Icdk outlook No. 04, May 2019 The Future of Education

 
 
Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education 
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are hence not able to compete with candidates holding degrees from established 
universities. Some companies even require candidates to hold degrees from 
specific elite universities such as Stanford or Harvard. Without accreditation it is 
thus hard for recruiters to verify the skills of a candidate. However, it might only 
be a matter of time before these barriers change. The tech industry in Silicon 
Valley is already showing willingness to hire candidates with non-traditional 
backgrounds and others are following in the footsteps
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. Also, more and more 
companies use testing as part of their application process, which thus enables 
individuals with various backgrounds to demonstrate their skills in an interview. 
Furthermore, start-ups such as Degreed are changing the concept of degrees and 
accreditation and the ability to certify specific skills in new ways might become an 
even more powerful tool in the future than traditional accreditation. 
2.2.2 Student motivation 
Another barrier to the new alternatives breaking through that is also being 
discussed in the US is the potential loss of student motivation. In the case of online 
learning for example, it is harder to keep students engaged if the learning form is 
passive. And one of the main critiques of MOOCs has indeed been the drop-out 
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Jackson (2018)
Degreed – accreditation for reading your morning paper 
Why do universities have a monopoly on credentials and defining who is 
educated? This question is one of the reasons that David Blake launched 
Degreed
 in 2012 to ‘jailbreak the degree’ through an online platform where all 
learning can be uploaded to your records and certified by experts within the 
field. More than 2 million people are already using Degreed and the skill-
certification has proven over 95 % accurate (according to their own webpage). 
Basically, it works by submitting evidence proving that you have learned a 
specific skill, even if that proof is an article you read in your morning paper. 
Afterwards, a process involving both endorsers (meaning a minimum of two 
references that can verify your skill), expert assessments and machine learning 
ensures a final ranking of your skill in the system. These skills are then shown 
in an online certificate to showcase your “life’s education”. 
“How it works” - Degreed’s illustration of the skill certification process (website)
 
If someone asks you: “What is your education?” Most people answer by telling 
about the degree they obtained in school, even if that was many years ago. 
Think if you were asked: ‘Tell me about your health’ and you started telling 
about the marathon you ran 20 years ago. This somehow provoking message 
from a Degreed 
video
 sums up the vision behind the company and why it might 
pave the way for the “new alternatives” to overcome the barrier of 
accreditation and ensure alternative ways of certifying your skills in the future. 

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