8 Reasons Why Incremental Credentialing is Important
Earlier this year, the National Credential As You Go initiative held its inaugural meeting of their new Advisory Board, which includes Vanessa Brown, Deputy Chief Data Officer for the National Student Clearinghouse.
At the meeting, David Leaser, Senior Program Executive of Innovation and Growth Initiatives for IBM, shared eight reasons why incremental credentialing and a “Credential As You Go” strategy are valuable for employers, institutions, and learners. Leaser and Holly Zanville with George Washington University wrote an article on the eight reasons for The Evolllution.
The rapidly changing employment and learning environment make it very challenging for educational institutions to offer timely degree programs to address new and emerging needs for learners and employers. For example, the authors state that a few years ago there were only 50,000 U.S. graduates in data science but 500,000 job openings.
Here are Leaser’s 8 Reasons Why Incremental Credentialing is Important:
- Accelerating career entry.
- Meeting talent demand requirements.
- Helping job candidates convey “discrete skills” to companies.
- Boosting inclusivity.
- Aligning with the way people really learn.
- Filling gaps, saving time, and conserving limited resources.
- Motivating learners to earn a digital transcript and resume.
- Credentialing could save colleges from becoming obsolete.
The Clearinghouse is actively involved in this effort through its Industry Certification Education and Performance Data System initiative, and partnership with Worcred to link certification data with degree and employment data.
“Industry and education institutions should work with the Clearinghouse and others, like Workcred and Credential As You Go, to become aware and involved in addressing their state and local education and employment needs,” said Brown. “As we are seeing, lifelong learners are seeking out all types of credentials that will benefit themselves, institutions, and employers for years to come. Now is the time to get involved.”
Email the Industry Credentials team at industrycredentials@studentclearinghouse.org to learn more!
“Industry and education institutions should work with the Clearinghouse and others, like Workcred and Credential As You Go, to become aware and involved in addressing their state and local education and employment needs.”
Vanessa Brown
Deputy Chief Data Officer, National Student Clearinghouse
Review the Credential As You Go Board
