Employers today are far less reliant on the four-year college degree than in the past, when the B.A. or B.S. served as a primary pre-hire indicator of future performance. Today, the bachelor’s degree is virtually a commodity. According to an analysis by Burning Glass Technologies, degrees are now to be found among the qualifications of workers in jobs that rarely demanded such a level of education. Clerks, service workers, and assistants are now almost “required” to be degreed.
Since virtually all candidates come with a degree, companies must find other ways to identify the best candidates—the ones with the skills to do the job. Some employers have even worked to identify specific institutions that reliably turn out graduates with grit, which is quite apart from factors like grades, majors, and transcripts.
This ongoing hunt to develop better metrics to identify the most desirable candidates has driven employers to look to institutions that highlight these transferable (and often non-academic) skills and showcase them in a common currency, i.e., the digital credential.
Why micro-credentials and badging is the answer
The concept of a badge is a very deep-rooted one; everyone is familiar with merit badges from scouting. Badges are bite-sized visual representations that denote evidence of skills and experience. So, why are micro-credentials, often referred to as digital badging or digital credentialing, worthy of serious consideration now? Simply, they provide clear evidence about what the learner knows, has done, and should be able to continue to do in language and classifications that are portable, easy to consume, and, most important, trust.
Geoff Irvine is the chief executive officer and founder of Chalk & Wire. A career educator, he joyfully spent 22 years as a high school history teacher where he won national and international awards for his pioneering work in the use of technology in the classroom. Reluctantly leaving high school to head the research team that developed what has become CW Pro, Irvine now serves as a thought leader in the industry and steers Chalk & Wire to ever greater heights as a responsive developer of assessment solutions and methods. Most recently, he joined the IMS Global Executive Group to contribute to emerging work in the field of alternative certification and badging (MyMantl).
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