Wright State offering new microcredential engineering courses

Students and professional engineers can develop new skills to enhance user experiences and quality assurance through one-semester microcredential courses at Wright State University.

Microcredential courses are designed for students or professionals who want to do upskilling or reskilling activities. For instance, microcredentials could appeal to someone who wants to learn new skills to shift the focus of their job and change careers.

The courses — Six Sigma Green Belt and Introduction to User Experience (UX) and Design Thinking— are offered by the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Students who complete the Six Sigma Green Belt microcredential course will receive a green belt certificate while learning how to improve processes by reducing defects and errors, minimizing variation, and increasing quality and efficiency. Six Sigma tools are used in many industries, including manufacturing and health care. Green belt certification is often required for many engineering roles. The course is offered during the Fall Semester.

Introduction to User Experience and Design Thinking will give students a foundation in designing system interfaces, understanding how users experience a product or website, and using tools to design and assess systems. The course is offered during the Spring Semester and is part of the User Experience and Design Thinking Graduate Certificate.

Both graduate microcredentials are three credit hours and can be taken in person or fully online. The courses are also part of Wright State’s Master of Science in Industrial And Human Factors Engineering Program.

Those who complete each course will receive a digital badge.

Wright State is now offering microcredentials to meet demands from students and working professionals who want to receive training for different skills, even if it is complementary to what they are learning in the classroom or what roles they hold in their company, said Subhashini Ganapathy, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering.

“They don’t have to make a big commitment up front, but they can gradually add to their credentialling,” she said.

Ganapathy said Wright State’s microcredentials offer students and professionals a more immersive learning experience led by the university’s highly qualified faculty members.

Microcredentials are stackable and can be completed as part of a sequence of courses that lead to a certificate or a degree.

Wright State plans to introduce additional graduate microcredentials and new undergraduate microcredentials. Topics under consideration include toxicology, remote sensing, geographic information science and Skills Trac, or industrial maintenance training.

The university is also considering alternative delivery options for microcredentials that would allow students to complete a course in a few weeks, at their own pace or on demand.