Why digital badges and assessments are imperative for today's youth
We have an imperative to develop a solid assessment and digital credential strategies for our youth. And it is not complicated.
A few years ago, I was invited by the Urban Institute to participate in a panel discussion. The topic was about digital badges and their impact. As the founder of the IBM Digital Badge Program, I had a good story to tell about how enterprises could use digital badges to improve business outcomes, improving everything from sales to customer support to marketing and employee retention.
After the panel ended, I stepped down off the stage and expected to mix and mingle with professors and business leaders from the Washington DC area. Instead, I was approached by three young African American teenagers. They walked up to me and asked, “How can we earn digital badges?”
In that single moment, my entire point of view on digital badges changed completely.
In that single moment, my entire point of view on digital badges changed completely. While I was previously focused on business needs, my mind immediately shifted to societal needs. These teenagers were interested in earning digital badges to recognize their capabilities, to improve their lives and open opportunities. They wanted to learn the latest technologies and business skills.
We talked for a while and I started asking them questions about their interests. Typical teenagers, they were interested in sports, fashion, music and popular culture. I realized if we could capture their passions and hidden capabilities, we could align them to careers they would love, and where they would be successful. For some time, we have known that a person with an interest and propensity in music will probably have an interest and propensity for mathematics.
One of the teenagers told me he was interested in outdoor activities, like fishing, he said. I thought, if we could capture that information and then provide him with skills and digital credentials around core business skills, we could marry his passions with a great career. We could help him prepare for a career at Cabela's or an outdoor-oriented organization. Actually, I would shoot higher than that. I would prepare him to manage a Cabela's.
When you think about it, we have the tools and technology right now to help someone — anyone — find a career they will love and also be wildly successful.
And all of this points to a need, and imperative really, to develop a solid assessment and digital credential strategies for our youth. And it is not complicated:
Assess interests and capabilities: Tools like MyInnerGenius have proven this can work by quickly assessing a person's hidden capabilities, passions and durable, transferable skills. Using science-based algorithms, they can then catalog capabilities, identify the gaps, and then make recommendations for ideal careers to complete a person's skill set. They can even provide career paths and accelerated skills road map, including apprenticeships and internships.
Issue signals of achievement: When the training or activity is complete, digital badges provide shareable, verifiable signals of readiness and achievement. They also create an incredible motivation to continue the journey.
The need for assessments and digital badges are an imperative in a skills-based world. And we have to start early. We need to start in high school. High schools and community colleges must adopt these new tools. The tools are already there and easy to use, but mindsets must change. Fortunately, forward-thinking institutions are leading in this area. Schools like Youngstown State University use cognitive assessments, digital badges and apprenticeships to prepare the next generation. They serve as a model, a proven model, for what works.
Time to put these tools to use. We have the opportunity to truly transform our educational institutions. More than that, we will transform lives.
About the Author:
David Leaser, Co-Founder, Digital Badge Academy
David Leaser is an award-winning strategist, C-Suite consultant & program lead in L&D and HCM, Vice President at MyInnerGenius and the co-founder of Digital Badge Academy. He is the founder of the IBM Digital Badge program, a leading-edge digital credential program, the IBM New Collar Certificate Program and IBM’s first cloud-based embedded learning solution. David was a senior strategist for IBM’s Smarter Workforce and the Global Skills Initiative. David is a Commissioner for The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce)'s Digital Badge Commission, a member of the 1Edtech Board advisory group for digital credentials, the national Credential As You Go Advisory Board and a senior advisor to New Markets Venture Capital Group. He provides guidance to the US Department of Labor and the US Department of Education as an employer subject matter expert.
David was appointed as an Industry Fellow in the Center for the Future of Higher Education & Talent Strategy in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University, an American Tier 1 university. He is the author of thought leadership white papers on talent development, including “Migrating Minds,” “The Social Imperative in Workforce Development” and Wiley’s “Connecting Workplace Learning and Academic Credentials via Digital Badges.”
David holds an M.A. in Communications Management from USC’s Annenberg School and a B.A. in Communications from Pepperdine University. Connect with David through LinkedIn.
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