Non-credit learning is emerging as a powerful driver of access, mobility and workforce readiness in higher education. By embedding rigor, technology and intentional design, institutions are transforming microcredentials and certificates into launchpads that seamlessly connect professional learning with academic progression. In this interview, Zoe MacLeod discusses how to intentionally align non-credit learning, especially microcredentials, with credit programs to build learner confidence and how technology, through digital credentials and integrated records, makes those achievements visible and portable across systems.
The EvoLLLution (Evo): How are non-credit learning experiences being strategically designed to serve as on-ramps to credit-bearing programs, especially for learners who don’t see themselves following a traditional academic pathway?
Zoe MacLeod (ZM): We’re at a turning point. For too long, higher education has been framed as either short and skills-based or long and academic. Our learners don’t live in those binaries, and neither should we. While microcredentials have become the buzzword, continuing studies units have delivered these types of programs for decades. At Royal Roads, we’re designing microcredentials as bold on-ramps—programs that build not just skills but also confidence, belonging and readiness to thrive in credit-bearing environments.
What’s new is our intentional alignment. They’re shorter, flexible, highly applied and mapped directly to credit-bearing equivalents, so learners can carry achievements forward. In British Columbia, microcredentials must be industry-aligned, competency-based and assessed. That rigor allows us to create pathways where a learner’s work in a non-credit space counts if they move on to a higher credential. We’ve built integrated assessment pathways, so professional learning doesn’t just sit beside academic credit but connects directly into it.
Evo: What innovations are you seeing in the way of CE in bridging workforce line credentials with formal degrees?
ZM: The real innovation is in redefining the relationship between employers and universities. We no longer see it as a choice between workforce training and academic study. We’re designing ecosystems where they reinforce one another.
At Royal Roads, we’ve pioneered ways to map microcredentials and professional certificates into credit programs while responding to real workforce needs. For example, when we cocreate an executive leadership certificate with an organization, we tailor it to their specific skills gaps. Graduates then bring those achievements forward. We don’t ask them to redo work when they step into a degree.
Through recognition of prior learning and articulation agreements, we’re turning employer-designed training into launchpads for academic progression. It’s about building seamless bridges, so professional education isn’t a detour but a true stepping stone into higher education.
Evo: How are institutions addressing systemic and structural barriers that often prevent adult learners or underserved populations from transitioning from non-credit into credit programs?
ZM: The most entrenched barrier is cultural—the bias that treats non-credit as less than. We’re calling that out directly. At RRU, academic integrity, pedagogy and learning outcomes are non-negotiable whether in a one-day workshop or a graduate program.
We’re also dismantling practical barriers: cost, recognition of prior learning, scheduling. Modular design, flexible assessment and transparent pathways are part of that solution. Technology is another major friction point as systems don’t always integrate non-credit with credit. We’re investing in Modern Campus solutions and other digital tools to build those bridges, though it takes persistence and committed resources.
Just as importantly, we’re rethinking where and how learning happens. For example, we co-create programs with Indigenous communities, embedding education directly in their contexts. That work pushes us to reduce both visible and invisible barriers, showing that rigor and accessibility are not opposites but essential partners.
Evo: What role does technology play in enabling a seamless learner journey between non-credit and credit-bearing education, especially with various learning modalities and learner backgrounds.
ZM: Technology is both the challenge and the opportunity. The promise has always been that new tools would make things easier, but they can actually deepen silos if we don’t intentionally integrate them. Too often, learner achievements vanish because systems don’t talk to each other.
That’s why we’re moving boldly toward integrated learner records and digital credentials. When done right, technology transforms invisible learning into visible, portable value for both students and employers. Digital badging is one example, initially questioned and now increasingly recognized as currency in the workforce.
The hardest part is backend integration and working to connect systems seamlessly across modalities, learner profiles and institutional boundaries. When we get it right, we unlock transparent, learner-driven pathways. Technology then becomes an enabler of mobility and empowerment, not another obstacle.
Evo: How is the value of non-credit learning evolving the broader higher ed landscape, and what implications does this have for the learner mobility, recognition of prior learning and credential transparency?
ZM: Non-credit learning is no longer an add-on or a side door. It’s the front door and, in many ways, the research and innovation lab for the future of higher education. These programs strategically enable access, mobility and workforce readiness. A powerful experience in a microcredential or certificate can spark confidence and loyalty, inspiring someone to continue their academic journey.
Transparency is also accelerating. Tools like MyCreds, competency frameworks and integrated records are making learning portable and visible. At Royal Roads, being outcomes-based from the start makes aligning competencies with credit seamless. We’re also exploring Modern Campus and MyCreds integrations to take this work further.
And what’s particularly exciting in British Columbia is that microcredentials are beginning to count for credit in the provincial transfer system. That’s a game changer as it creates a fluid ecosystem where learners can move between work and study without losing momentum. That’s not just an incremental shift. It’s a redefinition of what higher education can look like.
Evo: Is there anything you’d like to add?
ZM: Like any transformation, this is a change management process. When we started in 2017, we literally went door to door with faculty teams, explaining what we were building and why it mattered. That built trust and understanding and a community of champions.
Now, that early work has grown into a movement. We’re not just creating pathways. We’re reimagining the purpose of higher education itself: to be bold, accessible, rigorous and deeply connected to learner and societal needs. The impact we’re seeing today is powerful, and the potential ahead is limitless.
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