Transforming Higher Education Through Digital Credentials

Over the past few weeks following my badge article, I was able to hear from many of you. Some felt the article was too harsh and some felt it was time someone verbalized what they were thinking also. Ultimately it got us thinking of what we may need to shift in the current direction around digital credentials.

Let me be clear, I believe digital credentials hold the promise of revolutionizing higher education, offering a more dynamic and flexible approach to validating and showcasing a learners’ skills. However, despite almost a decade of discussions and initiatives, progress has been slow and institution-centric.

To move forward effectively, we must understand the underlying problems and shift how we approach digital credentials in higher education. The pace and approach has to be analyzed and reimagined.

Key Issues of Today’s Digital Credentials Strategy

Over the past decade, numerous summits, conferences, collaborations, and coalitions have focused on badge credentials. Despite all of the good intentions, the result of these efforts have been at typical higher education speed, sluggish and lacking a sense of urgency. There are more conversations than impactful execution. 

This slow, consensus driven, status quo approach can be attributed to several key issues:        

A. Undefined Purpose: The fundamental purpose of digital credentials remains unclear. Without a standardized definition, the landscape has become a “Wild West” where certificates are issued for virtually anything, leading to credential inflation. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is no clear owner. When multiple stakeholders are involved without a clear leader, decision-making becomes consensus-driven but lacks purpose. This lack of clarity undermines the market’s respect for these credentials, as employers and learners alike are unsure of their true value and the rigor behind them.

B. Siloed Perspective: Those leading the conversations about digital credentials often have good vision, but narrow and siloed perspectives. Typically, these discussions are dominated by individuals from registrars’ offices or departmental authorities who do not have the market knowledge to appreciate the broader, transformative potential of digital credentials.

As a result, innovative ideas and forward-thinking strategies are often stifled. There are many conversations, with people even forming coalitions and consortiums to discuss strategies, but it often amounts to just that. If you look around the table, it's talk among individuals who share the same perspectives, ideas, and backgrounds.

Some may claim they engage in discussions with the industry, but periodic conversations without execution strategies lead to groupthink rather than meaningful outcomes. They value the praise they receive for convening more than for actually creating a thriving digital credential ecosystem.

C. Lack of a Business Case: Historically, the higher education sector has suffered from analysis paralysis, where extensive deliberation and caution hinder swift action. This cautious approach has delayed the implementation of effective digital credentialing systems and has stifled innovation.

Consider this - over the past five years, use cases, standards, ed tech platforms, blogs, podcasts, frameworks have been formulated around credentials, yet even those who facilitate these activities, do not have a fully functioning credentials ecosystem at their respective institution beyond a few use cases on their campus.

If they can’t implement a credentials ecosystem for their own campus, how can they make a compelling business case for higher education without proving its effectiveness?

This is one of the reasons a true business case has never been authored for digital credentials in higher education.

D. Lack Understanding of “Future of Work”: Many discussions around digital credentials fail to incorporate a future of work perspective. Many do not even understand the term. For this reason, credentials often do not align with the evolving demands of the real-world job market, limiting their relevance and impact.

For folks that are unfamiliar,

Future of Work - refers to how technological advancements transform procedures, protocols, and policies as the nature of work evolves. This shift necessitates that individuals acquire new skills, both in technology and industry strategy.

Without a “future of work” perspective, institutions will not develop the learning programs needed to meet evolving market demands.

E. Replicating Traditional Higher Education Flaws: The discussion about credentials is dominated by those who are accustomed to the conventional model of issuing and verifying transcripts and degrees, and they have shaped the current credential system to fit this mold.

Their focus is around trading credentials with each other like coursework on a transcript or completion verification like a degree.

While a transcript offers a record of academic completion and grades, it fails to capture detailed true competencies. And a degree indicates the completion of a major but does not provide clear insight into actual competencies other than a signal of completion.

Current discussions on credentials focus on issuing and verifying them in a way that imposes complex gatekeeper rules for standardizing fields around descriptions of outcomes, which primarily benefit the organizations within the network rather than the learners.

F. Conflict of Interest: There’s also a fundamental conflict when the same organizations issue and verify credentials. This issue was raised in our BHive conversations. Today issuers identify competencies they believe have been gained through credentials, but there is no mechanism in place to truly validate their accuracy or effectiveness.

We can populate standard fields with text, but who is actually verifying whether the competencies and learning outcomes have value beyond just the grade?

Isn't it possible for any issuer to claim a competency is taught when it isn't? Our current transcript and degree system seems to struggle with this. Many employers often hire graduates based on transcripts and degrees, only to realize that the necessary skills still need to be taught during onboarding.

Opportunities for Rethinking Digital Credentials

Trust in the Currency - The digital credentials ecosystem should be viewed like currency. Like currency, credentials requires "trust" that others will find that they hold value.        

That value shouldn’t be determined by the institution's brand but by the viability of the credential in validating an individual's knowledge and skills. To harness the true potential of digital credentials, we need to rethink our approach.

Here are some steps to guide this transformation:

A. Clarity Around Leadership: Who should lead this? This is the billion dollar question. Yes, a billion dollar question. That is how big this could be for Higher Education. For this reason, it can’t be driven by a faction of individuals whose perspective is merely to manage record-keeping and whose role in the digital credentials ecosystem is limited to hosting summits, conferences, and blogs where they present themselves as leaders by merely promoting the concept of innovative ideas around badges.

We need a clear leader to unify the vision and build the strategy— and not at the normal higher ed speed but with the speed of a startup. This leader must be willing to have uncomfortable conversations because digital credentials require value-driven decisions around the currency. The strategy should then bring the digital credentials community together to execute quickly, fail fast and learn from these failures and iterate to success.

B. Create Market-Driven Credentials: Create credentials that align with market demands by collaborating with industry leaders to understand the skills and knowledge they prioritize, and then design credentials to meet those needs.

Moreover, what truly defines success? Is it about the metrics related to use cases, adoption rates, standardization, or the establishment of a thriving credentialing system? While celebrating after a summit presentation might feel gratifying, the real measure of success goes beyond what’s showcased in PowerPoint slides—it's reflected in credentials that are genuinely valued and widely used across higher education and by employers alike.

C. Rigorous Valuation: Let me define this first. Rigorous valuation refers to a thorough and detailed process of assessing the value, worth, or merit of a credential. By enabling this in the process we ensure that the process of creating and earning a digital credential includes a rigorous assessment to validate both the purpose of the credentials and the knowledge and skills acquired. This approach will enhance the credibility and value of the credentials.

The journey of a credential starts long before it meets standard field requirements—it begins with clearly defining the outcomes, learning competencies, and understanding why it’s being created, along with its value to the learner and the market. This is where a future of work lens is so critical.

D. Fostering Learner Agency: Empowering learners should be the critical mission. This is where a digital credential ecosystem comes into play. It involves giving students the ability, autonomy, and support to make decisions about their learning paths, set their own goals, and actively participate in mapping their educational journey through the use of credentials.

Today, learners are handcuffed by institutions that control their digital credentials. Despite having invested money, time, and effort to earn these credentials, learners remain dependent on the issuing institution long after they've left. Access to what they learned should be at their fingertips at anytime and anywhere, not locked behind campus walls requiring institutional authorization.

We should issue credentials in a way that empowers learners, allowing them to combine various credentials to showcase a comprehensive skill set tailored to their career goals.

E. Instant Validation of Credentials: Fostering learner agency requires implementing systems that enable quick and reliable validation of credentials. This can be achieved by creating a network aligned with industry and the higher education ecosystem. Blockchain technology or other secure digital methods can provide instant verification for employers and other stakeholders.

F. Make it Simple - Simplifying the management of digital credentials can have a significant impact. When Uber revolutionized how we hail a ride, it didn't adhere to the traditional rules of taxi companies. Instead, it used advanced technology to completely redesign the process, improving the experience for everyone involved. A similar transformation is needed in the digital credential space. Currently, there are many friction points, and one way to address this is by seamlessly simplifying how learners and employers manage the currency of digital credentials in the most simplest manner.

G. Establish a Reputation Feedback Economy - Develop a dynamic feedback loop where the value and impact of credentials are continuously evaluated by key stakeholders—employers, peers, and educators. Industry employers can provide insights into how well a credential prepares individuals for the workforce, individual peers can offer perspectives on the practical utility of the credential in various contexts, and educators within institutions can assess its relevance and alignment with industry needs. By integrating this ongoing feedback into the credentialing process, we can create a more transparent and accountable system that not only reflects current market demands but also drives continuous improvement in educational offerings.

This ecosystem would function much like a reputation economy, where the quality of a credential is not just determined at the point of issuance but is validated and enhanced over time through real-world feedback.

Thriving Educational Value Chain

A learner centric approach must inherently prioritize industry employers as well. The true unified digital credential ecosystem revolves around both the learner and the industry. While institutions need to be transparent and actively contribute to this ecosystem.         

The traditional linear model of institution, learner and industry needs to evolve into a circular, interconnected relationship, where all parties are continuously engaged and contributing to each other's needs. I call this the Educational Value Chain.

Aligning credentials with market demands, ensuring rigorous assessments, empowering learners, and enabling instant validation, we can fully realize the potential of digital credentials.?This transformation will not only enhance the credibility and value of these credentials but also better prepare learners for the evolving demands of the job market.

Call to Action

Develop an executable project plan for a unified credential ecosystem

We have all the necessary components—use cases, standards, technology, and a community. We also have buy-in from some government sectors, some higher education institutions, and some employers—aligned and ready.         

Now, notice that I put the word "some" in front of the stakeholders. We need more than just "some," because we need learner's to be able to share their academic journey through a thriving credentials network. Our goal should be centered around empowering learners while gaining the trust of the workforce.

Many of you may agree that the pieces are in place; the next step is to develop a detailed strategy that turns the opportunity into reality.

Now, the question isn't whether we can create a unified credentialing ecosystem, but rather, who will take the lead to define and build a strategic project plan that can drive its execution for the benefit of learners and industry.

Final Thoughts

I understand that some might quickly claim that they are already implementing certain initiatives. This won’t be led or designed through conference sessions or quarterly gatherings, it will only be successful through execution and adoption by institutions within a functioning digital credential network who all are bought into the true purpose.         

The real question is whether the current leadership and efforts are genuinely prepared to transform digital credentials across the entire ecosystem, or if they are merely isolated experiments at a few institutions.

The reality is innovative minds will be required to build this meaningful unified credentialing system with an engine that opens doors for learners for career trajectory and delivers valuable skills for the workforce. But it will only happen if we break the current traditional mold and develop a model that isn’t institution centric but learner centric.?Move from the focus from the simple task of issuing and verifying to developing a thriving ecosystem.

I have outlined a lot of steps to consider, but one of the most critical ways to measure success is to define it. Right now, success is often gauged by titles, ideation, convening at summits, and some examples of digital credential usage by various factions.

Show me the numbers - the real story lies in the metrics around adoption and, more importantly, in how learners are empowered by the credentials.        

Look...my approach to shedding light on the lack of market adoption and challenging the conventional conversational approach to something this powerful as digital credentials might fluster some, but if we want to change the direction that isn’t getting us true adoption, we need to have these uncomfortable conversations.

If you haven't realized it yet, I am passionate about this. I believe there is a real opportunity to transform higher education using credentials. It's time we move past the decade of conversation and convening and start executing a plan that serves everyone in the educational value chain.

Collaborate with me

If you are as passionate as I am and this article resonates with you, I invite you to connect with me and follow me on LinkedIn.        

As we continue to gather the brightest minds to transform higher education and guide our clients in making their campuses future-ready, join the conversations in the BHive or in one of our virtual summits and catch me when I am on your campus or at in person conferences.

Don’t forget to subscribe to this Future X Newsletter. Share with anyone you feel would appreciate the perspective or even challenge me on what I outlined.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Joe Abraham , Frederik Creugers , Gabrielle Kristofich & Nate Baron who contributed their time to this article to help create the narrative that fosters the change that we all believe is needed.