Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Sign up, and get your own copy of the news that matters sent to your inbox every week. Sign up for the On EdTech newsletter. Interested in additional analysis? Upgrade to the On EdTech+ newsletter.
Happy Halloween!
In my household, Halloween usually goes one of two ways:
I buy a mountain of candy for trick-or-treaters, three kids show up, and I eat the rest; or
We turn off the lights and hide in the basement with The Great British Bake Off, and somehow hundreds come around and ring the doorbell.
We went with the second option this year, but before flipping that switch, here’s what I read.
Show me the way
Over the past few years, I’ve seen plenty of survey data and commentary about people’s interest in upskilling or reskilling, and their desire to advance their careers by earning credentials. But Instructure’s new State of Learning and Readiness report highlights a broadly relevant issue that rarely gets discussed: many people lack guidance on what learning to pursue.
In fact, 60% of respondents said they weren’t sure which credentials would matter and which they should pursue.
We often assume learners know how to navigate and interpret the micro-credential landscape. I see plenty of hand-wringing about employers not understanding microcredentials, but far less (okay, almost none) about the people actually earning them. For those reskilling, i.e., moving into a new field, the confusion can be costly in both time and money if they pick the wrong credential.
The solution isn’t to spend the first part of a course explaining what a given microcredential can do for you (as I’ve seen in several career-focused Coursera courses). A more useful approach would be for an enterprising organization, or a consortium or institution, to develop practical guides that help prospective learners map skills and credentials to real career pathways. Think along the lines of SkillsFuture Singapore, though it needn’t be that comprehensive or ambitious.
