Digital Badges Threaten Colleges' Monopoly on Credentials

Excerpt from Joanne Jacobs article.

Applicant A's résumé shows an associate degree in business. By taking community college classes, studying online, and learning on the job, Applicant B has earned "digital badges" in product design, marketing, business writing, sales, bookkeeping, leadership, mentoring and teamwork. Who gets the job? 

Badges aren't just for Boy Scouts—or video game enthusiasts—anymore. The Mozilla Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) have created a $2 million Digital Media and Learning Competition to encourage the development of digital badges that recognize lifelong learners' knowledge and skills. 

[Learn how digital badges could significantly impact higher education.] 

The first set of winners in the teaching category were announced Jan. 12. 

One of the winners, Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, will develop a series of badges for computer science teachers. "To earn the NXT-G Instructor Badge, a candidate must first earn the NXT-G Knowledge Badge, then demonstrate additional competency in instructional material scaffolding, questioning techniques to build student understanding, and technical expertise in maintaining robots and software in her classroom," the proposal reads. 

Calling badges a "game-changing strategy," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has offered a $25,000 prize for the best badge concept serving veterans seeking skilled jobs. Instead of trying to get college credit for skills learned in the military, veterans could accumulate badges showing their expertise. 

If digital badges gain employers' respect, colleges and universities will face significant competition, writes Kevin Carey, policy director of Education Sector. "Traditional colleges and universities use their present monopoly on the credentialing franchise to extract increasingly large sums of money from students," writes Carey. That will change—if badges prove their validity as credentials...