In my Badge Tagging and Developing Distinction post, I wrote about the emergence of open badging standards by Mozilla and the gain in popularity for learners as a method of differentiation both online and on a resume. I seek to build upon that analysis but from a business perspective. My perspective on digital badges is one of disruption. Our players in this study include Universities (the incumbents) and MOOCs / Online Programs with digital badges and certificates (the disruptors).
Traditionally in the marketplace, accredited universities and programs of study issued diplomas and transcripts with earned grades to express competency and merit. Employers use the field of study, GPA, and the university’s status as a means for assessing a candidate prior to interviewing. I’ve argued many times that Universities can be compared to a stock publicly traded on the market. Although I have received a degree from a university, the market ultimately decides the value that adds to my net-worth. When I graduated, for example, my university could have be ranked 5th in business schools nation-wide, however over time, that status might rise and fall, changing employers and the public perception of my accreditation.
Additionally, studies from Markets and Markets in their Massive Open Online course Market – Global Forecast to 2020 (content behind a pay-wall) report have shown that Education fees in institutions have been rising at a rapid rate since 2010. In 2012, for example, public universities increased their tuition and fees by 27% from 2007. The average tuition over the past few years were more than 30,000 USD per year. As a result of climbing tuition prices, student enrollment has decreased (2% in 2012) and learners are slowly moving to MOOCs and additional specialized programs.
MOOC platforms are quickly realizing this shift and developing business models accordingly. Coursera, a MOOC platform started by Stanford professors, began offering certified certificates issued by universities and corporation for a fee in addition to learning paths and “specializations” or bundles courses. On the corporate side, Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn included LinkedIn’s recent acquisition of Lynda.com, an online learning platform, and is now charging a subscription service to the learning platform and offering recommended courses based on a LinkedIn resume/profile. To promote this offering, Microsoft announced a free week of learning.
Certainly Mozilla launching the Open Badge Standards in 2011 was no coincidence and aided in fueling the eventual disruption of the education industry. With standardization of badges of the metadata behind them (issuer, recipient, date, platform, skills exhibited, etc) now, any platform, any organization, any MOOC, can issue a public badge and “accredit” skills to the learner outside of a university without the fluctuation of brand. You might ask yourself how employers are responding to the trend? In fact, employers are beginning to trust more and more online certifications and credentials, but still not over university diplomas. I’m not stating that Universities will disappear. Universities provide inherit benefits for research opportunities, alumni community, and student life, however, one’s learning profile might be heavily shifted away from the pure university model.
While this shift is necessary for disruption of MOOC platforms over universities, it is certainly not sufficient. Gartner explains in a predictions report that there is a major mismatch between employer needs and the courses universities offer. Recall in my previous blog post on Open Badges that in the tech industry specifically, new technologies, methodologies, and coding languages are evolving constantly. One year’s university course can be outdated the following year or have to rapidly adapt curricula to match the shift. The truth of the matter is that universities are not keeping up and still focusing on theoretical approaches rather than practical (which is still essential don’t get me wrong). For a student just graduating or had not self-studied on MOOCs or other platforms, aside from skills gained in an internship, are not prepared to enter the workforce with the skills demands by employers. The same Gartner report from 2016 states that 58% of employers reported having identified a lie on a resume. From a business perspective, hiring the wrong employee leads to lower employee satisfaction and a decrease in profitability, basically a lose-lose. So why do it? The economy, pressure, you name it!
Emerging technology augmenting the power of Open Badges has recently entered the marketplace, using Blockchain to track issued badges. MIT’s Media Lab recently released version one of their open source project for digital certificates called Blockcerts. You can read more about their post and engage in their community. Below is an image from their blog that speaks to the architectural process behind Blockcerts.
Gartner further states that By 2021, 30% of higher education institutions in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia will be using a digital credentialing infrastructure powered by blockchain and this open source approach by MIT will certainly catalyze the adoption.
For those new to Blockchain, Blockchain is the technology derived from the creation of Bitcoin, the online currency. Blockchain is an immutable (write only) shared ledger among parties, only adding new blocks to the Blockchain when consensus is made by all stakeholders involved.
The positives to a Blockchain approach to OpenBadge management is the security and confidence in sharing one’s skills and competencies to employers. Upon receiving a certificate for the completion of a course, a new block will be added to a learners blockchain to add the new skills and competencies gained, backed by the issuing institution. Both the learner and the institution have access to the record and the learner, thereafter, builds a immutable resume of their accomplishments. Eventually, ecosystem players will build products making greater use of learner data, but until then, the technology serves to be a source of truth in the education community.
The negatives, however (and I fear) that employers will require even more skills for new hires and entry level positions, even add badges courses on the job requisite listing (Not like landing a job out of college is hard enough…). With eventual new systems to parse through a learner’s blockchain and automatically deny candidates if certain credentials are not met (including specific courses), the typical 5 second read of ones resume can get even shorter.
Competition is only rising for student learners in the marketplace with increased differentiation. While solutions such as open badging and blockchain will disrupt the education space, the real losers are the students.
The innovation ecosystem around Blockchain, Open Badging, and Education are still in its nascence. I encourage developers, data scientists, and innovators alike to post problems they have faced with credentials here on the blog and to start brainstorming on how to progress the work MIT has started! Additionally, please comment on any results you foresee on Blockchain and Open Badging’s effect on ecucation.
Developing Innovation 