Using digital badges as stackable career credentials

As the workforce creaks it's way back up to speed, people will be fighting for roles and up-skilling at the lowest possible cost in the shortest amount of time.

This means microcredentials are more popular than ever, as anyone who’s crammed in their fair share of lockdown CPD knows.

And with traditional education up in the air – to put it mildly – in 2021, signing up to a course that delivers microcredentials feels a bit safer than throwing your hard-earned or hard-borrowed cash at a longer course that could end up being cancelled or delivered in an unviable way.    

In fact, the number of people taking microcredential programmes from edX, the MIT and Harvard online course provider, rose to 65,000 by the end of April 2020, a 14-fold increase since early March, according to an article in Wired.

The fact is that people are seeking shorter educational projects, because they don’t know what’s around the corner. And digital credentials are stackable. They not only immediately recognise and display competence, they form part of a cumulative credentials process. your business offers certification for high-demand technology skills, digital badges can boost visibility of your brand.

How digital badges can help

Stacking credentials on the way to a larger qualification is a great way for the learner to maintain momentum and keep engagement, with the knowledge that if the journey doesn’t quite end with the intended goal, the accumulated credentials will still be meaningful and useful.

Digital credentials help job candidates and academic applicants demonstrate skills and competencies required and desired by other employers and education providers. With a stackable credential, the applicant can easily showcase skills in specific areas, as opposed to a simple pass or fail. This is particularly important when employers might have preconceptions about traditional academic qualifications or worries that certain practical skills might be missing from the resume.

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