Micro-credentials
SEAS Tinkering Exploration
Explore tools and applications often found in industry or academia. Your effort and curiosity translate to digital badges that represent your skills learned along the way.
These skills will provide a foundation to later dive deeper and expand your knowledge in the many tools and applications.
Who is Eligible?
This micro-credential program is designed for UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) undergraduate students. However, UB students from other disciplines are welcome to participate in the program.
Interested students must:
- Register to enroll in the badge.
- Have access to the D.R.E.A.M. Course offered in UB Learns. (non-SEAS undergraduate students will be manually enrolled after registering for the badge)
Benefits to Students
- Gain foundational skills in a variety of applications and tools that may be applicable to future endeavors
- Earn a badge that showcases your desire to explore new tools and learning opportunities to employers, colleagues, and peers.
- Clubs/organizations can leverage this badge to prepare members in foundational topics before taking on more advanced tasks in a project or competition. Faculty could leverage the modules to teach an initial skill or to complement instruction
Skills Learned
- Technology
- Career and Self-development
Credit Options: Non-credit-bearing
Time to Completion: 1 Semester
Instruction Method: Hybrid
Requirements
To receive a SEAS Tinkering Exploration badge, students must complete the following:
- Attend a Tinkering Exploration workshop and create a plan that identifies future workshops or modules to be pursued.
- Attend and participate in five (5) Tinkering Exploration workshops (or complete the modules self-paced online) from at least three (3) different Tinkering content areas:
- Arduino
- Reverse Engineering
- Fusion 360
- Solidworks
- 3D Printing
- Electronics
- Others are added regularly and may include Soldering, MultiSIM, MatLAB, CNC Milling, etc.
- Complete all activities and deliverables associated with the self-led modules or workshops, and upload relevant artifacts (photo of item, code graphic, etc.) to your portfolio.
- Create a portfolio (Microsoft Sway is recommended) and score at least six (6) points on the rubric. Here is a simple example portfolio to demonstrate. The portfolio should include the following:
- Tinkering Exploration Plan – created in the first workshop
- Artifacts from each module/workshop
- Representative resume entry
- Reflection summary
- Exploring a sampling of Tinkering topics can be a positive way to develop interest in an available tool or skillset. Reflect on why you chose your selected topics. For each topic (3) you selected, how would you describe what you accomplished/learned?
- What went well in your learning process?
- What was challenging about the skill or topic or learning process?
- Would you be interested in learning more about any of these topics?
Upon completion of the program, students will be awarded a digital badge issued through Credly. Credly is a platform for creating, issuing and managing digital badges. If you have questions about using Credly please contact the Office of Micro-Credentials.
How to Enroll
Interested students can register for the micro-credential below. If you have any questions, please contact the program coordinator:
Mindy Somerville
seas-exl@buffalo.edu
To learn more about micro-credentials and digital badges please visit buffalo.edu/micro-credentials