Summary

FabFolio is a web-based application designed to provide an innovative and effective feedback tool for both instructors and learners. By integrating micro-credentials aligned with national industry certifications and local employers’ needs, FabFolio empowers learners to track their progress, develop essential and technical skills, and curate digital portfolios.

The Challenge

Hamilton County Schools and the Public Education Foundation (PEF) recognized the need for an innovative, student-centered approach to tracking and demonstrating learning beyond traditional assessments. The district aimed to address the following key issues:

A lack of structured methods for students to develop and showcase their technical and essential skill-based growth.
Limited opportunities for students to reflect on and curate evidence of their learning in a meaningful way.
A need for a streamlined, digital platform that supports both students and educators in assessing skill development and readiness for future endeavors.

Target Population

FabFolio is currently available to all 44,500 students in Hamilton County Schools, K-12. As teachers create projects within the app, students can join that project via QR code or a numerical code to begin documenting their progress. The data stored in FabFolio is linked directly to the student. Therefore, students can access their portfolio and skills earned as they move from elementary to high school within the district. The app is particularly beneficial for:

Students preparing for college and career pathways, providing them with a structured way to document achievements.
Educators seeking to assess and guide student development in essential and technical skills.
Bridging the gap between K-12 leaders and workforce needs by working directly with local employers and workforce development leaders to design specific skill clusters directly aligned to local, regional, and state needs.

Program Structure

FabFolio operates as a student-driven, web-based platform that enables learners to document and demonstrate their skill mastery. Key components include:

Micro-Credentialing System: Over 450 micro-credentials organized into essential and technical skill domains, each with clearly defined “look-for” criteria.

AI-Enhanced Instructor Feedback Mechanism: A streamlined system where instructors can evaluate student submissions, track progress, and provide targeted feedback, all assisted by an integrated generative AI platform.

Learner-Curated Digital Portfolio: A personalized space for students to compile evidence of their skills and achievements, which remains accessible even as they change schools or instructors.

LMS Integration & Secure Access: Seamless integration with common Learning Management Systems (LMS) and secure login using third-party SSOs (ClassLink, Clever), ensuring data privacy and ease of use.

Key Designers

Key designers of FabFolio include Michael Stone (PEF) and Kristin Burrus (GCDI), working closely with a community of expert educators from Hamilton County Schools to ensure educator and student voice are central to the continued development, ease of use, and growth of the software.

Key Partners

The successful implementation of FabFolio was made possible through collaboration with:

Hamilton County Schools- HCS Department of Innovation supports scaling the use of FabFolio district-wide, while HCS educators are the primary users of the application in classrooms in the district.
STEM School Chattanooga - STEM School Chattanooga is a public high school in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The school incorporates problem-based learning with an emphasis on core context learning and essential skills to develop an innovative, critical thinking, and collaborative learning environment.
Global Center for Digital Innovation (GCDI) - The GCDI is a fab lab built in partnership with the State of Tennessee, Chattanooga State Community College, and Hamilton County Schools. Staffed by teachers from STEM School, educators and students K-14 have access to the facility through classes, workshops, and field trips.
Public Education Foundation (PEF)- A local 501c3, owns FabFolio and is responsible for leading the national scaling and continued development of the app.
Local Businesses and Industry Partners, including Volkswagen Group of America, LegacyBox, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee – Business partners curated microcredentials to create authentic pathways towards success in their fields.

Program Timeline

Over the last 6 years, this program has developed from a simple Google Form with 15 technical microcredentials only used at STEM School Chattanooga to a fully developed web-based application with over 450 micro-credentials being used across Hamilton County Schools and soon scaling to Bloomington, IN, and Grenada, MS. In the second year of implementation, a Canvas LMS course was created to track student achievements in approximately 20 micro-credentials. In Year 3, STEM School Chattanooga and PEF invited other district digital fabrication educators to expand and refine the technical micro-credential database and add essential skills, such as creativity and critical thinking, to the micro-credential list. In March 2023, STEM School Chattanooga began the initial pilot of FabFolio through the GCDI. FabFolio Beta launched in 9 local schools in January 2024, and after successful refinements, it was fully released to Hamilton County Schools in July 2024. April 6, 2025, PEF will launch commercial availability of FabFolio for schools/districts across the United States. FabFolio app development led to a district-wide initiative to adopt the tool and elevate student development and technical and essential skills documentation. Today, more than 14,000 students regularly use FabFolio in Hamilton County, and we expect to have over 100,000 student users by the end of the 2025-2026 school year.

Challenges

Instructor Adoption: Some educators were unfamiliar with micro-credentialing systems or were uncertain about student adoption of new technology.

Solution: Ongoing professional development and peer mentoring offered by PEF and the Hamilton County School Innovation Team. Additionally, GCDI educators provide model lessons and exemplars for educators to grow their confidence with the system.

Student Engagement: In an educational landscape overrun with technology, student engagement with new technology tools can be disappointing.

Solution 1: The gamification of micro-credentialing increases student initial engagement.
Solution 2: Partnerships with local employers and post-secondary institutions create authentic applications for students’ futures, creating further engagement.

Student Critical Thinking and Buy-In: Asking students to reflect on their making and learning requires higher-order thinking and can be more time-consuming than making itself.

Solution: Teachers developed structured scaffolds to help students understand the importance of documenting their learning process. Additionally, educators provided dedicated time within projects for students to reflect and record their progress.

Learnings and Recommendations

The usage impacts of the development of the FabFolio app are clear through our enrollment, micro-credential offerings, and micro-credentials earned by students. One key recommendation is that the student portfolio needs to become easier for students to share with future employers and college applications. An idea is to not only have a public facing curated portfolio page, but also a printable version to accompany transcripts and resumes.

Fab Folio Impact (2019-2025)
	2019	2025
Schools	1	73
Students Enrolled	275	13,000
Micro-credentials Offered	15	450
Micro-credentials earned by students	30	7,455
Technical Skills	15	177
Essential Skills	0	273
Pathways Offered	0	28
Pathways Completed by Students	0	303

Contact

Kristin Burrus, Innovation Program Manager, Global Center for Digital Innovation and Teacher, STEM School Chattanooga

burrus_kristin@hcde.org

Case Study

FabFolio: Aligning K-12 Learning with Workforce Needs through Micro-credentials