{"id":12855,"date":"2026-01-05T15:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/?p=12855"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:20:28","slug":"arizona-state-university-redefining-education-lifelong-learning-microcredentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/engineering-the-future-workforce\/arizona-state-university-redefining-education-lifelong-learning-microcredentials\/","title":{"rendered":"How Arizona State University\u00a0is redefining education and lifelong learning through\u00a0microcredentials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In fields like AI,&nbsp;microelectronics&nbsp;and&nbsp;digital manufacturing, the distance between what the workforce knows and what industry needs is widening at an alarming pace.&nbsp;According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/stories\/2025\/01\/future-of-jobs-report-2025-jobs-of-the-future-and-the-skills-you-need-to-get-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Economic Forum<\/a>,&nbsp;nearly 40 percent&nbsp;of workers\u2019 core skills will change dramatically or become obsolete by 2030, underlining&nbsp;that lifelong learning is now an urgent imperative.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how can educational institutions and businesses alike work to&nbsp;build learning infrastructure that stays abreast of these rapid paradigm shifts?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On this episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/engineering-the-future-workforce\/\">Engineering the Future Workforce<\/a>,&nbsp;we sat down with Octavio Heredia, Director of Global Outreach and Extended Education at Arizona State University&#8217;s&nbsp;(ASU)&nbsp;Fulton Schools of Engineering. With&nbsp;nearly 23&nbsp;years at ASU, Heredia leads initiatives connecting industry,&nbsp;academia&nbsp;and&nbsp;learners worldwide, focusing on high-demand fields like microelectronics and AI. His work designing scalable, industry-aligned pathways makes him uniquely positioned to address how universities can bridge the gap between what they teach and what industry needs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Heredia and ASU, stackable&nbsp;microcredentials&nbsp;are&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;as an essential tool for closing the&nbsp;talent&nbsp;gap at the speed of industrial change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Listen on Spotify<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe data-testid=\"embed-iframe\" style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1yMnV1kuG3hYIp9bk9psMB?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Listen on Apple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\"  style=\"width:100%;overflow:hidden;border-radius:10px;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/strengthening-global-talent-pipelines-through-microcredentials\/id1484004628?i=1000741852535\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Delivering targeted, customized learning experiences where&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;needed most in industry with&nbsp;microcredentials<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest challenge in addressing the engineering skills gap&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;finding or&nbsp;establishing&nbsp;the requisite knowledge but making it more accessible to working engineers and other lifelong learners.&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;where&nbsp;microcredentials&nbsp;offer a powerful,&nbsp;dynamic&nbsp;complement to traditional engineering degrees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heredia shared a compelling example of how&nbsp;this&nbsp;new&nbsp;modality&nbsp;works in practice. ASU recently partnered with a global semiconductor company that needed to upskill 60 engineers across three global sites in semiconductor device physics&nbsp;on an accelerated&nbsp;time frame.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We were able to find relevant content and expertise from different courses, pull them out&nbsp;and&nbsp;organize them into a new structure and quickly deliver that particular content,&#8221; Heredia said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using a stackable&nbsp;microcredential&nbsp;framework, ASU delivered targeted training in weeks instead of years. Engineers gained&nbsp;immediately&nbsp;applicable&nbsp;skills,&nbsp;the company met urgent business&nbsp;outcomes&nbsp;and&nbsp;learners earned verified credentials at each milestone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What was different about it was using our&nbsp;microcredential&nbsp;framework to&nbsp;offer&nbsp;a learning experience&nbsp;highly&nbsp;focused on the learning outcomes&nbsp;and&nbsp;highly&nbsp;focused&nbsp;on the skills and competencies that the client wanted.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Heredia,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;important that employers understand that&nbsp;microcredentials&nbsp;verify that \u201cit\u2019s not just new knowledge, but it\u2019s new knowledge put into practice.\u201d&nbsp;He\u2019s&nbsp;not alone: according to Coursera, 94% of&nbsp;human resources&nbsp;and talent leaders want credentials to include endorsements, but only 31% of issuers at present include them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Siemens&nbsp;now offers two ABET-recognized credentials. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sw.siemens.com\/en-US\/academic\/expedite-microcredential\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Expedite &#8211; Skills for Industry<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/specializations\/applied-sustainability-technical-managers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Design for the Circular Economy<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Empowering&nbsp;learners to&nbsp;tell&nbsp;their&nbsp;own&nbsp;story<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most compelling aspects of our conversation&nbsp;centered&nbsp;on&nbsp;learning and&nbsp;employment&nbsp;records and how they&nbsp;allow&nbsp;students and professionals to&nbsp;showcase&nbsp;the full range of&nbsp;their capabilities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traditional transcripts tell a linear story: courses taken, grades&nbsp;earned&nbsp;and a&nbsp;degree conferred. Learning and employment records&nbsp;offer a richer&nbsp;story, aggregating formal degrees,&nbsp;microcredentials, project work, certifications and verified skills into a single, portable record that&nbsp;learners&nbsp;control.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heredia articulated the vision:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;How do we provide learners with the mechanisms for them to bring all of their learning into one place and really can empower them to now be able to tell their own story of their achievements and their own journey?&nbsp;We\u2019d&nbsp;like to help them&nbsp;showcase&nbsp;that they know the technologies and the tools and that they offer a rich background of knowledge and skills from their different experiences. And&nbsp;we\u2019d&nbsp;like to do it in a way that allows them to tell their own story of how&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;the best candidate for that job.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For employees, this means career mobility. For employers,&nbsp;it allows for greater&nbsp;visibility into workforce capabilities, allowing talent leaders to&nbsp;identify&nbsp;individuals with specific, verified competencies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Building not just engineers, but \u201cmaster learners\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the&nbsp;most transformative aspect of this new infrastructure is its emphasis on mindset over credentials alone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heredia shared ASU President Michael Crow&#8217;s vision: &#8220;President Crow has really brought this vision of,&nbsp;&#8216;We&#8217;re not creating engineers,&nbsp;we&#8217;re&nbsp;not creating lawyers,&nbsp;we&#8217;re&nbsp;not creating marketing graduates. We are creating master&nbsp;learners.&#8217;&nbsp;We want our students to build&nbsp;the habits,&nbsp;the knowledge&nbsp;and&nbsp;the experiences&nbsp;that&nbsp;allow them&nbsp;to learn and&nbsp;achieve anything they want.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By creating transdisciplinary learning experiences and stackable pathways that meet learners where they are, institutions can shift from credentialing endpoints to enabling continuous growth. A mechanical engineer can add AI&nbsp;expertise&nbsp;through&nbsp;microcredentials.&nbsp;Similarly, a&nbsp;mid-career professional could&nbsp;pivot into&nbsp;a new discipline&nbsp;without&nbsp;starting from scratch. Learning becomes personalized,&nbsp;verified&nbsp;and continuous.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Solving the engineering skills gap requires new infrastructure&nbsp;and learning modalities: agile credentialing systems, deep industry-academia&nbsp;partnerships&nbsp;and learner-centric records that capture the full&nbsp;arc&nbsp;of professional growth. The institutions and companies building this infrastructure today are architecting the future of work.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Want to hear more from Octavio Heredia about ASU&#8217;s approach to&nbsp;microcredentials, global partnerships and the future of lifelong learning? Listen to the full conversation on Engineering the Future Workforce.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Watch on YouTube<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Strengthening Global Talent Pipelines Through Microcredentials and Collaboration\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qbu5FUxiQxg?list=PL1m1vu8_quoBAlwJlG2-yPlb4mMeSytJ7\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stackable\u00a0microcredentials\u00a0are\u00a0emerging\u00a0as an essential tool for closing the\u00a0talent\u00a0gap at the speed of industrial change.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103577,"featured_media":12861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1026,1113,976,1114,979],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[1024],"class_list":["post-12855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering-the-future-workforce","tag-futureworkforce","tag-microcredentials","tag-reskilling","tag-skillstraining","tag-upskilling"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/01\/SIEMIND-Banner-1920x1080-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103577"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12855"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12866,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855\/revisions\/12866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}