What’s the future for alternative digital
credentials (ADCs)? A new report from
the International Council for Open and
Distance Education (ICDE) argues
that ADCs will significantly change the
relationship between students and
schools—and, ultimately, between
higher education and society.
The report predicts that, by
providing a rich record of a student’s
skills and competencies, ADCs will
challenge the relevance of traditional
university transcripts and create a
“new and dynamic ecosystem for the
evaluation of applied learning in the
workplace.” By unbundling learning,
verification, and documentation,
ADCs will disrupt the traditional advantage
of higher education and allow
alternative providers to be active in
the credentialing space. And because
students, not institutions, will own
their certifications, institutions will
not be able to control how information
about credentials is disseminated.
But the rise of ADCs could offer
advantages to universities, too.
“The adoption of an ADC system will
allow universities to achieve greater
alignment with the demands of both
students and local economies, making
universities more accountable for
what they produce,” says Gary Matkin,
the dean of continuing education
and vice provost of career pathways
at the University of California, Irvine.
He led ICDE’s working group of global
higher experts who produced the
report. “Young adults are demanding
shorter, relevant education that they
can put to immediate use. Industry
hiring practices will increasingly depend
on digital searches for job candidates,
and ADCs will make those
competencies easier to discover.”
The report also provides guidance
to schools about how they
can establish their own alternative
credentialing systems.
Read the “The Present and Future of Alternative Digital Credentials (ADCs).”