https://www.mhc.ab.ca/NewsandEvents/Stories/2021/December/MHPS-PatrolSupervisorMicro-credential
In early December, the team and I had the great fortune to work with the Medicine Hat Police Service on MHC’s first micro-credential, a Patrol Supervisor.
The micro-credential emerged because an important element of Medicine Hat Police Service’s (MHPS) Strategic Business Plan 2019-2022 is developing a Patrol Supervisor’s Course that will provide the opportunity for constables interested in acting as a sergeants. The 35-hour learning opportunity was offered in a blended learning format consisting of 14-hours of online training that delivered core course content (such as policies and procedures), complemented by 21-hours of in-person training that maximized interactivity and application of content to real-life police situations (such as high-speed pursuits).
MHPS employs a competency-based management (CBM) approach that focuses on the competencies – the skills, knowledge, or attributes – of successful performance. The focus on CBM matches both the essence of microcredentials and the goal of the Patrol Supervisor Course. The Alberta Microcredential Framework defines a micro-credential as a credential awarded upon the successful completion of an assessment of a particular skill or competency, or cluster of skills and competencies, associated with specific and focused training, and are designed to be beneficial in obtaining employment or meeting on-the-job requirements. But is it really a micro-credential?
The story linked to above details more about the course, but in this short piece, I want to reflect on the growing confusion of what a micro-credential is (and isn’t), and this growing confusion is in my own head. I used to think I knew what a micro-credential is, but I’m not so sure anymore.
Recently eCampus Ontario released Micro-credential Principles and Framework, and the MHPS Patrol Supervisor checks a lot of the boxes. It’s issued by MHC, in collaboration with MHPS, and the competency outcomes are aligned to the competencies of patrol supervisors. It’s transcriptable and endorsed by a partner. But if it falls down anywhere, it is in the Summative Assessment of the micro-credential, which is one of the defining characteristics of the micro-credential - assessment and evidence of learning. Micro-credentials require evidence of achievement of outcomes.
One module within the Patrol Supervisor course is a review of the Moncton shootings. This haunting documentary shows numerous occasions when a patrol supervisor could have made a different decision (such as setting up a containment grid or getting wounded officers to the hospital). By debriefing episodes such as Moncton and asking “What if?” or “What other options were available?” there is hope that if these officers found themselves in similarly chaotic situations, they would make better decisions. There is no way to acquire evidence of the impact of this training. The ultimate hoped-for outcome of the training is that, in the heat of the moment, patrol leaders will make good or better decisions.
In short, the decision-making competency of the patrol supervisor will only be verified in an incident we pray never happens.