation, um, trial and error, meeting with about 40 different stakeholders in youth work spaces to provide input to actually roll up our sleeves and write the courses, and work with these critical questions, like these fundamental questions. What are the most pressing issues facing youth in your home community? So, we unpacked those. We developed objectives and learning outcomes for the courses, eventually developed six different courses, five of which are here. Um, and we ran those courses um, online um, in online flexible learning situations um, using OER um, and uh, and massive uh, online open communities. So, uh, we had upwards of 100 and 150 people throughout the courses. Um, and uh, we had some great feedback in terms of young people feeling that they issues were related to real world problems um, and uh, that they were well facilitated and so on. So, we did with the success of that, we moved to the Bahamas. And invited people to look at these courses and to see if they could reasonably expect to use them in their context as well. Um, we use courses from the South Pacific. So, these were the six courses that we developed and through a similar process of work shopping them, facilitating feedback sessions and so on, we developed six related courses in the Bahamas. So, because of different cultural contexts and different political economies and um issues on the ground, some were similar but some were a little bit different. And you can see in this case, the health and well-being course, there's some degree of translation there. Um, and similarly, entrepreneurship and career readiness, there was some degree of similarity there. And looking [clears throat] ahead to this presentation we made some educated guesses and through conversations with our colleagues in Botswana we had we were able to um, uh earmark a couple of courses that we've run in both of that we designed in both of these contexts that we thought would be useful uh, in Botswana. Um, now, to provide us a more fuller look at the context of youth and the landscape of youth work in Botswana, I'm going to pass to my colleague Dr. Diarra Ditlhogo to present a little bit about um, these backdrop that will set up the the rationale for the implementation of the courses in Botswana. >> Uh, thank you so much, Gada. And hello to everyone. I'll be giving a presentation uh on uh youth and youth work in in Botswana. Let me indicate that uh Botswana is a a landlocked country in in in Southern Africa. Uh we are sharing borders with South Africa, uh Zimbabwe, and um and Namibia, and and Zambia. So, I'll be presenting on um uh youth in Botswana and youth work. Uh let's go to the slide uh again. Thank you so much. Um I've indicated that we are in uh Southern Africa and with a population of uh 2.6 million. I'm still awaiting the the slide uh Gareth. Uh oh, thank you so much. We are population of 2.6 uh million. And um although we are just 2 million, uh youth uh constitutes a significant uh proportion of uh Botswana's population and represents an important uh resource for the country's uh social, economic, and uh uh political development. We are a a youthful country, as you can see from the statistics that uh young people constitute uh 60% of the the larger population. And um the term uh uh youth can be defined uh differently with a lot of different connotations, and at times it's uh meshed with semantics. Um but in Botswana, when we refer to a young person or a youth, we define uh young person is defined as someone between age of 18 and and 35 years. That is according to our national youth policy of of 2010. We understand in other countries, maybe Pacifics and United Nations, young people are between 15 and 24, others can be up to 40. But in the context of Botswana, as per the African Youth Charter, which is defined as someone between the age of 18 and and and 35. And as a demographic a group, uh youth are they are vital in terms of um driving the sustainable development, uh economic diversification, uh social cohesion and and national building. Although we have a youthful a population, the country is is grappling with a high unprecedented proportions of youth unemployment. We talking about uh over 30% of youth unemployment. There's um youth underemployment um as well. And there are a number of factors that contribute to this high unprecedented uh proportions of of youth unemployment. Um schools mismatch and people always saying young people lack experience. And um our our uh the major employer in Botswana is the government. So, in the event um the government is not employing due to economic uh conditions and and so forth, young people are most hard hit because the government in Botswana is the is the larger employer. And this uh unemployment, it affects young people uh negatively. Uh it leads to increased uh incidence of poverty, you know, depression, and and poor health. Uh however, the government of Botswana uh did not fold its arms um in trying to in addressing uh youth unemployment. Uh the government came up with some measures, some programs, some interventions in order to to to address youth unemployment and other challenges faced by young people. Though the situation remains unabated. Let's move on to the next slide. That was the context of youth in in Botswana. And now I will talk about the youth work in Botswana. So, in Botswana, youth work refers to those programs, interventions and that aiming at empowering young people. And in our context, it involves working with youth in formal and both non-formal settings to enhance their their skills, their confidence, their participation, and leadership as well as life opportunities. That is a youth work in in Botswana. And um youth work has has developed through a government initiatives. The government is at the forefront of addressing um coming up with interventions that are aiming at assisting young people, ameliorating their their conditions. So, we have the Ministry of Youth and Gender Affairs. In the past, it was called Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture and Development. So, all the government is the main player in addressing issues of youth unemployment, youth empowerment and positive development. Um youth work activities are undertaken by by a range of of actors. Um there are social workers, community volunteers, psychologists, sociologists, even teachers, and community development practitioners. So, you can tell that all this uh professionals that I've just mentioned, their nomenclature is not on on youth work. They haven't done any trainings in in youth work. Hence, it is vital now to talk about the need for professionalization of of youth work. And the government of Botswana is heading towards that direction to professionalize youth work so that those who are at the forefront in addressing youth matters are now qualified professionals in the area of youth work. I've mentioned that even though the country is experiencing high and persistent high proportions of youth unemployment and other challenges, the government came up with some responses or interventions. In 1991, the government came up with the the first policy national youth policy, which was revised in in 20 2010. And currently, the government is in the process of revising the 2010 national youth policy. And the this revisions are done after 10 years because the circumstances changes, new challenges emerges, the landscape changes. So, all these interventions, some are were meant to address um unemployment head on because some of these interventions, they are entrepreneurship development interventions. Young people are financed to kick-start a businesses with the intention of creating employment for other young people. Some of these initiatives are grants. Young people don't have to return anything. Some of them, young people have to return 50% and then the other 50% is a grant. Some is an internship program to try and capacitate young people to have a hands-on experience before they can apply for for employment opportunities. Let's move on to to the next slide. Um one might um say the government of Botswana has a number of interventions to address with issues. But how come the situation is not improving? No, there are some challenges with the the current interventions that are meant to address uh youth entrepreneurship development and other uh youth uh challenges. So, most of the the interventions uh I would say the government most of the time is thinking alone. The government uh does not engage in thorough, robust, and empirical research. Now, you know with empirical research, you are able to to tell whether your interventions will produce results and so forth. But most of the time, the government is is is reactive whenever there are challenges. The government will come up with programs. And then some of the programs, there's a a fragmentation because there are so many departments and ministries that are aiming at uh dealing with young people. And then you realize there's no synergy. There's no um coordination. There's compartmentalization. The different departments are doing things differently and there's no uh that uh coordination where everything can be coordinated from. And um there is also issue of uh top-down approach. Most of the interventions that made without the intervention of young people themselves. And uh that's why some of the interventions they don't produce results. And um other scholars have argued that some of the interventions they exploit participants. Participants uh that have that there is an opportunity for hands-on experience and they what they get as um a monthly allowance uh other scholars they say it is too is way too little. Therefore we are expecting participants. And there's lack of monitoring and evaluation. And in the absence of monitoring and evaluation, it becomes difficult to tell whether the interventions are producing results or not. So that is why I would continue to talk about the professionalization of of youth work, which I believe it would that would be able to assist a number of the challenges that are facing the the current interventions. Now this one is the on on the challenges. What are opportunities for for professionalization? Well, Botswana is well positioned to to advance the professionalization of of youth work through existing youth policy frameworks. There are a number of youth policy frameworks in the country. And then there are institutions now that are offering a youth related programs, like Botswana Open University has started offering uh uh uh disciplines focusing on on youth. Now we want to professionalize youth work so that those who are working with young people, those who are dealing with issues of young people can be professionals who have been through training of youth work. They understand all the principles and the theories and values and and so forth. And there's also a growing recognition of uh development as a as a specialized field. Hence there is a Ministry of of Youth and and Gender Affairs. And um they are whatever we are doing is in line with the African Youth Charter, um African Union on issues that affect young people. And there's collaboration with with the professional bodies and youth serving organizations. There are a number of youth serving organizations in the country. Therefore, I believe those are opportunities that we can um tap from so that we can be able to professionalize youth work. and is increased demand of evidence-based youth intervention and of late they are through call and the Lakehead University we have introduction of or we have introduced micro-credentials in youth work in the country. And they have started the beginning of this year and now at this juncture let me hand over to my colleague Dr. Seliso to talk about the the genesis of micro-credentials and how we we we we the conceptualize and the way we are so far in short the journey so far. Thank you so much. Over to you Dr. Mawa. >> Um greetings from Botswana ladies and gentlemen. I also feel very grateful to be part of this team and I'm equally happy that I have observed that some of the team members especially from all who are critical in the delivery and support of the program are also in attendance. I take note that Reka Humanaris also in attendance. And allow me colleagues it's very cold in Botswana. We are not used to winter. So it's it's cold and allow me to present with my video switched off. I think what is important is to hear that which I want to say. Right. And thank you Radebe Radebe Zile for making way for me and for even making my job even easy cuz for me what I'll present is kind of a melting pot of all what other colleagues have have said the prior presentations from Gary, Kirk and and Gabo. So I'll I'll simply be talking about the genesis or why we are here, where we we why micro-credentials in Botswana. If you can move on to the next um slide, Gary. It all started um colleagues when two colleagues from Lakehead University visited some of the countries in Southern Africa just to check on their youth projects and establish new networks where where possible. And then we were fortunate enough to be linked to this visiting team that comprised of Dr. Gary Pluim, Mr. Jacob um who who are who are part of the panelists uh to these discussions. So, we were connected to the colleagues by Kirk and then we managed to convince them to visit Botswana Open University where the SADC Centre of uh Distance Education, one of the core um centers is housed. So, we we hosted them there and that is where engagement on offering micro-credentials all started and as they say, the rest is history. But, when they were in Botswana in 2024, we had a conversation about the youth um global experience that they were putting together for 2025 and they invited us to participate um at that dialogue. Of course, we're very happy. We recruited young people. We had a slot of 10 participants that we enrolled in the program. So, the program was two-pronged. We There was the the virtual um experience where they discussed with colleagues from all corners of the world. I think over 60 countries participated including Botswana and you know, others from Africa, Caribbeans, and the like. So, there we identified young people to participate in this virtual experience and then out of those upon completion, two were identified to join the team in um Canada. There was an in-person summit that was organized to conclude all that which was discussed. If we can move on to the next slide. So, it was actually during this global summit that we got to appreciate that in Africa the challenges facing our young people are not different from challenges facing young people from other parts of the world. We were happy that our young people managed to engage with young people from other parts of the world in issues of sexuality, in issues of unemployment, in issues of exclusion. Our young people were very clear. They were very bold and shared that they were excluded because decisions that are made for them do not involve them. You know, people who sit around tables to take decisions affecting them never, you know, reach out to them to say, "Hey, can you come and do we have a conversation about what affects you?" So, they the issues of exclusion were were raised. The young people did voice that they needed to hear what people the global issues affecting them. They wanted to be part of the problem-solving, not just to, you know, be identified as um noisy lot or a troublesome lot. They wanted to be part of the solutions to their problems. So, when young people shared, we thought that we could borrow a leaf from all that. We thought that, you know, with with with peace and conflict coming up with issues of food security, with issues of AI and technology and all other aspects that were actually coming up from these discussions. We had a round table, of course, with Lakehead and said, um we we are impressed. We are happy with how the young people from other parts of the world are articulating issues. So, we really wanted to borrow a leaf from that. We wanted to borrow a leaf from that experience and bring it to Botswana cuz we wanted to pilot it here, start small, and ultimately move to the rest of the region. Um if we can move on to the next slide, Craig uh Gary, sorry. Yeah, so beyond Canada, we thought that one way that we can positively make an impact was to identify that which we can bring home. And the greatest take-home um or what we considered good practice was micro-credentials. We thought that micro-credentials were very critical critical for skills enhancement. You know, when when we sat at BU with a team, we came back, we established a team that had instructional designers, lecturers, learner support personnel. You know, we wanted to come up with an all-rounded person that would graduate out of the micro-credential program. So, what happened was that we put together a team and looked at the menu of programs that um Craig and Gary made reference to. It's about six courses, but we thought because this is a pilot, we looked at Botswana, we looked at Southern Africa as a region to say, "Look, what two critical courses can we offer our young people so that they are change makers?" We wanted to come up with change makers who would go out to the world as job creators and not only as job seekers. So, we decided that we could pilot the youth employability and entrepreneurship and the youth rise, civic engagement, and political participation. Why did we identify these two? We identified these two because like Dr. Jared Ditsile has said, a country like Botswana, its young people are jobless. You know, you will be having young graduates who are unemployed. And we thought that we needed to introduce to young people the spirit of entrepreneurship. We thought that we should talk to them about starting a small business, creating business plans, talk to them about financial literacy and marketing their products, as well as supporting youth entrepreneurs. You see, you can create an entrepreneur. But then beyond that, they need to be hand-held in marketing, in in in in you know, and even financial literacy. And that is what is is contained in the in the youth employability and entrepreneurship course micro-credential. Then there is one on youth rights, civic engagement, and political participation. We thought that in Southern Africa, a lot of our young people are not interested in politics. There's a lot of voter apathy when elections come. There's a lot of disengagement. You know, our young people are disconnected from their civic space at all. So, we we we thought that these could be our trailblazers. These could be the two causes that we we start working with to impart youth rights to the young people because they said they want to be involved at decision-making. They need to know and understand their rights. They needed to understand generally what civic engagement is about. Our young people in Southern Africa and are very docile and they needed to be hand-held. They needed to be part of the political games. You know, most of the countries like like our country, come election time, it's these very young people who are taken around as ground soldiers, soliciting for votes for the elderly. And then when the elderly are voted into power they forget all together about these young people. So we wanted to tell them that other than getting and soliciting votes for the elderly they can also solicit for votes for for for for their peers so that they are heard, you know, when when when when decisions are are made about them. And um what is important ladies and gentlemen is to to for for you to know that once we we started working with Lakehead University we got sponsorship from the Virtual University of the Small States of the Commonwealth VUSSC, which is a network of of call to contextualize these um materials cuz they were initially um offered in the Caribbean. So we had to make them con- context them to suit the Botswana and the African context. And um we the thinking was that beyond Botswana we will be hand-holding other colleagues from the region to also enroll their young people to also support their young people um with these two programs and then ultimately um cascade them to bring in the other four, which include youth and climate crisis, health and well-being for youth, you know, engaging youth in their communities and others. So this is just a pilot like all was said and it is also important to note that we complied by the rules and the regulations of the Republic of Botswana that all new programs have to be evaluated through Botswana Quality Assurance and Human Resource Development Council. And this was submitted and accredited by the Human Resource Development Council because it's a non-credit bearing course. So maybe I'll pause here um ladies and gentlemen and allow KEC who was introduced earlier on to come in and continue the dialogue. Thank you, colleagues. >> Thank you, Dr. Silatso. Gary, can you just shift to the next part? I'm going to do this rather quickly given that given the time. So, this just is an overview of the two micro-credentials and how they were disaggregated into six components from an introduction to a given topic down to the final assessment, which is a consolidation summary and a really a final assessment activity. Uh next slide, please. So, what I want to just talk about for about 2 minutes is the how these courses micro-credentials came together. The kind of so-called origin story is that from what Gary had shared with that map of the world, these courses started from the University of the West Indies in the Caribbean and we took those as open educational resources and repurposed them. Now, if you're on this call, you all have seen O Cole and Cole's an evangelist for open educational resources. And these eight different graphics represent the different kinds of OER that are available against a Creative Commons license. All of the micro-credentials that have come through this project from the Pacific to the Caribbean and then now back to Africa have been assigned a CC BY SA license, which the SA means share-alike, which is the idea that anything we've developed can be repurposed with the idea that it has to be shared back to the community, if you will, the global online community. Uh next slide, please. So, you're just going to [clears throat] see a quick example of what we did from the pre-existing content in the Pacific and how we transpose that or repurposed it as an OER here in Botswana. And so, there's just a green, yellow, and pink, which I'll refer to in the next slide. Gary, please. So, this is the next two slides. So, this is the on the left, you'll see the core shell from the University of the South Pacific, which Gary and Jacob had very much a lot of involvement in developing. They were frankly the developers of these courses. So, this was called Youth Rights Oh, sorry, just one back. Youth Rights Civic Engagement Political Participation. Same title in the micro-credential in Botswana. Now, a course in the Pacific, and we have a at least one colleague from the Pacific from Samoa, what you experience every day, whether you're a youth worker or a youth, is you know, notably different than what it would be in Botswana or anywhere else in the world. So, we repurposed or recontextualized these courses the micro-credentials for the Botswana context. Next, please. So, the whatever is green was the original content that came from the Pacific. Whatever is yellow is what we had repurposed to contextualize for the Botswana context. So, you can just see on the right side the list of eight bullet points. They're all mentioning different organizations. Many of them are in Africa. And there's different parts below, but the idea is I'm trying to demonstrate, you could say, the ease of repurposing content from Pacific, which was green, to you could say, Botswana, which was green and yellow. We used reused some of the green content with the Pacific content, which was more universal in terms of its relevance. Um next slide, please. Oh, that's it. So, yeah, um that was all I wanted to share was with how where the content came from. And again, a really important point is the ease as which as from which we repurposed. Ease is relative. It took a lot of time, but we weren't reinventing the wheel. You could say we were creating a new wheel, if you will. Um so, now I'm going to shift to Jacob who is one of the facilitators in the micro-credentials and has been very much involved in this project for pretty much I think 7 years now going back to to 2019-2020. Jacob, over to you. >> Thanks, Kirk. And uh I'll be sharing my experience uh along with um some reflections from my colleague Dr. Medisa as well, who's been serving as a co-facilitator on these uh two micro-credential courses at at uh BYU. So, I'm very excited to be here with all of you um in this um session. So, the there's two micro-credential courses, one entrepreneurship um and civics. And I think it was mentioned earlier. I'll I'll mention just the the logistics of the course and how students will experience the course. So, it's hosted on this platform. Students will sign in. There's a syllabus, there's modules, weekly modules that are released, and students are to be attending to each module each week with a discussion post typically, as well as a quiz or two quizzes in each week, and then also an expectation that they'll be replying to one another um in conversation through the discussion posts with a culminating activity. And students will be assessed at the end based on their total contributions throughout the module in terms of their number of quizzes completed and passed, as well as their discussion posts, their replies, and their final assessment. And so, my role as a facilitator along with Dr. Medisa is to encourage the students along the process uh to ignite conversation and discussion um provide feedback and comments as students go, as well as we decided in this iteration to host synchronous sessions with students virtually, which provided them that opportunity to touch base in a more of a face-to-face personal setting. Although these were not requirements uh of the of the courses, these were voluntary optional additions that we wanted just to offer for students so that they would have some human touch point uh throughout their experience. We also had a separate WhatsApp group that students could use to post questions and concerns. And I would just note that um one of the Well, I'll I'll I'll mention that in a moment. Uh maybe I'll say next slide, Gary. So, in lead-up to the launch of these courses, I had the opportunity to visit Botswana on two separate occasions, most recently in the fall of 2025 where we hosted a workshop with approximately 30 young people across Botswana who came together to share feedback um and ideas around the courses that were previously developed. Um And so, one of the words that really stood out to us and to me in particular was this idea of um poly-lithic. So, youth in Botswana, like youth elsewhere around the world, are not monolithic. They're all different. And so, one of the the pedagogical challenges in terms of coming up with content, not just to adapt it to the Botswana context, but how can you create content that speaks to the diverse lived experiences of youth, um whoever they may be. Just because they live in the same country or the same region or the same neighborhood doesn't mean that they um have the same experiences or have the same needs um or have the same um you know, learning uh opportunities or learning interests. So, really reflecting that idea of diversity and and trying to include as many young people as possible and re- reiterating the importance of our overarching methodology of youth participatory action um research throughout this project, looking at youth leadership, how can we ensure that youth are represented at all stages of this process? And so that's been one of my hats as a token younger person in this group, although I'm I think I've now aged out of the official youth categories, but throughout this process I was in various uh stages of youthhood. And so for me, I've always been I've had a strong eye to make sure that youth are included. And I've recognized varying challenges of doing that, and so I've often tried to relay this to the project team and tried to uh encourage young people to continue through the process um as they encounter various challenges and barriers, especially inter um as we engage an international project of this scope that's that's operating at varying dimensions um and timelines. Okay. Um Oh, and I wanted to reiterate when I um when I did this process in Fiji, one of the things I learned um because I'd never been to Fiji and never never been to the South Pacific, and I was tasked with coming up with content and curriculum and support for students there is I didn't realize how important rugby was. And this is one of those uh cultural contexts, those things that I learned and I learned a lot about um the importance of teamwork and flexibility and adaptability and to trust in one another and keep moving down the keep moving the ball down the field, pass it to each other, and be ready to receive it, and if you get knocked down to keep moving back up. And so I'm going to get you Gary to keep us moving forward. And uh one more maybe one more slide, I think. I had uh speaking to the challenges and opportunities, and I'll just speak to that real quick here. So one of the opportunities clearly, that these virtual online courses allow for is it's geographically accessible. So, anyone, anywhere with a good internet connection and reliable technology can access the program. So, that's really amazing to see the diversity of students who have joined us throughout these courses over the years and then in particular in Botswana here. It's also self-paced. So, students with busy schedules can sign on and work on that at their own time and not be expected to be in a particular place at a particular time. And furthermore, they're short. They're bite-size. So, students don't have to commit to months or years of their careers and their lives invested in, you know, diploma or degree programs. And so, this can now really provide an opportunity for students from many different backgrounds. Which also leads into some of the challenges. So, in these micro-credential courses, we would have anywhere from high school students or students in in um um who have not yet begun their tertiary or post-secondary education. So, these could be 16-year-old, 17-year-old, 18-year-olds. Or we would have students at the master or the graduate levels. And so, sometimes this can present some challenges in terms of how can you have meaningful uh content for a wide range of people from different backgrounds. It's not just different ages, but different um academic backgrounds. So, students coming from varying disciplines coming together in this in these micro-credential courses coming from varying geographies and cultural backgrounds and so on and so forth. So, that can be a bit of a challenge in terms of ensuring everyone is speaking language that people can understand, that's accessible. Another major barrier that is evident is that digital divides persist. So, in Botswana in particular, the cost of internet and access to technology was a recurring theme among participants. So, not having um reliable access to stable internet. So, many students the most common inquiry that students would uh would send to us or or message would be something technology related. So, rarely were they reaching out to me as a co-facilitator to explain any of the content. It was more about, you know, asking for extensions because our internet service was was poor or technology was in service. And so, considering that many students may not have reliable access to laptops or desktop computers, but may also be operating on tablets or phones, which would make it um another design consideration for the kinds of content or expectations and assignments that we would have them perform. And so, that led, of course, to a lower engagement in virtual spaces than you would see in in-person programs. And so, I think having those synchronous opportunities where students could gather to connect, uh we saw really great engagement from students in that in terms of their attendance. And I think um had we offered more of those, I think students would have um been even more engaged throughout the process, although that comes with additional costs and um and other trade-offs in that way. I think um there's other there's other reflections, too, but in the interest of time, I'll leave it there. And I look forward to um to any discussion we have or questions. >> Thanks, Jacob. Um I think I'm I'm cognizant of time. Chantel did give us a warning um or maybe an opening, rather, uh that uh you know, sometimes the the VUSC Voices group um are amenable to going a bit over time. So, um I think we'll indulge that just for a couple of minutes, and then we'll shift to a Q&A. So, just a quick wrap-up. Um and by the way, it's so encouraging to see that we still have pretty much uh everyone that's still here. And one just joined. It was 54, just went up to 55 participants. So really I'm really happy for that. So just in terms of the last slide last few slides here. This is a path forward. This is the the final component before we go to the the open discussion session. So just some lessons learned and so overall the aggregated enrollment across these micro-credentials which have been offered twice not high. I'll be very honest. It's at 58 and that's enrollment not completions. Jacob and Monty are still going through the assessments from the first cohort which ended in May and then the second cohort for both micro-credentials is ending at the end of this month. Now why? Well, I'm going to come to that in a moment. But before I do, Jacob touched on some of the issues that learners faced. There's the connectivity issue. There's the the diversity of participants. And of course and the concept of interpreting deadlines. I think a micro-credential that kind of exists outside of the formal credential framework within Botswana Open University presented this notion of I guess you could say the compliance to requirements was not as well established. But at the same time we recognize as evangelists as I've used before of open and distance learning that we want to be flexible as as possible as flexible as possible for our students. So we have shifted deadlines to accommodate different different students. I think the other the last three points is and this segway this sort of links back to the initial two points is the requirement to socialize micro-credentials. Now what does socialize mean? It means from my perspective how do we present or you could say frankly educate in a way without sounding condescending, but how do we you know raise awareness visibility of micro credentials within a value of a larger credentialing framework. Now, that might be sort of for the the discussion that will follow this presentation. But that is one thing that we encountered was that a lot of people are like, "Well, what is a micro credential?" when Dr. Maba and her team were going out to promote the enrollment to encourage enrollment. At the same time, we have a legitimacy we a feather in our cap so to speak is that the Human Resource Development Council in Botswana gave the sanction to credential allow us to deliver this course under their umbrella. So, it has been a regulated approved course if you will or micro credentials if you will, which I think segues to the final point which I'll come to in a moment. I think the other lessons learned was the ease of OER. Now, I gave a very quick presentation of how we repurposed these courses from UE to the Pacific and then to the Caribbean and then of course back to to to Botswana. And then the other part of course is the the last part of the sustainability of micro credential. Dr. Seletso has already said that they want to offer this again after this project ends which is ending this month that they want to offer this again independently of the COL Lakehead partnership. And that they have the confidence to do that. And the opportunity that we will have in that I'll continue to have a discussion with Bo is that this could be the micro credentials could you could say be considered as equivalency to a course in the Bachelor Social Sciences and Youth Development that you can see there. That's a graph that's a screenshot from the Bo website. It's a bachelor degree program that is yet to be offered, but there is you could see there is some sort of you could say interoperability of a micro credential with a larger credential. The last part and this just came out the other day, was what other value could a micro-credential have? Now, in the youth entrepreneurship micro-credential, we speak a lot about um and Dr. Deering had mentioned this, various um programs that the government offers for youth entrepreneurs. One of them is called a youth development fund. And you have to apply, as you see, this is the guidelines for the application. And one thought that came out was that could this micro-credential be a foundation or a component to someone's application for the youth development fund? So, it's kind of thinking about an innovative way of where micro-credentials might exist outside of the conventional conventional course or uh credit framework. And here's an example of where that could be possible and that's something we'd love to follow up with in due course if it becomes um a reality. So, um I think I'm going to stop there with one last slide. I'm going to skip the summary, Gary. So, just this one last image. So, this is the one of the first um images we showed, which had showed the pathway of 1 2 3. Our arrows have have disappeared, but um from UWI in the Caribbean to Pacific is one and then um then our numbers really got mixed up. Anyway, forget the numbers. Um let's just focus on number four, which wasn't there in the original um image that Gary had showed. And that is where are our micro-credentials going to go next? So, that is an invitation to others to reach out to us or to Shantal Association to inquire about where youth work micro-credentials might be able to um operate and uh have some impact in your corner of the globe. So, I'll stop there. Thank you very much and I'll shift back to um our chair, Dr. Dr. Moore, um to uh to take us to the final stages of the presentation for Q&A. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you so very much team for your presentation, Gary, Kirk, Jacob, Kabelo, Mpho, very rich, very interesting. And I like how you were able to contextualize the process for us, and then you moved into why youth and why micro-credentialing youth workers. I also appreciated the realities on the ground that you shared, which call for this work around youth and um making sure that um you advance youth practices. And finally, with regard to OER and micro-credential, where next? Love that um sequential development of your presentation. In terms of questions, I now open the webinar space for participants to um engage with questions. You can put questions in the chat or just indicate, and you know, just go right ahead and and share your questions and empower the conversation that we want to have. I see one question already in the chat from um Sheila asking, "Should micro-credentials be accredited? And if yes, how do they assist with the process of accreditation for micro-credentials?" Yeah. Who would like to take that one on? >> Uh I'm happy to take it, um but maybe I'll defer to others. I'll hit pause it to see if other other colleagues like to uh to to contribute. Um so, how can they be accredited? Well, in the Botswana context, um it this came from Dr. Dr. Seletso, so maybe Mpho I'll defer to you in a moment, but um it was I'm not sure if it was a requirement or was it an idea that came from Bo? I think it was a requirement from HRDC that Bo as a as a public institution has to have its any of its courses, however small, approved from the governing body. So, that was an application that Dr. Mabu had filled out and that we had contributed to offer a bit more support to fill help fill out the application. And the approval process took I think about eight weeks. I think it was a little bit delayed because it was over the Christmas break. So, that's how that went in Botswana. Now, I can also speak to Canada. Before I go back to just to give a bit of a broader context. In Canada, you don't need approval to offer micro-credential. It's what we It's it's sort of open season on developing credentials, which I think can compromise the legitimacy. If anyone if and I often use the example, if you hit record on this particular webinar, then, you know, Chantal can call that a micro-credential if if you so choose. And that really I think dilutes the value of it compared to a six-week intervention that we're doing at Botswana Open University. So, different country contexts have different regulations. New Zealand is very regulated. Australia is. Here we have Bo that Botswana has also similar regulations, but then you have Canada that that is not. So, it does vary quite a bit, but maybe I'll just defer to Mabu if you want to offer any remarks on the HRDC process before we maybe go to the next question. >> Yes. So, for Botswana, thank you for the question, Sheila. Prof. Mphahlele. For Botswana, we it's a requirement. You know, when when institutions are established, before they can offer any program or any of the programs, they have to be accredited by as education and training institutions or ETPs. So, Botswana Open University is accredited by Botswana Qualifications Authority. But, for the micro-credential, we could not accredit it, but they have to manage the quality of programs that are offered by ETPs in the country. So, it's a requirement that it's a regulatory requirement that short courses, cuz they fall under short courses, they should be um regulated and registered for compliance with the Human Resource Development Committee. And the validation is is is is is is 5 years. I think it stands for 5 years. So, between 2025 and 2029, we can offer um these micro-credentials as and when we we we so need through Botswana Open University. So, it's it's a requirement that they they they registered for regulatory and compliance purposes. Yeah. >> And even some of the work that's being done at COL, thanks a lot, Mabu. COL is very much about tracing the development of micro-credentials across the Commonwealth, because we are aware that the status of micro-credential varies in different jurisdictions, different institutions. And so, we are looking to understand where best practices exist, um how are they doing it, and it's working well in a particular area, and then sharing that information with other spaces. Um within the Caribbean in particular, I would say the ecosystem around micro-credentialing is definitely taking on a cohesive structure, and it is growing up. So, you might have had micro-credentials being the purview of one institution and how they do it, but through the CARICOM umbrella, um the Caribbean is looking to organize for micro-credentials accreditation at not just the institutional level, but certainly at the national level and moving beyond national to regional. And so, it's been done differently in different places. When you look at Mauritius, they are far advanced, you know, as Kirk says. So, it really depends on where in the world you are and to understand the status of micro-credential and then you can plug into that status to see how you can move towards getting your micro-credentials accredited or if they're not yet at that stage, how can you, you know, to know what what the stage is and the process he is. So, thanks for for that question, Sheila. There's another question around how um that that the business of the socialized micro-credentials. Patrick is very curious and interested in learning more about that. You know, if you could briefly talk around it and then see if he should take it further. >> Um Gary, you're the sociologist, but I did use the term socialized the micro-credentials. So, I'll maybe defer to you afterwards. Um but um I've used I've been using that term uh a fair amount because of this um you know, as human beings um you know, when there's ever there's something new, look at artificial intelligence. We need to be socialized to that. And what I mean by socialized is how does that affect our lives? Um what is the value to us? What are the implications of engaging in with this technology or this process? Um so, I think the socialization piece is just like, you know, it's um anything in education requires a fair amount of investment to promote. Now, if we go around the world, everyone sees has been socialized to think that a university degree is the the ticket to um social mobility and prosperity and things like that. And I think by and large that is true, but there are different interpretations that are surfacing all the time. So, in the same vein, how do you socialize a micro-credential to demonstrate the value? And frankly, um how it's going to help an individual um in terms of their own intellectual or professional development. So, that's what I mean by socialize. Um kind of tongue in cheek here to you, Gary, but I think if you want to add anything, um please uh just defer to you on that. >> No, I I I I don't have much to add. I mean, Patrick, it was it's it's a good question. Um and I'm not sure if there would be a a whole session on the socialization of of micro-credentials, but I think, you know, Kirk's point is is salient that uh micro-credentials are new to a lot of people, and because they are evolving and and they're just in their infancy, there there's a lot of conversations about what they are, what the value is, and so on. Um we ran a survey with um a small sample of people in the youth work space in Botswana. And uh one of the questions was um uh about their likely uptake uh and engagement with these youth work courses, the these youth work micro-credentials. And if they weren't um signing up, one of the reasons we offered for them in the in the survey was because they didn't hadn't heard of a micro-credential or they weren't familiar with a micro-credential. W- There was only about a quarter of respondents in a in a small sample that that responded that way, but it does point to the fact that people aren't necessarily aware of the value of micro-credentials, what they are, um how what they can be used for, and it is true that um education in the post-secondary sphere in particular is changing rapidly. Um which creates opportunities for micro-credentials, and and we're seeing them all over the world. Um, so uh, you know, socializing, enculturating people, people just understanding the value of of micro-credentials. I think that's really what we're talking about here. >> Okay, thanks Gary and Kirk. And I wanted to piggyback on that because I I was thinking about, you know, how they higher education landscape has changed and how disenchanted youth are today with regard to the traditional four-year, three-year degree program. And so, in tandem with Patrick's question, are you how do you see it looking in the future, near or medium term, regarding credentialing? Do you think youth are socializing the education space, the micro-credentialing become the route towards, you know, how they learn, how they become qualified, and those kinds of things? What what do you foresee because of the impact of micro-credentialing and the youth driving it? >> Uh, yeah, I might pass this one over to uh, Kabel or or Kirk. >> Thank you, Zachary. And um, thank you so very much for for the question. Um, what the the question I want to to indicate that um, micro-credentials, they are a competency-based rather than only focusing on obtaining a technical skills. And um, the good thing about micro-credentials, they can also be stackable towards formal qualifications and career progression pathways. Therefore, enabling those who are taking them uh that continuous uh develop their knowledge and their their professional identity. And eventually, even if one could not Oh, my screen is not working. Um honestly, even if one could not enroll into a formal um degree qualification, uh with uh micro-credentials over time, one can progress to do a a formal qualification like a diploma and a bachelor's degree and and and so forth. Because um it takes into account um that um it is competence-based uh more than anything else. So, which is very very important. In other countries, they they they're advanced in that regard. >> So, because it's opening up access, it's very attractive, and um youth are latching on to it. Yeah, and it's something for higher education to think about as possibly the route towards credentialing. And I think many higher education institutions are looking towards that, and possibly it's a trajectory at BYU. Possibly. All right, great. Um there's another question around um from Tanzania saying that um they've actually started micro-credentialing there under a IPO essay program, but they have seen here where they need some guidance. So, if you had to provide like a checklist 1 2 3 4 5 about how to get micro-credential institutionalized in an in an institution, what what would you advise to make that happen? >> Uh I can start, and I'll maybe differ to others. Um so uh so I I just I Googled that. So that's the international program of out of school adolescents, I believe. Um and so the focus is um naturally to to support youth. So I think it's like what is I think for my side, and this is also how I look at course development, is to what I call reverse engineer the course. So we didn't necessarily do that [clears throat] perfectly in this micro-credential, but I think what I mean by that is what do we want students to learn? Um so in the case of youth entrepreneurship, we want youth workers to have a a toolbox, if you will, of how they can support youth, directing them to the youth development fund, which I mentioned, or every other different programs Dr. Deera had mentioned that exist in Botswana. Um and how do you support students to develop a business plan and these kinds of things. So from that perspective, then how do you decon- struct that micro-credential to reach those learning outcomes? Um so I think regardless of and this is whether it's youth work or whether this is a chemistry course or a construction course or a mathematics course is like what is the end product and how do you reverse engineer that? So in other words, this is also known as constructive alignment, where the assessment drives the development of the content. Um so I think in terms of starting with micro-credential, and that also speaks to what you said, Dr. Deera, is that notion of competencies. Micro-credentials don't serve people well if the the product is a a multiple-choice quiz of 30 questions. In our micro-credentials, students are developing a tangible document. In entrepreneurship, they're developing a business plan. That is something tangible that they can take away to perhaps develop their own business, right? Become an own entrepreneur. Um so that is something that [clears throat] is tangible, that is competency-based, um is how I would conceptualize the microcredentials. In terms of other guidance, I'm not sure contextualize contextualize contextualize, but other than that, that would be my input. Cabo, I'm not sure if you want to speak to anything else or if anyone else would like to add any anything to what I've offered. >> Okay, um probably I'd want to extend the question and also your response, Kirk. There's that saying, "Nothing about us without us." And so, as the team worked at contextualizing the microcredential courses for Botswana Open University and you know, Southern Africa in general, I wondered if, you know, how important would it have been and maybe even to think about it in designing for the next cohort to have brought in the voices of youth themselves in the design process of the microcredentialing courses. Do you think that would that would add value to it? I know they take away something tangible tangible to represent the competencies that they have gained, but the designing of the course or courses, how instrumental were the youth in that process and how important is that as you move forward with designing future microcredential courses? >> That's a question for Jacob. Jacob, I'm throwing you out there to talk about the Mbali Studios, all the other stuff that you've done with farms, etc. So, please. >> Yeah, great question, Chantel. Um and I'm I'm also looking in the chat, too, and I see a comment here from Paula, which is looking at um you know, the rapid advancement, widespread adoption of AI, particularly among young people. And it's not just AI, but it's other like digital communication technologies, social media, and other ways that young people live our lives online is much different than older previous generations. And so the just the idea of, you know, these static these are relatively static platforms that we're engaging in in terms of the the actual modules and how they're structured and whereas young people are not don't live their lives on platforms like that. I mean, we live in much more dynamic, fast-paced, interactive platforms where we collaborate and we learn and we create things. And so, I think if we were to, you know, give the reins over so to speak to young people in a much more um significant way than we it would be difficult to reconcile the institutional needs in terms of, you know, these structured programs, expectations, accreditations, government approvals, funding, all these things um with the needs of young people and their interests. Uh it would be very interesting. I would I would be very curious to see what kind of course or program they would come up with in terms of educating themselves and each other about youth work and how that might look different than what we've come up with. Um we've consulted them largely in the content but not so much in the structure of the the course and how it's delivered and how, you know, one participates in it. And so, those are that's a really great question and I'm would love to know more. >> It sounds like something to explore. Yes, Jacob. >> Anyone thought of what Jacob has just said? And once you you engage young people uh they develop a sense of ownership and are more likely to participate. So, and you'll realize that now training becomes more responsive and will deal with the real uh uh world uh challenges faced by by by you. I'm speaking in in reference to micro credentials in in youth with work. >> Okay. >> Because they came here they we gathered young people and we got their views. We do not want to impose what we wanted to do. So they were there to to guide us in the in the entire process. >> Okay. Thanks. All right. Um Tabo is asking if you know if it's really so that micro credentials are non-credit bearing and our response could be that they can be credit bearing, they can be non-credit bearing. It really just depends on the institution and the context you know that that micro credential is operating within. So check the institution and see how they want to move forward. All right. And another question around um the youth empowerment is undoubtedly Paula says that youth empowerment is undoubtedly a critical area of focus. However, given the rapid advancement and widespread adoption of AI particularly among young people, she's interested in whether consideration has been given to integrating AI focused micro credential and opportunities into the initiative. So a response to that as you move forward in what's next. Um Kirk, you might want to take this one. >> That question? Mhm. >> Um well, I'll be very honest. I used AI to develop the course micro credentials. Um so I use Claude AI as a as a um as a support to uh help structure various segments of the content. Um I am not a Motswana or someone that is from Botswana um and yet I was the course designer. So what I did was I designed the course, but then I relied on Dr. Cabo, I relied on Dr. Silexo to check what I had put together. Um sometimes you'll see various terms uh Setswana terms, which is the local language in Botswana, um that are integrated in the course. I do not speak Setswana but beyond maybe five or six words. Um so that was very much relied on Dr. Maba and Dr. Cabo to to verify or to vet and to uh to strengthen the the course content. Um so that was where the AI came in. I'm not sure if I'm really focused in I'm interested in whether consideration has been given to integrating AI focused micro credentials. So that's what I did. Um so that was but AI focused Sorry, something on it not using AI but AI focused micro credentials. Um Jacob, you got your hand up so I'm going to defer to you and I know Cole has been very much involved in that as well. So um I'm not sure if my answer was is is helpful but uh defer to my my colleagues. >> Yeah, I'll I'll add something quick, too, but go ahead, Jacob. >> Yeah, I would just say from kind of the facilitator perspective, I think there's opportunities there for streamlining some of the back end in the the facilitation of the courses that could help speed it up and make it easier to engage a larger numbers of people but also a a word of caution that and I don't have any proof, but you know, having engaged with a lot of students and a lot of people over time, then not only would we potentially be developing these courses using AI, maybe they would be AI focused courses developed by AI and students would be using AI to answer them. And so what what role does the human play in this um is one that we need to think critically about and I I don't have proof, but I I I have some suspicions that some students may be using AI to generate content or responses. And so that's another area that we need to think deeply about how to how to respond to that or how to design the courses in such a way as to minimize the the desire or the the for students to do that. Um Yeah, I'll just leave it at that. Go for Gary. >> Yeah, I mean just another take on this question uh in the way I'm interpreting this question is just about a micro-credential on the topic of AI. And um just to look at the broader context, one thing that's been exciting about this project is is different um different nations are engaging uh with different topics around youth and in different small states. And so the kinds of topics that we saw coming from the South Pacific and Fiji in in particular versus the topics from Botswana from Botswana, the topics from Bahamas, um there were various niches and we found we've done some work with our our colleagues and partners in Malta, another small state of the Commonwealth, and there's a lot of activity in Malta right now around digital technologies, um media and AI in particular. And so we've run some great uh feedback sessions with young people there both virtually and in person. Jacob recently did one in person a couple of years ago I worked with young people in Malta around this topic as well, around AI, and there's a lot of sort of knowledge and discussion amongst young people. So we actually do have some um draft content to be able to develop some um modules in these these areas. Um but for one it's draft and two it's such a rapidly progressing field that um it it's shifting very very quickly. So it it's the kind of thing we would want to come back to um to to delve into, but you know, I it's a great point like this is one of the central concerns of youth and young people as it relates to so many things. Um you know, future employment, uh environmental uh and climate concerns, um and just the foundation of knowledge in general. >> Okay. Thank you so much. And Vivian [snorts] has made two contributions in the chat. First to, you know, reaffirm that the definition of youth has expanded now, um, moving from 18 to 35 years to actually 15 to 35 years based on the recent national youth policy, um, in Botswana. And then he also mentioned that it's really a great initiative to focus on youth workers given the limited number of youth workers. And so it's a it's a move in the right direction and foreign youth workers and how they organize the government is responding to to this, um, work here. Thank you so much, Vivian. And just to wrap up, uh, last comment, it says, "I heard one of the presenters mention micro-credential courses in engineering and mathematics. I was wondering how these courses were facilitated, particularly if they were delivered online." Would be interested in knowing what kinds of tools, technologies, teaching strategies that could be used to support the technical and practical components of such micro-credential courses. Yeah. A response? Anyone? >> I don't know. I I'm not sure I mentioned engineering or math. Did anyone else? Maybe, uh, um, Well, I'll I'll offer a quick response. >> I I I did not say that. I don't know. I'm not familiar with any micro-credentials in engineering. Um, mathematics, I think Shantal, I'll come back to you because I know you're developing some stuff in that space. Um, when I worked at Coal, I developed, um, what I call micro-credentials 1.0, which were MOOCs. Um, I developed a few MOOCs on numeracy for University of South Pacific in Fiji. Um, so those were short courses to upskill, um, Um, various people that had, you could say, challenges that were not sort of mathematicians, if you will, that needed upskilling mathematics. Um, that was before the idea of micro-credentials came about. Now, mathematics can be facilitated just like any other course. I think the question is around tools and if there's teaching strategy for the practical components of the courses. Micro-credentials are short-term, focused concepts of learning. So, I think that those kind of tangible, if you're if I'm if I'm inferring correctly, around the practical or frankly the hands-on kind of activities that an engineering kind of program would require, that would be I think beyond the scope of a micro-credential, at least from how I interpret them. Um, I think it would be more for desk-type of learning. That's where I think micro-credentials are best suited. Um, for anyone else if they want to speak to to their own experiences. >> Yeah. Thanks, Burke. I'm thinking that micro-credential can span um, theoretical or practical courses. It really just depends on the purpose and the intention behind the creation of that micro-credential. As I think about the work we're doing in the Caribbean with math teachers, we are building their capacity, um, supporting professional development, getting math teachers in the classrooms to be more confident to explore using OER and gender-based learning strategies in their math classrooms to make math teaching more engaging for students. And so, that is developed in a blended way where they have a face-to-face engagement in workshop. And then, following the workshop, they work online in a Moodle space and engage with OER resources. And then, we also have a community of practice where they meet and talk about some of their everyday experiences and challenges within the math classroom. And then, that leads now into the micro credential being awarded at the end. So, it's what you decide you want as that mix and structure for your micro credentials based on the output and you know, what is approved by your institution and so on. I I I would say a micro credential can go in any direction as long as it is building capacity of of a person and um you know, there that competence is being demonstrated. That's what you're rewarding um the micro credential certification for acknowledgement of of competence and so I I don't really see a restriction. It's about how you build it and what is accepted by the institution. Yeah. Anyone else? Yes, Cabo. >> Okay. Okay, chair. Um there's a a question from from Scott on RNQ. Can micro credentials be linked or aligned with a national competency certificate as such as those issued by the Philippines and um and Canada. Um in our context, um I would say the the answer is yes. Uh I remember uh I talked uh I mentioned that they are aligned with our uh certificate programs that we have and bachelor's degree program. So, in short, micro credentials can create pathway for one to end up obtaining um that uh uh a credit certificate. So, I'm not sure about about the context in Canada because uh it's specific to to Canada and Philippines. I don't know if Gary and Kega are able to see the other question. And also from Nok Nokade. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you so very much. All right. So, we want to bring this webinar to a close and we I want to first and foremost thank our team of presenters. very interesting, rich, engaging, informative presentation today and we appreciate it certainly. And we are looking forward to seeing what's next that will come out of this partnership between Lakehead University and Botswana Open University and how the Commonwealth of Learning might be able to support that work. At the end of the presentation, Kirk also in showing the map and this number four asked where next will micro credential go within the Commonwealth. So So that's an open invitation to institutions who might be represented here today to, you know, indicate your interests, give us let us know and we can see if, you know, we can support that development and roll out of micro credential within your respective context. So just want to say thanks again to the team and moreover, I want to show my appreciation to all the stakeholders who registered and joined the session today. You more or less stayed with us from the start to the end and we are thankful that we have representation from at least 15 countries, um Jamaica, South Africa, Tanzania, the Bahamas, Namibia, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Seychelles, Samoa, St. Kitts and Nevis, Zimbabwe, Guyana, Kenya and Canada. If I have omitted any country, just go ahead and type it in the chat, but we just want to say thank you so very much for representing yourself, representing your institution and your country. It's always a pleasure knowing that we, um have quite a number of um persons from the across the world and the Commonwealth in particular joining us for these sessions. And we also have Kiribati and Mauritius present. Hooray! If thanks. All right. So the and gentlemen, before you go and um just want to show some some love to our presenters. So, if you want to go ahead and just type within the chat space how you felt about today or if you can do the reactions, it would be great. All right. And um while you're doing that, we just want to give one last moment to our presenters to also tell us about, you know, anything they want to share before we close out. So, over to you guys. Want to do it in the order in which you presented, so starting with you, Kirk, and then moving through. Yeah. >> Yeah, I feel I've spoken enough, but it was a pleasure and wonderful to see there was that much more many more countries represented. Kiribati, Mauritius, Namibia, Trinidad, etc., etc. And that everyone stayed on. It was amazing to see. We had I think we fluctuated only from like 49 to 58 or something, and 49 are still on, so that's amazing. So, I think that's a credit to you, Shontel, and I think the the value of VUSC. People are asking about sharing slides. That's my final point. >> Okay, sure. Go ahead. >> Yeah, thank you very much, everybody, for attending today. We realize that's a period of time out of the day for many of you after work, and so appreciate you taking the time to join us. And just to say that we would love to stay in touch, so please please reach out through our contact information, and to keep in touch, we can keep this dialogue going and explore potential collaborations and partnerships in the future. Finally, thank you very much, Dr. Moore, for leading us through this and facilitating the session. >> Uh thank you so much. You have been such a wonderful audience. And I would like to say I'm I'm relentless in empowering young people and encouraging them to believe in their their abilities. So, uh uh those uh young people who haven't done well at school, I encourage them to uh do the micro-credentials so that they can eventually progress into uh higher qualifications. And um also micro-credentials are not only meant for young people, even professionals. You might be a professional in a certain discipline, and then you end up doing micro-credentials just to increase your your competence and skill in in a certain discipline. Thank you so much. >> And from me, colleagues, thanks so much for having us. Thanks so much for making time for us. And for those from the SADC region, let's remain in touch. I see Prof. Mphahele is al- already making a move that this team should assist them at UNISA. So, we are at your disposal, and uh I want to say Dr. Chantal Mou is is here for all of us. So, we just submit pro- proposals like she has just um extended that invitation to us. Let's handhold each other in the region, and let's be game-changers. Um I always say to other colleagues that we have all we need in Southern Africa as a region. So, together we can make it. As a collective, we can move forward. So, thank you, colleagues, and good night from Botswana. Have a good day from Canada. Thank you, Chantal. >> You're welcome, Jacob. >> I want to say thanks everyone for joining us in all your engagement, and check in with the young people in your lives, and uh hear what they have to say. >> That's the young farmer speaking. >> Agreed. >> Agreed. Um thank you. Thank you. A huge thank you to you, all valued stakeholders, for supporting these bi-monthly webinar sessions from VOSC, um from CALL, and we will go on uh 2-months break as persons move off into their summer to decompress, relax, and so on, and we want you to enjoy that fully. But, please note that we will return in September 2026, and we will continue with our bus voices to hear what's happening around the small states to empower other small states to know that they too can build capacity, can grow, can develop from the experiences of others and have the same experience if they so choose to do so. So, thank you everyone. Have a great rest of morning, afternoon, evening, night, as it may be. Bye. Goodbye. >> [music]