Design Credentials to Meet Adult Student Needs
Rather than choose a credential to launch and hope to find an audience, first determine the audience a program will serve and then build the offering to meet their needs. Too often campus stakeholders chase innovative-sounding credentials like badges or micro-degrees; however, students and employers don’t understand what these non-degree credentials mean. Student-centric, versus credential-centric design, ensures the offering matches the audience’s needs.
Teach campus leaders about alternative credentials’ value
Non-degree credentials receive different names, but most ultimately provide the same value: fast and focused education and training. Adult learners and employers can rarely define or distinguish between new non-degree credentials. Skill development matters to these adult learners and their employers, not the item recognizing it.
Exceptions to employers’ and students’ focus on skills over credentials exist where non-degree certifications achieve industry standard, like Project Management Professional certification and certain information technology credentials (e.g., CompTIA certifications, Cisco Certified Networking Administrator certification). Fields like health care and education also value and require credential attainment, often inherent within licensure qualifications.
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