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Academic digital credentials, which are claims that a person has a degree, certificate, or other credential and can be cryptographically verified, have been around for about ten years. Digital credentials have, however, established themselves as the norm for presenting or validating abilities and credentials, notwithstanding the potential usefulness of these data-rich, transferrable credentials to alumni, employers, and academic institutions.
This discrepancy between the promise of digital credentials and their widespread acceptance is examined in a new report from the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC), hosted at MIT Open Learning.
In the field of education, digital certifications include those given out by colleges and organizations that offer career training (MIT, for instance, has been offering its digital diploma since 2017) as well as micro-qualifications from companies that offer online courses. According to researchers, the widespread use of digital credentials will increase flexibility for both employees and employers in addressing the demands of a changing labor market.
There is currently no standardized method for issuing, storing, verifying, or presenting digital credentials as part of the job application process, despite the fact that companies consider them as a value-add when they appear on a resume.
Principle investigator and director of the DCC at MIT, “there is a lot of interest in the potential of digital credentials to improve the way we create educational programs, manage hiring procedures, and support employees throughout their careers.” We tried to outline a few practical solutions in this paper to deal with the obstacles impeding the adoption of this technology.
The researchers set out to map the ecosystem of stakeholders and better understand the obstacles to using digital academic credentials in the “last mile” of education-to-employment pathways. They did this through semi-structured interviews with top experts and decision-makers in North America and Europe, desk research, and expert analysis.
Sean Murphy, director of opportunity at Walmart, which funded the paper, adds that “digital credentials have the potential to connect qualified employees with jobs, but given their complexity, we need to figure out how to bring educators, companies, and governments together to expedite adoption.” The Last Mile report puts out a clear set of recommendations on how to solve remaining adoption barriers. The technology can establish more equal pathways for workers entering the workforce and upskilling.