When Mozilla introduced Open Badges in 2011 as a way to recognize learning and achievement, it ignited a paradigm shift in credentialing in higher education and beyond. Unlike conventional credentials, open badges can contain specific information in a structured format that is assertable and machine readable.
Badgewell will support experience cards along with the digital badges. Experience cards are automatically generated experience records that are not limited to certification of achievement or recognition, but rather extends to any form of professional, educational or non-educational experience gained by individuals.
One of the initiatives to popularize experience cards is the Experience API (xAPI). xAPI is ane-learning software specification that allows learning content and learning systems to speak to each other in a manner that records and tracks all types of learning experiences. Learning experiences are recorded in a Learning Record Store (LRS).
At Badgewell, we believe that the resume will soon be obsolete. In the past, a professional with a 20-year career would at most have 4 or 5 employment history records. These records were the primary drivers for employability. Today, a professional with a 20-year career is likely to have acquired multiple degrees and professional qualifications, changed around 10 jobs and in the process has completed tens of projects, written tens of articles and completed tens of advisory assignments.In the future, our career will consist of thousands of learning and professional experiences. Obviously, these records will not be human-readable,but rather machine-readable. This means that machine learning algorithms will continuously review billions of learning records to make the best job recommendation possible, and this is the premise of Badgewell.
Digital badging and experience graphing technology has applications for use beyond those of human resources departments. Today, large corporations commission market or industry research firms to conduct skill assessments and reviews inside the organizations to understand their technical competencies more. The practice has been confirmed by market research studies conducted by Badgewell.