An integrated credential management system offers a comprehensive solution for managing a variety of credentials, such as degrees, certificates, and badges; and for managing credit and non-credit learning. The system streamlines the entire lifecycle of credentialing, from the proposal of a credential to its issuance and verification. This integration can provide multiple benefits for different stakeholders.
Organization
- Enhanced communications: Consistent language for credentialing practices can facilitate communication between faculty, staff, and learners, reducing confusion and costly misunderstandings.
- Consistent program requirements: With integrated curriculum management, program requirements can be presented consistently across multiple platforms. This makes it easier for learners to understand what is required of them to earn a particular credential.
- Speed to market: By streamlining the credentialing process, institutions can more quickly develop and offer new programs, helping them stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving workforce.
- Data quality: Integrated data management can reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. This improves the validity of reports and gives decision makers the confidence to act.
- Reporting and analytics: A more comprehensive approach to curriculum management can simplify the task of generating reports. This is particularly valuable for faculty and administrators who need to make data-driven decisions about learner progress, curriculum, and program offerings.
Prospective Learners
- Clear understanding of requirements: With information consistently presented across multiple platforms, prospective learners can better understand the differences between credential programs and their requirements. This information can also show learners how credentials are sequenced to create clear pathways.
- Streamlined application: An integrated system can streamline the application process, allowing prospective learners to more quickly review credentialing options and apply for the right one. Well-informed enrollment decisions support students’ goal formation, persistence, and success.
Current Learners
- Easy access to information: With all credential information connected across multiple systems and applications, learners can easily obtain accurate information about different credentials, program requirements, and scheduling.
- Greater flexibility: By using multiple technologies and applications, learners have more varied and flexible options. This allows them to better balance work, family, and other responsibilities.
- Clear program requirements: Integrated curriculum management ensures that program requirements are consistently presented across multiple platforms. This reduces learners’ confusion about what is required of them to achieve a particular credential.
- Progress tracking: An integrated system allows learners to track their progress toward different credentials in one place. This makes it easier for learners to ensure they’re on track to meet their requirements and to make informed decisions about their academic journey. In addition, learners can see how one credential leads into the next and track their progress along a pathway that incorporates multiple credentials.
- Better support services: An integrated system can enhance support services by facilitating more efficient communication between learners and staff/faculty—often through the use of social media and other digital technology.
Staff and Faculty
- Streamlined workflows: An integrated system can help to streamline workflows, reducing administrative burden and freeing up time for more important tasks.
- Improved data management: An integrated system can help to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. This makes it easier to track learner progress toward credentials and career goals.
- Clear roles and responsibilities: An integrated system can provide clear guidance on the roles and responsibilities of staff and faculty involved in the credentialing process. This can enhance accountability and promote team development, which ultimately improves the process.
Employers
- Workforce alignment: An integrated system can improve alignment between academic programs and the skills and knowledge needed in the workforce. This can help institutions better tailor their programs to meet employers’ needs, and also helps employers recruit better workers, as graduates have a better understanding of the skills and competencies required in the job market.
- Competency and skill review: Richer forms of digital credentials can provide more detailed information on the assessed skills and competencies of job candidates, enabling a more thorough review of applicants’ qualifications. This can build confidence in the quality of new hires and streamline the task of verifying credentials during the hiring process.
