Today, microcredentials are most popularly offered by microcredential/educational providers, such as Coursera, edX, Udacity, Khan Academy, eCampus Ontario, and more. The various providers offer learners and employees a large number of courses and programs, which are used globally by individuals.

While many employers use these providers to offer their employees microcredentials, some organizations and institutions opt to develop their own microcredentials, internally. For example, local providers include:

• University of Western Ontario

• Ryerson University

• Ontario College of Art and Design

• McMaster University

• Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

While this process is newer than using a third party, internally developing microcredential offerings afford companies to target high-demand, specialized, company-specific skills they look for in prospective employees and look to instill for development of current employees. This is an area that while new, is growing and is highly valuable.

Though this route has merit, some companies are not equipped to develop their own microcredentials (at first!). However, this can be assisted by using a partnership to develop such. For example, Ontario Tech University has developed TALENT: a talent development initiative that will assess skill gaps and develop flexible programming, such as creating verifiable microcredentials, that can be branded under a specific company.