Digital credentials should be more than just digital versions of paper certificates, and higher education institutions can serve a role facilitating this, according to Rob Coyle. While digital credentials can provide employers with more detailed information about candidates and provide candidates with a method to prove their skills, Coyle points to recent research by 1EdTech that demonstrates how employers consistently face challenges in trusting and using this information in hiring. Coyle suggests that institutions prioritize four areas to create trustworthy digital credentials: partnering with employers to design credentials, including clear and consistent data, supporting standards and data exchange between credential ecosystems, and using credentials in their own hiring process. In doing so, Coyle says digital credentials can become “powerful tools for mobility and workforce development.”
