The potential of digital credentials to engage students with capabilities of importance to scholars and citizens

Abstract

Digital credentials (or badges) allow evidence of achievement to be more detailed than is possible through grades, and can be shared more broadly than is possible through the academic transcript. Here, we illustrate the potential use of digital credentials in higher education through sharing an approach that utilised digital credentials to recognise the achievement of students who demonstrate outstanding achievement of specific graduate attributes. More specifically, we explore the potential use of digital credentials to contribute to the development of citizen scholars through engaging students at the course (degree) level, promoting experiential learning and facilitating public sharing. The credentialing strategy described was designed to enhance employability, and the standards and criteria associated with the award were developed in collaboration with industry partners to give students the opportunity to differentiate themselves in the graduate job market. However, student applications, perceptions of the application process and feedback from industry partners who assessed the submissions suggest that an unintended, but positive, outcome of the credentialing strategy was promotion of students’ personal identity and broader social engagement. We suggest that digital credentials at course level could be a useful tool to engage students with graduate attributes, foster graduate identity and develop graduates who are active and engaged citizens.

Digital badges: Pinning down employer challenges

“…These skills include critical thinking, digital literacy, leadership and teamworking, which complement the traditional, paper degree certificate or transcript, where specific skills and attributes are not always obvious. Students often overlook their competencies, so providing badges can be a useful aide-memoire to help them to track and to evidence their skills and graduate attributes (Miller, De St Jorre, West, & Johnson, 2017). Possessing this enhanced skills selfawareness augments students' employability, as they transition through their degree programme and beyond university; enabling students to showcase their soft skills proficiency to potential employers (Loughlin et al, 2016).…”

Regional Digital Cluster Of Traditional Verbal Culture

“…Despite the acutely debatable nature of the problems of digitalization of education, its ability to enrich and diversify traditional methods and techniques of secondary and higher education becomes obvious, as well as to provide prospects for postgraduate development of graduates (Miller et al, 2020).…”

‘They help us realise what we’re actually gaining’: The impact on undergraduates and teaching staff of displaying transferable skills badges

“…Skills badges have been discussed in literature as potential tools for engaging students, motivating and rewarding learning and evidencing progress and skill attainment to students and employers (Gibson et al, 2015; LaMagna, 2017). Typically, such badges (in digital format) are awarded to students after demonstrating proficiency in transferable or technical skills gained during an academic course but not explicitly graded (Bowen and Thomas, 2014; Devedžić et al, 2015; Seery et al, 2017) and/or during extra-curricular activities (Miller et al, 2017). Digital badges can be a more transparent and detailed credential than an academic transcript, as they contain embedded metadata and can be linked to assessment details and learner-specific evidence of competency (Casilli and Hickey, 2016).…”