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

Unbundling the degree: Microcredentials and Nanodegrees 
Non-traditional Silicon Valley-based providers of education such as Udacity, EdX 
and Digital Promise all offer an unbundled and leaner way to obtain a degree. 
These degrees take less time and are not as comprehensive as a regular degree 
but only focus on specific skills (e.g. Artificial Intelligence or Digital Marketing). 
It provides individuals with an opportunity to obtain degrees in specific areas of 
interest without the more time-consuming parts of the traditional degree. The 
idea is that these parts and courses of the traditional degree oftentimes seem 
redundant in light of your overall career goals. This online-based degree model 
thus provides flexibility and choice for the students to tailor their own degree. 
Micromasters on EdX even work as a supplement to an existing master on for 
example MIT, and gives one semester’s worth of credits. Online degrees 
furthermore help employers in recruiting by endorsing people’s training in 
specific skills and enable tailored re-skilling of workers. The new forms of 
degrees thus unbundle the traditional degree and is an example of new 
technologies being used to offer students flexibility. 

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Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education 
10 
2.2 
A CV with an online degree? Barriers and friction of change 
When looking at the drivers of change in the US it is important to consider the 
friction and barriers of change, which will be discussed in the following. 
2.2.1 Accreditation and getting through company barriers 
One of the key barriers addressed by most of the educational alternatives in the US 
is the need for accreditation. In a recruiting-process, companies need to verify the 
competencies of a candidate and applicants holding degrees without accreditation