Micro-Credentials as an Institutional Response to AI: Early Implementation in Pre-Service Teacher Education at a Chinese Normal University

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are unsettling established ways of preparing teachers, pressuring higher education institutions to reform curricula faster than conventional degree structures allow. This study examines how one Chinese normal university initiated and implemented an AI-focused micro-credential program for pre-service teachers as an institutional response to these pressures. Drawing on Institutional Theory and Activity Theory, the case study combines document analysis, semi-structured interviews, a student satisfaction questionnaire, and comparative analysis of pre- and post-course lesson plans. Findings show that the program emerged from coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures emanating from national policy, professional communities, and peer institutions, and was implemented through cross-faculty collaboration, university–industry–school partnerships, and a phased curriculum progressing from technical application to pedagogical integration. Students reported high satisfaction, and their revised lesson plans showed stronger relative associations among AI-related technological, pedagogical, and content codes; however, the program encountered challenges including academic workload, learner heterogeneity, and limited hands-on practice. The study contributes to understanding early institutional adoption and organizational adaptation by examining how one university established an AI-focused initiative and adjusted its implementation arrangements during the first semester. Whether these arrangements become enduring institutional practices or similar dynamics arise in other national contexts requires longitudinal and comparative research. These insights offer change agents—teacher educators, university leaders, and policymakers—a case-based account of an initial institutional response to technological and policy pressure.