credentialing

“It also plans to integrate each student’s AI-based virtual assistant ‘Genie’ into the metaverse as 3D virtual assistants” [Soulunii]

On 05/18/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, CMS/LMS, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, India, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, Metaverse, multimedia, online learning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, Web3, by Daniel Christian

Entrepreneur Education Platform GeniusU Raises $1.5M Seed Funding at $250M Valuation — from edtechreview.in ed by Stephen Soulunii

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Genius Group has recently announced that its EdTech arm, GeniusU Ltd, has raised $1.5 million in a seed round to support the development of its Genius Metaversity virtual learning plans.
…
With the fresh funding, GeniusU plans to extend its courses and programs to interactive learning environments in the metaverse, with students and faculty connecting and learning in global classrooms and virtual 3D environments. It also plans to integrate each student’s AI-based virtual assistant ‘Genie’ into the metaverse as 3D virtual assistants that accompany each student on their personalized journey and integrate its GEMs (Genius Education Merits) student credits into the metaverse. GEMs are earned by students as they learn and can be spent on products and services within GeniusU and counting towards their certifications.

100 Universities established an OPM, Bootcamp or Pathways partnership in Q1 2022 — from holoniq.com
Bootcamps are directing more resources B2B and B2G, OPMs are growing existing partnerships further and evolving their technology and healthcare programs.

Excerpt:

Higher Education, like the broader economy, is awkwardly emerging from an almost exclusively digital, isolated and stimulus fuelled environment into… well it’s not clear yet. University Partnerships continued to be established at pace through Q1 2022, albeit at a much slower rate than through 2021.

Also relevant/see:

College contracts with OPMs need better oversight, watchdog says — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz

Excerpt from Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Education should strengthen oversight of colleges’ relationships with companies that help them launch and build online programs, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an auditing agency for Congress.

Addendum on 5/11/22:

2021 Global Learning Landscape — from globallearninglandscape.org

The rise of alternative credentials in hiring [shrm.org]

On 05/01/2022, in Alternatives, business, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, professional development, skills, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The rise of alternative credentials in hiring — from shrm.org; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource
Increasingly, U.S. workers are turning to alternative credentials as a way to enhance and demonstrate skills and work readiness. But can certifications, badges and apprenticeships stand in for traditional education and work experience when seeking a new job?

Excerpts:

Alternative credentials can be defined as any microcredential, industry or professional certification, acknowledgment of apprenticeship (registered or nonregistered), or badging that indicates one’s competencies and skills within a particular field. Alternative credentials do not include traditional academic degrees or required occupational licensures.
…
However, one potential barrier to employers’ wider recognition of alternative credentials is actually a technical one. Automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) frequently don’t pick up on them, because often there is still no standard approach to collecting this information as systems do for traditional education and work experience. Only one-third of HR professionals whose organizations use automated prescreening say this prescreening even recognizes alternative credentials. Such inconsistency offers a clear direction for both HR and the providers of applicant screening tools to improve the ways alternative credentials are captured in the application process.

2022 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition

On 04/19/2022, in adjunct faculty, blended learning, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, digital learning, education technology, face-to-face, faculty/staff, flipping -- inverted learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, online learning, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, traditional / tradition, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

2022 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition — from library.educause.edu

Sections include:

Trends: Scanning the Horizon
Key Technologies & Practices
Scenarios
Implications: What Do We Do Now?

Also relevant/see:

Webinar | Exploring the 2022 Teaching and Learning Horizon Report

Also relevant/see:

2022 Educause Horizon Report Suggests Change Is Here to Stay; No Return to ‘Normal’ — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpt:

If the COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of unprecedented change in higher education — characterized by rapid pivots to remote work and learning and an explosion in the use of technology across the institution — the future is about reframing those changes into long-term realities, according to the 2022 Educause Horizon Report Teaching and Learning Edition, released this week. Colleges and universities are shifting their mindsets to “reflect an evolution from short-term ’emergency’ or ‘reactive’ modes of offering education during extraordinary circumstances to making strategic and sustainable investments in a future that will be very much unlike our past,” the report suggested.

6 Technologies and Practices Impacting the Future of Higher Education — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Instructure’s Acquisition of Concentric Sky Bringing Some Changes to Canvas LMS Users [Kelly]

On 04/19/2022, in Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, credentialing, experimentation, higher education, skills, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Instructure’s Acquisition of Concentric Sky Bringing Some Changes to Canvas LMS Users — from thejournal.com by Rhea Kelly
Badgr Digital Micro-Credentialing Platform to be Rebranded as Canvas Badges, Optional ‘Pro’ Upgrades Coming

Excerpts:

Instructure said today its acquisition of Concentric Sky, maker of the Badgr digital credentialing platform, is complete, and the basic Badgr functions will be integrated into Canvas and rebranded as Canvas Badges.
…
Canvas Credentials will enable institutions to “seamlessly award badges that verify and track academic achievements, including competency-based education,” the company explained in a news announcement. With the stackable, shareable credentials, students will be able to track their personalized learning journeys and carry proof of their competencies and skills development.

All of the topics covered in The Future Trends Forum [Alexander]

On 04/11/2022, in accessibility / UDL, accreditation, adjunct faculty, Alternatives, blended learning, business side of he, change, changing business models, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, curriculum, data related items, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, open courseware and systems, research, science, STEAM-related, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Future Trends Forum Topics page — from forum.futureofeducation.us by Bryan Alexander

Excerpt:

The Future Trends Forum has explored higher education in depth and breadth. Over six years of regular live conversations we have addressed many aspects of academia.

On this page you’ll find a list of our topics. Consider it a kind of table of contents, or, better yet, an index to the Forum’s themes.

Also see:

300 videos: the Future Trends Forum passes another milestone — from bryanalexander.org by Bryan Alexander

Since we launched in early February, 2016, the Forum has successfully published three hundred videos to YouTube. Week after week, month by month, over more than six years we’ve held great conversations, then shared them with the world, free of charge.

This new organization wants to accredit career education [Seltzer]

On 03/30/2022, in accreditation, Alternatives, career development, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, higher education, United States, universities, vendors, vocational / trades, workplace, by Daniel Christian

This new organization wants to accredit career education — from highereddive.com by Rick Seltzer
The Workforce Talent Educators Association will focus its quality assurance on outcomes, says its chief accreditation officer and managing director.

Excerpt:

A new nonprofit organization, the Workforce Talent Educators Association, is attempting to use the accreditation model to push for strong career education programs and degrees — and to serve as a stamp of quality for them.

That’s no easy task. The career education space is filled with a range of traditional college degrees as well as other options like certificate programs, stackable credentials, badges and apprenticeships. Plus, data on student outcomes for programs in the space can be confusing, lagging and limited.

Also from highereddive.com see:

‘No skilled worker left behind’: Maryland drops bachelor’s degree requirements for thousands of jobs — by Caroline Colvin
Almost half of all workers in Maryland are STARs or “skilled through alternative routes.”

Reflections on “Do We Really Want Academic Permanent Records to Live Forever on Blockchain?” [Bohnke]

On 03/19/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Alternatives, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, elearning, formal learning, future, future of higher education, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, open courseware and systems, participation, professional development, project-based learning, publishing, real-world assignments, social learning / networks, society, student-related, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Christin Bohnke raises a great and timely question out at edsurge.com in her article entitled:
Do We Really Want Academic Permanent Records to Live Forever on Blockchain?

Christin does a wonderful job of addressing the possibilities — but also the challenges — of using blockchain for educational/learning-related applications. She makes a great point that the time to look at this carefully is now:

Yet as much as unchangeable education records offer new chances, they also create new challenges. Setting personal and academic information in stone may actually counter the mission of education to help people evolve over time. The time to assess the benefits and drawbacks of blockchain technology is right now, before adoption in schools and universities is widespread.

As Christin mentions, blockchain technology can be used to store more than formal certification data. It could also store such informal certification data such as “research experience, individual projects and skills, mentoring or online learning.”

The keeping of extensive records via blockchain certainly raises numerous questions. Below are a few that come to my mind:

Will this type of record-keeping help or hurt in terms of career development and moving to a different job?
Will — or should — CMS/LMS vendors enable this type of feature/service in their products?
Should credentials from the following sources be considered relevant?
- Microlearning-based streams of content
- Data from open courseware/courses
- Learning that we do via our Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) and social networks
- Learning that we get from alternatives such as bootcamps, coding schools, etc.
Will the keeping of records impact the enjoyment of learning — or vice versa? Or will it depend upon the person?
Will there be more choice, more control — or less so?
To what (granular) level of competency-based education should we go? Or from project-based learning?
Could instructional designers access learners’ profiles to provide more personalized learning experiences?
…and I’m certain there are more questions than these.

All that said…

To me, the answers to these questions — and likely other questions as well — lie in:

Giving a person a chance to learn, practice, and then demonstrate the required skills (regardless of the data the potential employer has access to)
.
Giving each user the right to own their own data — and to release it as they see fit. Each person should have the capability of managing their own information/data without having to have the skills of a software engineer or a database administrator. When something is written to a blockchain, there would be a field for who owns — and can administer — the data.

In the case of finding a good fit/job, a person could use a standardized interface to generate a URL that is sent out to a potential employer. That URL would be good for X days. The URL gives the potential employer the right to access whatever data has been made available to them. It could be full access, in which case the employer is able to run their own queries/searches on the data. Or the learner could restrict the potential employer’s reach to a more limited subset of data.

Visually, speaking:

I still have a lot more thinking to do about this, but that’s where I’m at as of today. Have a good one all!

Census Bureau Releases New Educational Attainment Data — from census.gov; with thanks to The Chronicle of Higher Education for this resource

Excerpt:

FEB. 24, 2022 — Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released findings from the Educational Attainment in the United States: 2021 table package that use statistics from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement to examine the educational attainment of adults age 25 and older by demographic and social characteristics, such as age, sex, race and nativity.

Also from The Chronicle, see:

Higher Ed 101: The Credential Cluster — from futureupodcast.com with Sean Gallagher, Michael Horn, and Jeff Selingo

Accelerated Digital Skills and the ‘Bootcamp Boom’. [holoniq.com]

On 03/01/2022, in Africa, Alternatives, Asia, Australia, business, Canada, career development, changing business models, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, education technology, Europe, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, India, innovation, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, marketplaces, new business models, organizational change, platforms, programming, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, STEAM-related, technology (general), universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Accelerated Digital Skills and the ‘Bootcamp Boom’. — from holoniq.com
The market for accelerated digital skills is stepping up to a whole new level. Bootcamps, among others, are evolving rapidly to meet the opportunity.

Excerpt:

Tech Bootcamps re-skilled and up-skilled over 100,000 professionals globally in 2021, up from less than 20,000 in 2015. We expect this number to reach over 380,000 by 2025 representing over $3B of expenditure with significant upside as tech up-skilling models and modes overlap and converge. Governments, employers, universities and colleges everywhere are embracing rapid, high ROI training to build capacity in software, marketing, cyber and tech sales to drive their economies and growth.

Also from holoniq.com, see:

Global EdTech 1000. 2021 Stats and 2022 Applications Open
Benchmarking the 2021 Global EdTech 1000 as we open applications for 2022

Also relevant/see:

What’s the most effective way to find qualified tech candidates in unlikely places? — from

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything [Steve Grubbs]

On 03/01/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, accreditation, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), change, changing business models, collaboration, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, creativity, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, graphics, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, Metaverse, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, parents/guardians, participation, platforms, simulations, social learning / networks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, United States, vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything — from steve-grubbs.medium.com by Steve Grubs

Excerpts:

The recipe required key ingredients to happen. In addition to an accredited school to manage students, admissions and the for-credit learning, it also needed a platform. That’s where EngageVR comes in. There are other platforms that will ultimately host schools, perhaps AltSpace, Horizon or others, but the first is on Engage.
…
The bottom line is this: creators, coders, educators, entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, parents and students all played a role in finally bringing the first global virtual reality high school to life. It won’t be the last school to open in the metaverse, but to all those involved in this inaugural launch — the Neil Armstrongs of your age — a special tip of the hat today for having the vision and the willingness to launch a better and more equitable era of education.

Also see:

World’s First Metaverse VR High School Speech & Debate Tournament Announced for March — from victoryxr.com
NFT in Edu: What Does the Future Hold? — from gettingsmart.com by Rachelle Dené Poth
Geo Guessing Is Even More Fun In VR On The Meta Quest — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Google wants 20,000 Americans to have higher-paying jobs — from protocol.com by Amber Burton
Google’s Career Certificate Fund is aimed at creating a sustainable model of support for American job seekers.

Excerpt:

The program is designed for students to pay zero upfront costs for the three to six-month courses, but Google certificate students are expected to repay program costs if they land a job that pays at least $40,000 annually. While the exact amount of the monthly payments was not shared in the announcement, Google said it will be low no-interest payments for Social Finance to reinvest in the program for additional participants.

Our new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund — from blog.google by Sundar Pichai

It’s another promising example of how the entire ecosystem — from private companies to nonprofits — can work together to help more Americans access economic opportunities.

Addendum on 3/2/22:

Google’s Sundar Pichai Just Announced a $100 Million Educational Fund. It Might Mean the Beginning of the End for College. — from inc.com by Jeff Steen
While college tuition rises, businesses like Google are offering their own credentials — for a lot less. It might be the educational model we’ve needed for decades.

Technology We Need: Documenting the complete Learner Record [McClennen & Midles]

On 02/12/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, education, education technology, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, higher education, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, privacy, society, student-related, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Technology We Need: Documenting the complete Learner Record — from gettingsmart.com by Nate McClennen and Rebecca Midles

Key Points

Most innovative schools and a number of states have built Graduate Profiles/Learner Profiles and a handful have created K12 competency progressions that articulate pathways towards meeting the profile.
These learning organizations are using a learning management system (LMS) that does not accommodate comprehensive Learner Records, does not capture or report transparent growth to learners or their families and does not capture out-of-course learning experiences.
We issue a challenge to those building and creating solutions.

From DSC:
The above posting reminds me of the following graphic:

From Web3 to Ed3 – Reimagining Education in a Decentralized World — from mirror.xyz by Scott David Meyer; with thanks to Bryan Alexander for posting this resource out on LinkedIn

Excerpt:

Ed3 as a Source of Human Flourishing
Education is a right, and a cornerstone for human flourishing. The more we are able to teach our students, the better prepared they will be to enter the Knowledge Economy and leave their mark on the world.

We are at the beginning of the web3 wave. Entire industries are being re-imagined with a focus on participation and ownership. Education can, and should, follow suit.

By welcoming this new era of ed3, more students will be able to access, afford, and accredit a dynamic education that helps them flourish and leave their mark on the world.

Trends Shaping Education in 2022 — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Key Points:

It’s hard to see trends in a crisis.
Around the edges and behind the scenes three important shifts accelerated: new learning goals, team tools and staffing, and active learning.

Learning Ecosystems

100 Universities established an OPM, Bootcamp or Pathways partnership in Q1 2022 [holoniq.com]

The rise of alternative credentials in hiring [shrm.org]

2022 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition

This new organization wants to accredit career education [Seltzer]

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