- May 2023
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docs.google.com docs.google.com
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Market Scan: Skills Validation Methods doc by Education Design Lab and XCredit Skills Validation Network
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- Mar 2023
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www.edsurge.com www.edsurge.com
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only about a third of the need for mental health professionals in Colorado is currently met, driving demand for additional qualified behavioral health workers. By offering microcredential pathways in patient navigation, peer support specialist, behavioral health associate, and behavioral health+, these new credentials are designed to address Colorado’s mental health workforce shortage by preparing people for these roles in less than one year
Market need + Short prep time for learners = meeting needs of job seekers and employers.
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whether built as credit-bearing or non-credit pathways, microcredentials are by no means a substitute for the intensiveness or comprehensiveness of traditional higher education pathways.
Yes! It's a false dichotomy to pit MCs vs traditional credentials. They are different and can be complimentary.
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- Dec 2022
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eddesignlab.org eddesignlab.org
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DEGREES AS CREDENTIALSDON’T GO AWAY
They are redefined as the skills that make up the degree, and learners can achieve mastery by other means. What does change is the emphasis on proficiency. Being able to demonstrate and validate skills proficiency will provide much more information to employers and (l)earners.
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same groups that are going to makethe scale happen can also perpetuate theinequities. We have to be asking the rightquestions with the right stakeholders toensure that we are not recreating anotherinequitable system that marginalizes thepeople we are trying to support
Holly Custard of Strada
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Universally accepted assessments ordemonstration opportunities, particularlyfor softer skills, could help learners andworkers validate any type of skill withoutbeing told that they will have to “go backand get a degree” before being consideredfor professional track careers
Universally accepted assessments can also add trust to college and university credentials. There is merit to the notion that higher ed institutions have a conflict of interest when it comes to serving as both learning provider and validator of that learning.
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Employers are investing in their own capacity andlooking for innovative partnerships to skill-up theirworkforce and diversify their talent pipelines.Companies like Microsoft and Google are trying tospeed up the pipeline by offering tens of thousands ofscholarships for their ready-made certificates inhard-to-fill roles. The World Economic Forum estimatesthat 50% of all employees will need to reskill by 2025
There's urgency driving employer/industry efforts in this space. It's not simply trying to replace higher ed or signal lack of trust in higher ed or to go into competition with higher ed. While these things may all be in play, the reality is that the current make up of post-secondary education in the United States lacks the capacity to meet the coming needs.
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We are now tantalizingly close to a worldwhere my skills are telegraphed digitally to any employer around the nation,or even the world, looking for that skills cocktail. And it works the other way:all employers looking for certain skills can feed into a real-time skills tickertape, signaling to learners and the learning providers that serve them whatcombination of skills will yield employment
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