Friday, March 28, 2025

Online microcredentials: a response to meet the market's demand for soft skills

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

The demand for professionals with soft skills, such as effective communication, critical thinking and time management, is high in today's job market. "Soft skills are the personal and social skills that enable professionals to work effectively, both on their own or in teams. They're associated with personal behaviour patterns and attitudes such as decision-making, time management and resilience. These skills are crucial in any professional environment, and particularly important in a managerial role," explained Iñaki Bustinduy, a course instructor with the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

A recent study in this field undertaken by the UOC, led by Carles Bruguera, a member of the Labour Market Research and Analysis Unit(UPAL) and a researcher in the Management and Learning (MeL) group, examines how online microcredentials can help meet this need through flexible training adapted to meet the demands of business.

Microcredentials are academic certificates that prove the acquisition of specific knowledge or skills in short courses. Employers are very positive about the flexibility of these certificates, as they enable professionals to train without interrupting their work. The online learning format also provides access to top-quality international programmes, and broadens the range of training options available. "Microcredentials have so far been widely accepted in the field of digital and technological skills, but this study shows that they can also reinforce the development of soft skills which are in demand in the labour market,"explained Bruguera.

"The research on the role of microcredentials in this area has been limited, especially from the perspective of labour market stakeholders, who have a direct view from the inside on the current and future skills that their sectors will need," he added.

Others involved in the study, published in the journal Distance Education, included Carme Pagès, director of the Labour Market Research and Analysis Unit; Mitchell Peters, a researcher on education and technology, and Àngels Fitó, the rector of the UOC, who are all members of the MeL group.

The research adopts a qualitative approach to analyse the perspectives of 85 stakeholders in the labour market, including executives, human resources managers, and vocational training experts. The results show that employers believe that online microcredentials are a useful tool for professional training, but there are still some obstacles that need to be overcome.

"In the study, we found that, in order to be truly effective, microcredentials in soft skills must guarantee practical learning that can be applied to real situations, and provide a robust assessment system to corroborate the knowledge that's been acquired," stressed Carme Pagès, who is also an associate professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business. The process by which a professional acquires new skills is known as reskilling, while upskilling involves improving and enhancing the skills that they already have. "Reskilling can cover emotional intelligence, change management or creativity, while upskilling can involve digital leadership, communication in hybrid environments, conflict management or remote teamwork. In both cases, the objective is to improve adaptation to a new working environment, either as a result of the requirements of the professional role, the demands of the environment and the market, or due to the emergence of new technologies," explained Bustinduy.

Pagès and Bustinduy will be two of the speakers at the seminar on the importance of soft skills in today's labour market, which the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business is organizing on 27 March. This event will look at the value of these skills and how they can be fostered to improve employability and professional development.

Challenges and limitations to overcome

Despite the advantages, the study identifies three barriers to the consolidation of microcredentials in soft skills:

Skills-based assessment: skills such as leadership and teamwork are difficult to measure objectively in an online environment.
Credibility and recognition: some companies and organizations still do not believe they are comparable to more traditional training.
Practical experience and applicability: developing methodologies that enable students to apply knowledge in real situations is essential.

Recommendations for the strategic design of microcredentials

The study proposes a range of strategies to improve the effectiveness of online microcredentials in the field of soft skills, and make them as similar as possible to real contexts:

Practical orientation: they should involve practical interactive tools, such as case studies, role-play and collaborative projects.
Inclusion of immersive technologies: they should use virtual reality or interactive environments for improvement, and make training in skills such as interpersonal communication as real as possible.
Work with companies: the business sector should be involved in the development of microcredentials to ensure that they are relevant.
Evidence-based assessment: practical assessment methods that validate the skills acquired should be introduced.

Seminar on the labour market and soft skills

With this in mind, the seminar onsoft skills will bring together experts from the sector to discuss the value of these skills as a tool for enhancing employability. This forum will expand on the results of the study and let those attending share strategies to address the training gap in soft skills and respond to the needs of today's labour market.

Journal

Distance Education

DOI

10.1080/01587919.2024.2435645

New Reichman University study: can a robotic dog choose our next leader?

Reichman University

A study from the Media Innovation Lab (miLAB) at Reichman University’s School of Communications explored how a robotic dog can influence leadership dynamics between humans. The study revealed that simple gestures of affection from a robot can encourage people to take charge and assume leadership roles, even without explicit guidance. The article on the study won the Best Paper Award in the Behavioral Research in Human-Robot Interaction category at the prestigious HRI2025 robotics conference held this week in Melbourne, Australia.

The paper examined whether a robotic dog could influence leadership dynamics between humans. In the study, two people were asked to work as a team with a robotic dog to perform a search task. There was no formal leader assigned to the team, and no instructions were given on how they should divide responsibilities between themselves. When the robot displayed a clear preference for one of the team members during the initial encounter, that participant naturally took charge and managed the task without any explicit demand or expectation — effectively becoming the team leader. In the vast majority of cases, the other participant accepted their team member’s leadership, and even described the team dynamic as positive. In contrast, when the robot exhibited equal affection toward both participants, without favoring one over the other, a shared leadership structure emerged.

The study’s findings highlight that robots can encourage spontaneous “emergent leadership” in people through simple affectionate body gestures, without the need for explicit and formal leadership instructions. In addition, the study underscores the importance of initial encounters between humans and robots, and their impact on long-term engagement. The article was authored by a research group from the Sammy Ofer School of Communications at Reichman University, under the supervision of Dr. Hadas Erel. The study was led by doctoral student Elior Carsenti, alongside students Adi Manor and Agam Oberlender, and in collaboration with Prof. Avi Parush from the Technion.

Dr. Hadas Erel, Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Reichman University: “The most interesting aspect of this research is the potential to use robots to encourage important social processes. We demonstrate how robotic behavior can be designed to intervene in sensitive social situations where human intervention may be ineffective. Integrating principles from social psychology into robotic behavior opens up new possibilities for improving relationships and interactions between people.”

DOI

10.5555/3721488.3721546

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Raising Stars: Influences of Robotic Peer Liking on Emergent Leadership

Losing forest carbon stocks could put climate goals out of reach

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – about a fifth of all human emissions – but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that failing to account for the potentially decreasing ability of forests to absorb CO₂ could make reaching the Paris agreement targets significantly harder, if not impossible, and much more costly.

“Delaying action leads to disproportionately higher costs,” explains Michael Windisch, lead author of the study published in Nature Communications and PIK guest scientist. “Right now, our climate strategies bet on forests not only remaining intact, but even expanding,” Windisch says. “However, with escalating wildfires like in California, and continued deforestation in the Amazon, that’s a gamble. Climate change itself puts forests’ immense carbon stores at risk.” According to the study, postponing action to reduce emissions and to protect and monitor forests could jeopardise climate targets. “We must act immediately to safeguard the carbon stored in forests,” Windisch emphasises. “Otherwise, compensating for potential forest carbon losses through steeper emissions cuts in key emission sectors like energy, industry and transport will become increasingly expensive and possibly unattainable.”

Considering forest carbon losses in climate mitigation pathways

The study analysed how climate targets can be met despite forests’ reduced capacity for storing carbon. The authors used REMIND-MAgPIE - an integrated global land and water use modelling as well as an energy-economy modelling system - together with the global vegetation model LPJmL to evaluate how natural disturbances and human impacts on forests influence the feasibility of achieving climate mitigation goals. The research team compared a foresighted policy response with various delayed and myopic approaches.

Regardless of the assessed disturbance rate, the study revealed just how steep the price of inaction can be. Even a five-year delay in responding to forest carbon loss would lead to a roughly two-fold increase in both the stringency and overall cost of measures to offset that lost carbon, the authors find. Emission cuts in the energy sector, for instance, would have to be ramped up considerably, supported by a near-doubling of negative emissions capacity – which itself demands a corresponding expansion in land use. Ultimately, these extra efforts drive up overall costs, and result in GDP setbacks that are approximately double those of immediate action.

The study also highlights that current models may be overly optimistic about future forest carbon storage because they ignore disturbances, overvalue CO₂ fertilisation and underestimate deforestation. To mitigate climate impacts, safeguard carbon stocks and prevent escalating costs, the scientists recommend immediate action. “Forests are not an infinite resource, but need careful monitoring to detect reductions in carbon sinks early on,” explains Florian Humpenöder, PIK scientist and study author. He also stresses the need for stronger forest conservation, and faster decarbonisation. Forests may absorb less CO2 than expected, making realistic forest carbon projections essential.

“Staying below critical warming thresholds requires more than just hoping forests will remain intact,” concludes Alexander Popp, head of PIK’s Land Use Transition lab and author of the study. “Alongside protecting forests, it is essential to promote sustainable land use practices– not only to preserve biodiversity but also to avoid drastic economic consequences and to secure our climate future.”

Article: Michael G. Windisch, Florian Humpenöder, Leon Merfort, Nico Bauer, Gunnar Luderer, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Jens Heinke, Christoph Müller, Gabriel Abrahao, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Alexander Popp (2025): Hedging our bet on forest permanence for the economic viability of climate targets. Nature Communications. DOI: [10.1038/s41467-025-57607-x]

Weblink to the article, once published: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57607-x