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Xuan Ma's Blog: Learner-Centered
Credentials for Employability
Posted by Xuan Ma Jun 1, 2016
Introduction
One of the buzzwords dominating today’s Higher Ed conversation is Employability. Even though there is a lack
of consensus of its definition and measurement, Employability is generally understood as one’s ability to stay
continuously employable in the labor market.
In today’s professional world, lifelong employment by the same organization is rarely guaranteed. People are
expected to change jobs, employers or even career more than once in their professional lifetime. As Sheryl
Sandberg, an executive with Facebook, stated in her bestseller “Lean In”, “It’s better to think in terms of a
career jungle gym than a career ladder.” This trend calls for a mindset shift from “lifetime employment” to
“lifetime employability.” Traditionally, people seek job security by acquiring the technical skills demanded by the
industry. To ensure “employability security” in the current labor market, one needs to acquire not only demand-
led skills, but also a set of more general, holistic attributes and personal characters along with transferrable
skills. This is often known as “soft skills” or “skills gap” identified by the industry. Today’s learners need to take
ownership of their career development as soon as they start college, or even in high school years.
Emerging Frameworks
Many frameworks and models illustrate the key factors and their interconnecting relationships that influence
policy, funding, pedagogy and assessment of employability. Ultimately, these frameworks have one common
purpose – to help the HE institutions demonstrate to students and to employers the practical value of their
training and degrees. It also enables employers to find graduates who will make immediate and valuable
contributions to their companies. Here is a brief overview of the emerging frameworks and models that guide
discussions around employability.
• Lumina Foundation released Connecting Credentials Framework
• Department of Education presents the CTE Employability Skills Framework
• Joyce Foundation released a new report on Personal Success Skills for 21st Century Jobs
• STEM Taskforce emphasizes employability skills in their STEM 2.0 framework
• UK’s Higher Education Academy recommends employability skills to embed in curricula
• Pearson newly developed Personal and Social Capabilities Framework
There is an apparent common theme threading among employability frameworks, CBE models and
Credentialing frameworks. The following four topics highlight the interconnections.
What is the value of higher education? “ROI vs. Affordability”
CBE has been touted as the solution to reducing high cost of college education. The current discussion on
college affordability focuses mainly on the financial cost of obtaining a college degree, including tuitions, books
& fees, living expense, healthcare, etc. NewAmericaFoundation has recently released reports and webnar on this
topic. The return of investment is typically measured by the job placement and entry-level salary earned by the

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graduates. (WestEd LaunchBoard data profile for California Community College System). We need a broader,
more holistic discussion about ROI of college education, looking at personal, economical and social returns on
one’s investment in education.
• On the Cost side of the ROI, in addition to the financial cost, there are intangible costs such as time,
opportunity cost. Time taken to pursue an education is not only correlated with higher cost, but also
it negatively correlates with productivity i.e. cost relating to loss of opportunity. It usually takes 2-6
years to complete a college degree for a full-time or part-time student. The delay in entering labor
market is an intangible cost of opportunity in the long run. As a society, there is missed contribution
from this otherwise tax-paying workforce.
COST {financial, time, loss of opportunity, loss of tax}
• On the Return side, statistics typically measures the job placement rate, entry-level
salary earnings for graduates. An expanded view of return value should look at other
long-term and intrinsic factors, such as the relevancy of the field of employment
according to his/her major of study, a graduate’s lifelong earning power, upward
mobility, potential for promotion and transferability across different industries. The
employability skills gained especially from GenEd and liberal arts curricula better
prepare learners with critical thinking skills for meaningful inquiry and relationship
building. Companies benefit from employees who can build relationships, care about
our environment, civically engaged and socially responsible. It is proven that those who
enjoy nature, appreciate culture and arts has a higher quality of life overall.
VALUE {job placement, entry-level earning, lifetime earning power, upward mobility, civic
engagement, quality of life}
Where does learning occur? “Learner-centered multi-faceted learning experiences”
Today’s HE system delivers learning experience through well-defined academic programs and
professor-driven curricula. However, more attention has been paid to recognize a richer and
more robust learning environment existing outside HE institutions, including working experience,
military training, volunteer commitment, civic engagement. Joyce Foundation’s Personal Success
Skills Report articulates a holistic ecosystem of learning lifecycle. Experiential learning is at
the core of employability discussion. Rick Miller, President of Olin College portrayed future
learning as more about DOING, than KNOWING. The future classroom, in his words, resembles
"a kindergarten than a lecture hall." In a learner-centered education system, college education
is only a part of the multi-faceted learning journey. Degree attainment is not a goal, but a step
along the journey of lifelong learning. The larger ecosystem of learning will collectively assure
that learners are well prepared with critical thinking skills for meaningful inquiry and relationship
building. Millennials are particularly aware of their social responsibilities and involved in activities
to improve individual, national and global welfare. To recognize college-delivered education
as the only valid, credentialed degree is to ignore the diverse and rich learning that enables a
person to succeed in workplace as well as contribute to community and society.
How to demonstrate the value of higher education? “Transparency of Credentialing”

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To make education cheaper and more affordable is only part of the solution to the entire equation
of ROI. We need to understand how to increase the return on investment. One impact of CBE
has on traditional credentialing system is to enhance the accountability of HE institutions in
assuring transparency to learning records and experiences. The traditional college credentialing
is inadequate in demonstrating learning outcomes and skill competencies. Extended transcript
and digital badging can provide more nuanced documentation of learning outcomes that are
aligned with industry-validated standards. This underscores HE institution's critical role in helping
develop the talent needed to assure a thriving economic future. Learner has the ownership of
their credentials and achievements, whether earned in college, at workplace or in the community.
However, the learner faces the challenge of navigating through the vast learning spaces which
can result in fragmented knowledge and disjoint skill sets. As Ryan Craig pointed out, employers
are "not going to be hiring new employees on the power of DIY.... It’s going to require intelligent
algorithms that look behind the credentials and the résumés and to the learning.” Therefore,
concerted efforts to streamline various learning occurrences and provide transparency to the
credentials are necessary to demonstrate the value of learning to the learners and employers
alike.
What role technology plays in meeting the needs of future learners? “Interoperability of Technology Systems”
Emerging technology that supports various innovative educational models, such as CBE, Prior learning
assessment, experiential learning, credentialing and badging are still at early adoption stage. Many legacy
systems such as SIS, LMS and scheduling software do not support an interoperable infrastructure that
facilitates inter and intra-agency data exchange. CBEN's TIP project has identified five specific technological
barriers to an institution's ability to launch and scale up operation of CBE programs:
1. Manage competencies
2. Evaluate assessment results
3. Schedule "non-term" programs
4. Measure of teaching/learning interaction
5. Competency-based transcript publishing
We need greater partnerships among HE institutions, EdTech vendor communities and employers to raise
awareness and promote technology standards in order to develop a seamless technical infrastructure for the
learner.
On the software design level, as online education gains more momentum, there is an increased demand on
pushing technological boundary in incorporating artificial intelligence to design adaptive learning tools to better
serve individual learning style and pace. It is believed by many AI holds the key to true personalized learning,
used in tutoring, creating discussions among online communities. Breakthrough innovations have also occurred
in areas such as 3D simulation used in teaching hands-on skills, virtual reality used in teaching motor skills and
immersion-based learning.

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102 Views Tags: interoperability, employability, credential, cbe
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