Micro-Endorsements

With Appreciative Inquiry, you can lead the development of a shared vision of the future; the first step in achieving a successful outcome. Utilize personal and team strengths to become an effective leader.

Appreciative Inquiry is a strengths-based, positive approach to leadership development and organizational change. To earn an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Micro-Endorsement, students will complete online coursework, learn from the Global AI Community, and embark on a project that uses AI to solve a problem or develop a shared vision. When that work is completed, students will present their learnings in the form of an interview, video, or podcast that will be shared with a wider audience.

By earning an Appreciative Inquiry Micro-Endorsement, you will learn to:

• Use specific types of questions to direct conversation
• Understand others' inquiries and respond intentionally
• Use images of the future to inspire others
• Evaluate a system to identify successes and find inspirational practices and solutions within them

For more information or to sign up, visit our AI Commons homepage, or contact: Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry

Learn to lead and communicate equitably while developing your own sense of community identity and commitment to civic action.

Civic Engagement is individual or group involvement in addressing issues of public concern and directing changes within the community. To earn the AI Micro-Endorsement students will participate in credit-bearing or non-credit bearing coursework, such as applying to the Social Impact Scholar program or working with the Center for Service & Sustainability. This coursework is coupled with corresponding paid or unpaid service-related work or an internship. To demonstrate your learnings, you can choose to develop and deliver a presentation, create a social media campaign for the Center for Service & Sustainability, or lead a service outing.

By earning a Civic Engagement Micro-Endorsement, you will learn to:

• Promote engagement with diverse populations in yourself and others
• Connect and extend knowledge from your primary field of study to your participation in civic engagement
• Effectively express yourself, listen, and adapt to others in order to establish relationships to further civic action
• Collaboratively work across and within community contexts and structures to achieve a civic aim

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: Center for Service & Sustainability

Engaging and user-focused design is used to create solutions to some of society's most vexing problems.

Learn how new technologies are changing and innovating the way we work in every professional field. To earn the Emergent Media Foundations Micro-Endorsement, you will complete the ITS 190 Technical Internship 3-credit course. As part of that course you'll complete two research projects and one independent project on emerging and innovative technology with support and feedback from your instructor. You'll also take part in cross-team critique sessions, both giving and receiving input on projects. When you've completed your projects, you'll have the opportunity to present your learnings to Center for Emergent Media staff and peers.

By earning an Emergent Media Foundations Micro-Endorsement, you will:

• Generate a thoughtful, inclusive, and pointed design challenge question
• Use research to "map" an entire subject area and comprehensively cover a topic using multiple resources based on library methods and resources
• Convey the importance and relevance of the topic, connecting the topic to the mission of the Emergent Media Center
• Present a concept and/or prototype in a way that visually explains the idea and allows the audience to ask questions and provide feedback

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: The Emergent Media Center

Help people realize and meet their full potential, growing both their confidence and their proficiency in a topic that challenges them.

Master Tutor students will participate in 10 hours of tutor training to meet the College Reading and Language Association's accreditation policy. Using this knowledge, you will also provide 50 hours of tutoring services (paid or volunteer) over the course of the academic year in 1:1 and small group settings. To showcase what you've learned, you can choose from several standard projects, or create one of your own in consultation with your mentor.

By earning a Master Tutor Micro-Endorsement, you will learn to:

• Instruct a student in a specific content area using the eight step tutoring cycle
• Describe Champlain's academic honesty policy and address appropriate interventions to maintain academic integrity
• Establish teaching techniques for working with diverse student needs
• Develop a detailed lesson plan and assessment rubric that identifies the key objectives of the lesson
• Reflect regularly on tutoring practice and identify areas of accomplishment and areas of growth

For more information or to sign up, contact: The SMART Space

Mediation can help you navigate any challenging conversation, both personally and professionally, with an eye toward resolving conflict and creating shared understanding.

Students earning a Mediation & Dialogue Micro-Endorsement will combine coursework on principles of mediation and conflict resolution with workshops that will show you how to put those principles into action. Students will then apply these learnings to 20 hours of paid work in assessing, designing and implementing a campus dialogue or mediation project, including stakeholder interviews, creating assessment and dialogue design documents, and implementation of those designs. You'll also showcase your work in a reflection paper or presentation to your micro-endorsement peers.

By earning a Mediation & Dialogue Micro-Endorsement, you will learn to:

• Develop a conflict and intervention plan for working with stakeholders, issues and dynamics identified
• Identify your own emotional responses, preferences and leanings towards any party during mediation
• Put mediation plans into action by working with groups and individuals on conflict resolution
• Generate balanced, insightful self-assessments of your mediation including strengths, weaknesses, and the rationale behind your choices

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: Center for Mediation and Dialog

Having complex conversations about topics of diversity, inclusion, and social justice is what enables us to create a more caring, interconnected community and world.

To complete this course, students will take the 8-10 hour online NASPA Certified Peer Educator Course with 3-5 hours of additional training sessions on identity, privilege, power, allyship, and bystander intervention. Students will also meet weekly to discuss what they've learned with one another. You will then show what you've learned by either facilitating an educational program for your peers or by creating training materials such as a video or training manual on a topic related to diversity, equity, inclusivity, or social justice.

By earning a Peer Educator Micro-Endorsement, you will learn to:

• Identify and apply concepts of power, privilege, identity, social justice, and allyship
• Implement evidence-based practices that lead to behavior change
• Practice listening skills and engagement with peers
• Identify the differences between a critical incident, crisis, and disaster, and managing crisis response and referrals
• Act as an empowered bystander and manage resistance from peers and strangers

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Our communities and environment rely on the ability to shift to a more sustainable society and develop systems to bring our environment back to health while supporting the people around us.

Sustainability addresses the issues of social justice and environmental stewardship and their connection within society. You will combine appropriate credit-bearing or non-credit-bearing coursework with participation in the Eco-Reps program, led by the Center for Service and Sustainability. Eco-Reps are a group of peer educators that conduct education and outreach to fellow students on sustainability initiatives. As part of this work, you will lead a training, social media campaign, or other activity aimed at sharing knowledge about sustainability and environmental impact. 

By earning a Sustainability Micro-Endorsement, you will:

• Work tangible projects with others to tangibly improve your environment and community
• Understand systems within human and natural communities
• Grasp the interdependence of human and natural systems, and how individual actions impact them
• Build a lifelong foundation of environmental and communal stewardship 

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: Center for Service & Sustainability

Information Technology Systems are the foundation of business today, making Networking and Systems Administrators high-demand positions in numerous professional sectors. These roles require a mix of technical acumen and soft skills like the ability to teach others and adapt your work as business needs shift.

To gain this micro-endorsement, you will engage in on-the-job training as an IT Technician in a paid or internship position, along with attending either credit-bearing or non-credit-bearing coursework. Taken together, these activities will teach you about network layout and principles. Additionally, you will learn how to problem-solve network issues, work with end-users to train them how to use systems, and document work for future use.  To demonstrate your new skills, you will present a training for systems administrators or help desk professionals either in person or as a video. 

To earn the IT Technician Micro-Endorsement you wil need to be hired as a Leahy Center paid employee or enroll in one of the ITS Technical Internship courses.

By earning an IT Technician Micro-Endorsement Micro-Endorsement, you will:

• Understand OSI and TCP Models
• Understand basic networking protocols (HTTP, TCP, IP)
• Understand network analysis, i.e. using capture tools to monitor and diagnose network traffic
• Learn the functions of LDAP
• Understand the role of Group Policy Object (GPO), create a GPO rule, and diagnose GPO-related issues
• Know components of the organizational VSphere environment, and diagnose VSphere issues
• Use proven methods to problem-solve systems issues and document new findings

For more information or to sign up, visit or contact: Leahy Center for Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity