What Is a Microcredential?
Microcredentials are short-term, focused areas of study designed to provide in-demand skills, know-how, and experience.
These specialized academic programs take months to earn, not years, and are stackable—forming a bridge toward a certificate or full degree.
Buffalo State's high-quality microcredentials offer a flexible way to stay competitive or branch out in today's changing workplace.
Stackable
Microcredentials can be stacked together with other learning experiences to meet the requirements of a certificate, initial, or advanced degree. Take them for credit to build toward a degree over time.
High Quality
Microcredentials are taught by Buffalo State faculty. Students have access to academic support and campus resources. Classes are as relevant, legitimate, and high quality as a full degree.
In-Demand
Gain the skills and knowledge professional employers are looking for! Microcredentials are designed to meet current and emerging market needs and align with relevant industry standards.
Portable
Our high-quality microcredentials are recognized beyond SUNY so your accomplishments travel with you.
Buffalo State Microcredential Offerings
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with knowledge about the adult education field, adult learning theories, and adult education best practices.
Business, educational, and governmental leaders have identified creativity and complex problem solving as crucial twenty-first-century skills.
Leveraging 50 years as a world leader in teaching applied creative-thinking skills, this microcredential provides students with the cognitive and affective skills proven to enhance personal and professional success.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
Creativity and Change Leadership Advanced Certificate
Creativity and Change Leadership, M.S.
A five-course sequence that provides students with core knowledge about individuals with hearing impairments or other disorders who communicate using American Sign Language (ASL).
This Buffalo State microcredential also provides key information pertaining to cultural and educational issues for persons of all ages who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or who communicate through sign for other reasons.
Note: This is a standalone microcredential and not stackable with other academic programs.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that examines instrumental methods for the chemical analysis of target analytes in both cannabis products and other herbal products for potency tests and quality control.
The latest creativity studies, skills, and techniques for educational personnel in PK-12 schools and higher education, trainers, and consultants.
Four creativity courses provide educators with focused, advanced development in creativity studies and classroom theory, practice, and application of creative learning.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
Creativity and Change Leadership Advanced Certificate
Creativity and Change Leadership, M.S.
Note: Must be a current Buffalo State student to enroll.
Learn how to detect the stories within the data and present them effectively. This Buffalo State microcredential provides professionals in multiple industries with the foundational knowledge and technical skills to manage and analyze data, identify patterns within datasets, and effectively communicate those stories through interactive visual models.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
This microcredential is a two-course (6 credit) sequence that provides undergraduate students and community members with an overview and skills for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing.
Note: Must be a current Buffalo State student to enroll.
This two-course sequence—offered 100% online—provides graduate students and community members with program planning and grant writing skills.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with skills for human resource development.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with knowledge and skills related to instructional design. This microcredential, offered 100% online, will provide graduate students from Buffalo State and across SUNY with important and marketable skills in adult education.
Note: Must be a current Buffalo State student to enroll.
Provides an understanding of the fundamentals of interior design theoretical concepts and period styles. Upon completion, participants will be able to recognize and identify period styles and understand various aesthetic principles and precedents that govern interior design choices.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
IGPE offers microcredentials made up of targeted education courses for teachers in PK-12 international schools. Microcredentials allow individuals and host schools to target a specific area of professional development within the degree such as educational leadership, technology, or special education.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that examines the chemical and physiological properties of active compounds in medicinal plants, including cannabis.
Note: Must be a current Buffalo State student to enroll.
This two-course sequence—offered 100% online—provides graduate students and community members with skills for teaching online.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
This microcredential consists of a one-credit course focused on building and applying research-supported knowledge and pedagogical approaches in phonological awareness (including phonemic awareness) and phonics for children in kindergarten through grade 2.
After approximately four weeks of instruction, participants will be expected to work with a learner provided by the Professional Development School (PDS) at the PDS site and through secure video conferencing 1.5 hours per week for 10 weeks. Participants will receive feedback on assessment, tutoring lesson plans, and observations of tutoring throughout.
This microcredential examines the various forms of data-driven policing and the skills needed to successfully apply, maintain, and evaluate any data-driven policing style in a law enforcement agency.
Stackable
Credits may be applied to one or more Buffalo State degree, certificate, or minor programs.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with skills for organizational development.
This microcredential is a 3-course (9 credit) sequence that pairs Spanish literacy with cross-cultural and abnormal psychology for those focused on working in Mental Health fields.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with knowledge and skills related to urban education theory. This microcredential, offered 100% online, provides graduate students from Buffalo State and across SUNY with important and marketable skills in urban education. This microcredential is a standalone enhancement of academic and skill-based knowledge for graduate students and community members. Both courses in this micro-credential are stackable as they role directly into the Adult Education M.S. degree program.
This microcredential is a two-course sequence that provides graduate students and community members with knowledge and skills related to urban education pedagogies. This microcredential, offered 100% online, will provide graduate students from Buffalo State and across SUNY with important and marketable skills in urban education pedagogies.
Microcredential FAQ
Who Can Apply?
Current students
Alumni
Anyone who wants to:
- advance their career
- increase their earning potential
- upskill or make a career change
- come back to the job market
How Does It Work?
Buffalo State's microcredentials combine courses from our registered degree programs, innovative applied learning experiences, and preparation for industry certifications.
A microcredential could be coursework alone (the most common microcredential length is three courses), a series of workshops, or a combination of coursework and an applied learning experience or certification preparation.
Microcredential Features
Stackable
Microcredentials can be stacked together with other learning experiences to meet the requirements of a certificate, initial, or advanced degree. Take them for credit to build toward a degree over time.
High Quality
Microcredentials are taught by Buffalo State faculty. Students have access to academic support and campus resources. Classes are as relevant, legitimate, and high quality as a full degree.
In-Demand
Gain the skills and knowledge professional employers are looking for! Microcredentials are designed to meet current and emerging market needs and align with relevant industry standards.
Portable
Our high-quality microcredentials are recognized beyond SUNY so your accomplishments travel with you.
SUNY Microcredentials Offer Nontraditional Higher-Ed Opportunities
One incentive for merging microcredentials with traditional higher education programs is that they provide insight into certain areas of study, letting learners decide whether they want to commit to a degree program.
As traditional students and working professionals hunger to enhance their skill sets, micro-credentials serve as the perfect appetizers for the main course—a degree related to their area of interest.