Western Governors University Releases Open-Source Code to Facilitate Universal Skills Language
https://www.wgu.edu/newsroom/press-release/2021/11/wgu-releases-open-source-code-to-facilitate-universal-skills.html
he Open Skills Network (OSN), a community of practice focused on skills-based education and hiring that represents more than 1,200 employers, educational providers, and technology companies,
By launching OSMT as an open-source project, WGU has enabled any educational institution, training program, or employer to freely deploy and use OSMT to translate curriculum, training and development programs, and job profiles into real world skills statements to inform educational program and curriculum design, as well as job role and task definitions.
learner-workers are empowered to use their skills as currency. OSMT has been integrated into Concentric Sky’s Badgr micro-credentialing platform, facilitating the creation of digital credentials that align to Open Skills, creating the building blocks for the shift to skills-based education and hiring.
The Still-Evolving Future of University Credentials
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-12-21-the-still-evolving-future-of-university-credentials
Sean Gallagher is founder and executive director of Northeastern University’s Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy, and executive professor of educational policy.
The growth of educational platform companies such as Coursera and 2U is being driven in part by a surge in demand for certificate programs and “alternative credential” offerings. The number of open badges awarded nearly doubled from 24 million in 2018 to 43 million in 2020. And major companies and industry groups are increasingly getting into the credentialing game, exemplified by firms such as IBM and Google. Strada Education Network’s consumer polling has shown that 40 percent of working-age adults have earned some type of non-degree credential—and that non-degree credentials are at the top of the list for adults seeking education or retraining.
plenty of confusion or ignorance in the marketplace about the basic differences between “certificates” and “certifications.”
skills-based hiring
badging, embedding certificates into degrees and the idea of offering small credentials on the way to a larger one are emerging as key trends
The future will likely see a continued de-emphasis on merely requiring that prospective employees hold college degrees.
the needs of the job market are changing faster than ever, meaning a greater need for upskilling
a new national survey of C-suite executives that we recently conducted, 70 percent said that U.S. workers should be worried about their skills becoming outdated over the next few years.
Innovations such as stackable non-degree credentials as an on-ramp and low-cost MOOC-based degrees from top universities are likely to only grow access to post-baccalaureate education. The number of MOOC-based degrees is approaching 100
Online education services companies – or “OPMs” as many refer to them, have continued to play a major role in the scaling of online higher education, within, and now increasingly beyond the U.S.
the Lumina-sponsored Connecting Credentials campaign; the launch of the Non-Degree Credentials Research Network; the development of UPCEA’s Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation,
Upskilling: The Next Revolution in Higher Education
In a business context, upskilling refers to how we teach employees new skills. When we talk about upskilling at All Campus, we’re thinking about the bigger picture. On a large scale, upskilling refers to students and employees putting heightened emphasis on rapid career and practical skill development.
Just as online learning made it possible to go to school from anywhere, the growing market for graduate, non-credit and professional certificate programs will push flexibility even further.
For students, shorter non-credit courses and certificate programs provide more opportunities to develop skills and advance their knowledge in smaller blocks of time and lower cost.
According to Strada Education, 65% of the U.S. workforce does not have a four-year degree and, as more people question the value of degree programs in general, micro-credentials and other alternative education options are bound to generate long-term momentum.
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more on upskilling in this blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=upskilling
Report: It’s Time for 4-Year Schools to Welcome Adult Learners
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/01/25/report-its-time-for-4-year-schools-to-welcome-adult-learners.aspx
“New Horizons: American Universities and the Case for Lifelong Learning” was produced by the Longevity Project, whose lead content collaborator is the Stanford Center on Longevity, among other nonprofits, think tanks and media organizations.
The big challenges schools will have to tackle in pursuit of this goal are twofold:
- Faculty “intransigence” for adopting new methods of teaching and learning; and
- The need to sort out how to make various credentials “portable and ‘stackable.'”
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more on microcredentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential
Alternative Credentials on the Rise
Interest is growing in short-term, online credentials amid the pandemic. Will they become viable alternative pathways to well-paying jobs?
Paul Fain August 27, 2020
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/27/interest-spikes-short-term-online-credentials-will-it-be-sustained
A growing body of evidence has found strong consumer interest in recent months in skills-based, online credentials that are clearly tied to careers, particularly among adult learners from diverse and lower-income backgrounds, whom four-year colleges often have struggled to attract and graduate.
For years the demographics of higher education have been shifting away from traditional-age, full-paying college students while online education has become more sophisticated and accepted.
That has amplified interest in recent months among employers, students, workers and policy makers in online certificates, industry certifications, apprenticeships, microcredentials, boot camps and even lower-cost online master’s degrees.
Moody’s, the credit ratings firm, on Wednesday said online and nondegree programs are growing at a rapid pace.
Google will fund 100,000 need-based scholarships for the certificates, and said it will consider them the “equivalent of a four-year degree” for related roles.
Google isn’t alone in this push. IBM, Facebook, Salesforce and Microsoft are creating their own short-term, skills-based credentials. Several tech companies also are dropping degree requirements for some jobs, as is the federal government, while the White House, employers and some higher education groups have collaborated on an Ad Council campaign to tout alternatives to the college degree.
One of the most consistent findings in a nationally representative poll conducted by the Strada Education Network’s Center for Consumer Insights over the last five months has been a preference for nondegree and skills training options.
Despite growing skepticism about the value of a college degree, it remains the best ticket to a well-paying job and career. And data have shown that college degrees have been a cushion amid the pandemic and recession.
Experts had long speculated that employer interest in alternative credential pathways would wither when low employment rates went away,…. Yet some big employers, including Amazon, are paying to retrain workers for jobs outside the company as it restructures.
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more on badges, microcredentialing in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential