Are We Really Stacking - Or Just Making Piles?

Reflections on Stackable Microcredentials and Lifelong Learning

We all love the idea of stackable learning. Stackable skills. Stackable credit. Stackable badges.
It is a catchy concept, modular, flexible, empowering. Like Lego blocks for your career: just snap a few pieces together and build your future. But when I look at what is being developed, I sometimes wonder if we are delivering on that promise, or just piling things up and calling it progress?

Are we helping learners build something meaningful, something that fits together into a bigger story? Or are we handing them a collection of interesting pieces and leaving them to figure it out alone? And are we making it harder for employers too - giving them bits and pieces without a clear way to interpret or trust the picture?

This week, I’m exploring the language of stackability: how we use it, what we’re missing, and how we might design better ways for learners to stack across different types of recognition - and for employers to make sense of what’s been built.

Stackable? Depends who you ask.

We use the word "stackable" a lot but like many words in this evolving space it can mean very different things. Here are some of the ways I’ve seen it used.

Stackable Credit: Short courses or microcredentials that add up to a formal qualification, often used by universities to create pathways toward diplomas and degrees.

Stackable Skills: Building clusters of capabilities over time - like progressing from basic to advanced communication, leadership, or problem-solving skills. Often recognised through continuing professional development.

Stackable Badges: Collecting small recognitions for skills, activities, or contributions that can be bundled into a richer record - like a Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) that maps growth over time.

Stackable Learning: Modular learning experiences that can build into a larger achievement, often seen on MOOC platforms.

Each of these ideas has real value on its own, but they’re often confusingly mixed up and used interchangeably. We still haven’t truly solved how they connect, or how learners (and employers) are meant to weave them into something coherent and meaningful.

The Lego metaphor only works if the blocks are designed to connect. Same dimensions. Same logic. Different shapes, yes - but all still clickable. Instead we are often handing learners a box of interesting but mismatched experiences and say, "Good luck stacking."

Real stackability needs more than modular pieces. It needs intentional design, clear pathways, and ways for learners to build connections between different types of learning.

What If We Thought About Stacking Across Types?

Here’s where it gets interesting, and a little more challenging.

What if stackable badges (those small recognitions for skills or contributions) could be curated into a CLR, showing real patterns and growth - even when they’re earned across different providers?

What if stackable skills (built through volunteering, projects, side gigs, or informal learning) could be validated and translated into formal credit through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) - and added into that same CLR?

What if stackable credit (like microcredentials) could be designed to make skills progression visible, so even if someone doesn’t complete a full degree, the skills and milestones they achieve along the way still matter and still show up in the CLR?

It would also mean shifting the conversation. Instead of just focusing on how credentials are created (the supply side), we need to ask: how are they actually being used by learners, employers, and educators (the demand side)?

Helping Learners Do the Stacking

Think about Lego: designers create sets, but once you tip all the bricks into one big pile, it’s the person building who decides what to create. Learners need that same power, to build their story, their design. If we’re serious about creating stackability we have to put the tools to stack in the hands of the learners.

Here’s what could help:

• Digital Skills Passports or Portfolios: A home for badges, certificates, work samples, reflections - owned by the learner, not locked into one institution's system.

• Recognition Systems That Connect: Open standards like Open Badges, Comprehensive Learner Records (CLR), or Learner and Employment Records (LER) that allow skills and achievements to stack across different contexts.

• Pathway Maps: Clear visual guides or tools that show, “You’ve done this - here’s what you could build next.” (Imagine AI personalising those suggestions!)

• Self-Claim and Peer Recognition Options: Especially important for informal learning that isn’t institutionally credentialed (yet).

• Support for Reflection: Not just a list of achievements, but tools that help people tell the story of their growth, skills, and identity.

A Personal Example

Recently, I received a badge for speaking at a conference, which was very nice to receive, but what I really liked was that the badge allowed me to contribute to it. I could add my own evidence, so I was able to upload my presentation, and seek endorsements from participants who had attended. And it got me thinking what would it look like if I could build a resume like that? What if I could list a skill - say, communication - and then stack it with badges, qualifications, informal learning, and peer endorsements?

If someone wanted to check whether I was a good communicator, they could see a rich body of evidence: formal credentials, real-world outputs, and peer validation, all connected and transparent, and in case AI is the one checking, machine readable.

There are some emerging platforms starting to offer this kind of functionality, and I’m keen to explore them over the next few weeks. I'll come back to share what I find - and how it could help bring this vision for truly stackable learning to life.

Let’s Build Learning Landscapes, Not Just Brick Collections

Stackable learning shouldn’t just mean handing out smaller pieces. It should help people construct lives, careers, and capabilities, from formal education, from informal moments, and everything in between.

As we design "stackable" systems, let’s keep asking:

• Are we making stacking real - or just adding digital glitter?

• Are we helping learners connect their pieces into something meaningful - or leaving them stranded with a jumbled collection?

• Are we celebrating flexibility - or shifting complexity and cost onto learners without giving them the right tools?

• What does interoperability look like across sectors and across formal and informal learning.

If we get this right, stackable microcredentials and stackable skills won’t just be marketing hype. They’ll be real scaffolds for lifelong learning, growth, and recognition.

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Scattered skills. Microcredentials everywhere. Could AI be the one to pull it all together? On The Lifelong Learning Edge next week, I’ll be exploring whether AI can help learners stitch their evidence into something they - and employers - can actually use.