Success Stories
From Early Badge Traction to a State-Recognized Skills Program
Northern Michigan University
Turning a credentialing investment into a scalable program that learners can use.
NMU had already done what many institutions do first: invested in a credentialing platform, launched a handful of early badges, and proved the idea could work. But the harder work was activation — making the credentials legible, market-aligned, internally owned, and scalable enough to become a real skills program.
MCM helped supply the missing layer: messaging, market fit, training, and facilitation. Together, that work helped move NMU from scattered early badging activity to a published catalog of 49 credentials across 9 programs, with 230+ distinct skills recognized, 1,000+ badges earned in the flagship Applied Workplace Leadership program, and state-level recognition for NMU’s LER work.
By the Numbers
A robust skills ecosystem, built to scale.
A published program connecting learners, stackable credentials, and the skills employers actually screen for.
Verifiable Credentials Published
Stackable Credential Pathways
Industry-aligned Skills Recognized
Credentials Earned by Learners
Examples of the durable, cross-industry skills NMU credentials help learners make visible.
Featured Program
Applied Workplace Leadership: stackable skills that ladder to a credential.
NMU’s flagship pathway shows the model working at scale. Five stackable course badges build toward a summative Applied Workplace Leadership Certificate — more than 1,000 badges earned and counting, each one signaling skills employers screen for.
Five stackable course badges
LDR 100
Effective Communication in the Workplace
LDR 200
Ethical Leadership in the Workplace
LDR 220
Assessment in the Workplace
LDR 300
Leadership in Diverse Workplaces
LDR 400
Systems Thinking in Workplace Leadership
Summative Credential
Applied Workplace Leadership Certificate
What learners can prove
Each badge carries verified, portable skill signals — communication, ethical leadership, assessment, leading across diverse teams, and systems thinking — that learners can show employers and other recognizers.
What we did together
The work that turned badges into a program.
NMU did not need another platform or another badge. It needed the strategy, positioning, and internal capability to activate the investment it had already made — so the credentials would matter to learners, employers, and the institution.
Messaging
Made the value legible.
Clarified the story of NMU’s credentials so the catalog could be understood as verified skills learners can earn, share, and use — not just badges sitting inside a platform.
Market Fit
Aligned the catalog to real demand.
Focused the program around durable, cross-industry skills employers actually screen for — including communication, critical thinking, leadership, collaboration, diversity, and culture.
Training & Facilitation
Built internal capability.
Helped NMU’s teams move from early experimentation to shared practice, building the confidence and process needed to design, issue, and grow credentials over time.
Scaling
Turned activity into infrastructure.
Supported the move from scattered early badges to a published, repeatable catalog — 49 credentials across 9 programs, with a model NMU can keep extending.
Why it mattered
From a few badges to a recognized program.
The work made skills-based credentialing a durable NMU capability — visible to learners, valuable to employers, owned by the institution, and recognized at the state level.
Recognition
State-level validation for skills learners can take on their lifelong learning journey.
NMU’s skills and learner record work earned two external signals: selection for the inaugural LER Accelerator cohort, followed by a signed letter from the Governor of Michigan.
Office of the Governor of Michigan
“Your work implementing Learning and Employment Records allows students to take full advantage of learning and leadership opportunities, to strengthen their employability outside of the classroom.”
State-level signal
Michigan noticed the work.
The recognition belongs to NMU. MCM’s role was helping mature and scale the credentialing work so it could become visible, usable, and institutionally durable.
Governor’s letter to Northern Michigan University
External validation
Inaugural LER Accelerator cohort
NMU was selected for AACRAO’s inaugural LER Accelerator cohort, recognizing its work implementing Learning and Employment Records.
Learn more at AACRAO →Public-sector relevance
Employability beyond the classroom
The Governor’s letter framed NMU’s LER work around learning, leadership, and employability — the same outcomes institutions are accountable for making visible.
Institutional capability
A program NMU could own
The work moved beyond early badge activity into a published, repeatable skills program that could continue to grow across programs and partners.
Partner Perspective
“[Quote from an NMU stakeholder or Applied Workplace Leadership learner — to be added.]”
[Name, Title, Northern Michigan University]
Approval placeholder
This slot is ready for Brad, an NMU stakeholder, or an Applied Workplace Leadership learner quote before publishing.Deliverable Highlight
A public-facing home for NMU’s skills ecosystem.
Skills Path gave Northern Michigan University a clearer way to present its growing credential catalog — helping learners, employers, and partners understand what each credential represents, how skills connect across programs, and where the experience can lead.
Visit NMU Skills Path
Catalog clarity
Turned a scattered set of badges into a visible, navigable credential experience learners and partners could actually explore.
Skills-forward storytelling
Helped frame credentials around the durable and applied skills they recognize, not just the badge image or title alone.
Institutional credibility
Presented NMU’s work as a real skills program with structure, coherence, and public value — not a disconnected pilot.
Reusable growth model
Created a stronger foundation for future pathways by giving NMU a repeatable way to showcase new credentials as the catalog expands.
Ready to Build What Comes Next?
Move from badge pilots to credentialing infrastructure.
Micro-credential Multiverse helps colleges, systems, and workforce partners design skills-based credentials that are rigorous, scalable, portable, and connected to real opportunity.
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