Expand Employment Opportunities with Digital Badges
in MindTap for Microsoft Collections

By Kurt Lanigan, Faculty in the Business & Creative Industries at Nova Scotia Community College

I recently attended a session on Expanding Employment Opportunities with Digital Badges by Erica Longenbach (Senior Enterprise Account Executive - Accredible) and Amy Savino (Senior Portfolio Product Manager – Cengage). In today's rapidly evolving job market, traditional degrees and certifications are no longer the sole indicators of a candidate's suitability for a role. Employers now seek individuals with a diverse skillset, adaptability and a continuous learning mindset. This shift has given rise to a new credentialing system - digital badges. These digital, verifiable credentials are changing the game by offering a more granular and dynamic representation of a person's skills and achievements. In this blog post, we will explore how Cengage in partnership with Accredible is offering digital badges.

Erica started the presentation by going over how Accredible rolled out the Badging credentials in Cengage products with the requirements set out by Amy’s team. Erica uses her expertise in digital credentialing and data analysis to help companies like Cengage to implement effective credentialing strategies that enhance their brand, retention, and engagement. She shared how digital badges offer a dynamic way to highlight the most up-to-date skills and knowledge. As an individual earns new badges, they can easily be added to their digital portfolio, providing a real-time snapshot of their capabilities.

The audience had many questions for Amy and Cengage about how these new badges are going to work. She clarified that Cengage badges are NOT Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications, but rather an alternative for proving successful completion of a particular Microsoft task. Amy then went into the specifics on how students can obtain a badge.

Cengage Badge Requirements

  • Students must obtain a 90% or above on an assignment that is labeled that a badge is available
  • Badges are available for capstone projects and MOS practice exams
  • Only Office 365 or 2021 versions qualify for a badge (unfortunately for my students, we are on the 2019 version, but will be upgrading next Fall)
  • Once a badge has been obtained, students can share it directly to their LinkedIn profile, Facebook, and other social media accounts

Before attending this session, I thought that digital badges were nothing more than glorified stickers (think of getting an old school gold star sticker). I learned through this session that digital badges are small achievements that any student can incorporate into their digital portfolio (i.e., LinkedIn profile) or resume and cost nothing (unlike the MOS certifications, which students must pay an extra fee in order to take). These badges can have a significant impact on a student’s potential to get a job and--let’s be honest here--that is the ultimate goal of all our learners.

In a world where skills and knowledge are evolving, digital badges are emerging as a powerful tool for both job seekers and employers. Going forward I will select assignments where badging is available which will help those students who do not wish to pursue (or can’t afford) other certification paths. I look forward to highlighting these new badges to my students when we finally make the switch from Office 2019 to Office 365 in Fall 2024.

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