Micro-Credentials Vs Digital Badges

Institutions that issue digital badges and micro-credentials improve the credentials’ potential effect by building possible platforms and giving recognizable learning opportunities. While completing their training or earning a degree, today’s youth can learn about and enroll in courses related to the modern organization or technology-enhanced workplace culture. Working people’s jobs, on the other hand, are already in peril due to the clear skill gap, necessitating reskilling.

 

Micro-credentials and Digital Badges enable people to learn, gather information, and be recognized both in practical and theoretical knowledge, allowing them to bridge the gap in today’s industry’s required qualifications. But, exactly, what’s the distinction between the two?

 

Micro-credentials are an innovative method to accredit learners and business professionals with the knowledge and capabilities they need to succeed in today’s increasingly digital environment. Non-degree certification and micro-credentials have surfaced, indicating a change in thinking and expectations toward shorter, more concentrated credentials. They are also known as nano-credentials since they are a nano-representation of the credential obtained, such as a micro-credential for mastering MS Excel.

 

Much like physical badges, digital badges are virtual representations of a person’s professional qualifications, talent, passion, or achievement, as well as means for authenticating and presenting them. Digital Badges display the related certificate in a simple and instantaneous manner. The Mozilla Foundation introduced Open Badges, a technical framework for granting and distributing digital badges across internet websites and non-profit organizations, in 2011. Learners receive a digital badge once they have exhibited competence in the relevant skill.

 

Why are they Significant in Today’s World?

 

Micro-credentials can aid personal development by allowing you to compare new talents to previous knowledge and see how you’ve progressed. It boosts your efficiency and comfort at work by giving you a sense of achievement and fulfillment. On the other hand, According to recent surveys, prospective employees adopt badges as a means of evaluating potential employees. Two elements, according to some experts, will determine the future of this field: universities’ ability to connect education programs with specific business requirements, and the evolvement of credential criteria.

 

Both verified credentials and digital badges have meta-data capable of connecting to them, which confirms the credentials’ identification and validity. By relying on the displayed badge, which contains encrypted metadata, a potential employer can learn a lot about you. For example, prospective employers may instantly comprehend the issuer, recipient, badge qualifications, and other relevant information, as well as to authenticate the badge.