Digital badges, microcredentials and digital credentials… What differentiates them, or are they synonyms? Basically, these credentials share a few attributes: They are skill-specific and emphasize industry-relevant competencies. Additionally, they have the valuable quality of being stackable, allowing students to accumulate multiple credentials over time, systematically enhancing their experience across a portfolio of competencies.
One of the attractions of credential programs is that they provide students with unparalleled flexibility while requiring considerably less time investment than traditional degree programs. However, a pressing question remains: Do all credential programs uniformly pave the way to better career opportunities?
The world of credentials has grown significantly in recent yearsresulting in a Evolving and sometimes undefined digital education model.. However, there is clear value in digital credentials within higher education and work-integrated professional learning. Recently, EdSurge spoke with Rob Coyledigital credential program manager at 1EdTech, a strong member-based standards consortium that has been focused on uniting digital learning systems and standardizing learning credentials for 25 years. Coyle’s experience in instructional design in higher education has given him important perspective in addressing the push toward interoperability in the credentialing landscape.
EdSurge: How has the concept and practice of microcredentials evolved over the years?
Coyle: It seems like every credentialing organization has their own definition of microcredentials, alternative credentials, digital credentials and badges… But I think ultimately we’re often talking about the same thing: a formal expression of a skill that can be demonstrated or knowledge that can be demonstrated. can be evaluated as something that has been mastered.
One of the original microcredential concepts came from Mozilla’s push for open recognition of skills through badges. 1Legacy edtech open badges from Mozilla in 2017. This movement was aimed at Partner Mozilla’s established badge community with 1EdTech’s standards-based body.
Digital credentialing is an electronic means of transferring data about an individual’s achievements, resulting in a PDF, image, or other digital learning record. Credentials that meet Open Badges or CLR (Comprehensive Learner Record) standards have a specific way of packaging that data so that it is readable by both humans and machines. That’s where the value of the credential comes into play. Not only are you communicating what the data is, but you are doing it in a way that can be used by people and machines, verifying various academic and work achievements. Because credentials are standardized, we can make the flow of information much smoother between different systems. This adds value to the credential.
What are the advantages for students of using digital credentials? How does badge standardization affect employers and higher education institutions?
The Open Badges and CLR standards help students express the skills and knowledge they have acquired. Courses do not always provide as much transparency around these competencies. Your history course may not specify that you are learning skills in research, writing, and evaluation logic. Digital badging helps unpack and identify each ability. That in itself is valuable for students: to understand the skills they are acquiring and pass them on to others. This is priceless in a job interview. When you have electronically verifiable credentials, you are taking them to a whole new level in empowering the learner to maximize their potential.
With digital credentials, students can demonstrate the skills they have mastered in a package smaller than a degree, before earning a degree. In the context of higher education, students can earn badges for their skills along the way. This means that students can try out different career paths without having to fully commit to that degree. Or maybe you already have a degree but want to change direction. Microcredentials allow students to respond more quickly to market needs. technology certifications are constantly changing; A digital credential allows students to continue developing those new skills, allowing them to be agile. That badge gives students more opportunities in different internships and careers.
The digital credential provides employers with verifiable information about potential employees. That’s a major advantage for employers. Save time in the hiring process and provide more confidence in the hiring decision. A partner organization recently told me that one of their employers hired someone specifically based on their digital credentials, eliminating two weeks of background investigations.
And the number of credentials is increasing dramatically. Has been More than 74 million badges issued worldwide.. That growth is simply bringing more attention to digital credentials and, ultimately, more employer value in credential standardization.
In the higher education environment, there is a lot of involvement in the governance structure around the creation of course content. Our conversation with institutions is that they don’t need to create new content or new programs for badges; There doesn’t have to be the obstacle of creating something new. Instead, start by identifying skills found in existing courses. Package those skills into a digital credential. That brings more value to your programs.
I often receive email queries from professors about offering Open Badges to students in their courses. We clearly need a systematic approach to implementing digital credential programs at the organizational level. As an educational technology organization with expertise in standards and interoperability, 1EdTech is positioned to contribute here. We collaborate with institutions and educational technology providers to help universally define the standards ecosystem and support the mobility of digital credentials through technology solutions, and we offer platform certification to ensure they meet the standards as intended.
We are now working on a new framework to increase the value of microcredentials for all stakeholders. Our TrustEd Microcredential Coalition is working to establish a standard for what information digital credentials should contain in terms of transparency regarding the skills, knowledge and abilities a student has achieved, and ensuring that the credential is interoperable. We hope to have a framework finalized in time for 1EdTech Digital Credentials Summit in March.
What is a success story related to the implementation and recognition of microcredentials in educational and workplace contexts?
My colleague Kelly Hoyland just told me about an institution we’re working with that has made it a priority to issue microcredentials focused on a student’s transition to a family-sustaining wage. This particular institution is in a very impoverished city, so anything we can do to help those students break down barriers and increase their pay is a success.
Another success story that comes to mind is a vendor who is partnering with a social justice nonprofit to help provide internship opportunities to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The digital credential program is helping to promote equity and social justice, reaching communities beyond the traditional educational path.
There are so many examples like these, and that’s what I love about the 1EdTech community, is that we have all these different people representing different types of industries and students working together to find standards and solutions that will help everyone succeed.