How to future proof a course certificate? Make it
Today, if you want a degree from a particular university, you must attend their classes and take their exams. However, that is starting to change. Higher education institutions around the world are beginning to exempt students from courses, provided they can present evidence of mastery of the knowledge and skills covered in a respective course. For example, I did not have to take a basic statistics course when I went to study a master's program in the Netherlands, because I had learned statistics in my previous education. Or take College Unbound, an accredited US-based college that awards degrees to students in part based on their prior work experience.
This new trend benefits the student, because they may obtain a degree in shorter time and at lower cost. It benefits the institution, because they may have to teach fewer students and save instruction- and assessment-related resources. And finally, it creates an opportunity for alternative education providers to deliver additional value. They can now say to their customers: Come take our course, you will receive credit for it in your degree program!
So what can alternative education providers do to prepare for a future where higher education institutions are agnostic about where and how their students learn? A good way to start is to issue credentials that informative, transparent, and verifiable, and so make it easier for higher education institutions to recognize students' prior learning.
What information to include in a future-proof credential?
1. Quality of provided education
Share information that helps assess the quality of the education you provide. How strong is your brand? Is your organization accredited? What internal and external quality assurance mechanisms do you have in place? Is your program already recognized by an educational institution? Does taking your course give graduates access to a particular profession, further training, or career progression? What do your students say about the program?
2. Learning and other outcomes
How has the participant changed because of your program? What do they now know, what can they do? And at what level (e.g., beginner, advanced)? Are they better known or connected in the field as the result of your program?
3. Workload
What is the total course workload? What type of learning activities did you have students do?
4. Assessment
Did you check if the participant achieved the educational outcomes? Was the student assessed on achieving the learning objectives of the course? If so, how? What did students have to do to earn this credential? Participate at a certain level, complete the course, or attain a minimum score in an assessment?
5. Authenticity of the certificate
How can the authenticity of the credential be verified?
6. Identification of the participant
What did you do to assure that the course and assessment was indeed taken by the person stated on the certificate? What measures did you put in place to prevent cheating?
There are other ways to future proof an educational credential, such as make it digital, but that is a topic for a future post.
SOURCES
This post is partly based on this publication for prior learning recognition professionals working in higher education. I flipped the advice in the report for the benefit of alternative education providers.
