Competency-based education (CBE) matches workplace
skills with a formal degree program, normally using digital badges to confirm the
skills and abilities a learner has acquired. Brandman University, a private
nonprofit institution, is helping its students use the badges they earn through
its online CBE program more effectively.
Brandman partnered with Credly, an online platform for
managing the credentials, to provide students with a way to share badges. The
badges link back to the issuing source and deliver data about the criteria and
issuer, giving the credential context for LinkedIn profiles, talent-management
systems, e-portfolios, social networks, online communities, and websites.
“Employers inform us that there is a need to validate
the skill set of business students and graduates,” said Gary Brahm, chancellor
of Brandman University, in a press release.
“Digital badges will arm our students with a form of professional capital that
has immediate value in the workplace.”
Brandman is approved by the U.S. Department of
Education to award financial aid to CBE students and is the first institution to
issue digital badges certifying skills as students work through their
degree-based program. It uses the Credly Enterprise edition, a cloud-based
platform to manage and display the badges.