Innovators pitch. Each speaker is given 7 minutes to introduce their company, innovation or concept.
Innovators pitch. Each speaker is given 7 minutes to introduce their company, innovation or concept.
The proliferation of credentials has been an enduring trend of modern times. Credentialing has been defined as a process through which person’s qualities are approved or recognised by an authority. Credentials, including educational and academic credentials, help establish the expertise and social position of the holder. The Internet and related digital media have created unprecedented opportunities to connect, communicate and learn. In the digital age learners also need new opportunities to aggregate their learning achievements and associated evidence of learning from multiple sources in a portable, digital, interoperable and verifiable way. Digital Credentials such as Open Badges (Mozilla) and Blockcerts (MIT) have been only recently developed as open standards which enable an open, digital infrastructure and an ecosystem of digital credentials. Digital credentials based on Open Badges and/or Blockcerts can be designed to represent valid indicators of specific achievements such as competencies, skills, knowledge and diverse accomplishments, point to evidence of such achievements and share digital representations of these achievements across the web. Schools, universities, employers and informal learning providers globally have been using digital credentials to capture life-long and life-wide learning which may have otherwise remained unrecognised. This talk explores the evolution of credentials from a historical perspective and provides an overview of the recent developments in digital credentialing with the focus on various concepts, technologies, uses and functions of digital credentials. This talk also provides recommendations for moving forward with digital credentials in the digital age.
Employers are concerned with identifying, retaining and developing talent. Employees are concerned with having evidence of their skills and competences. How can blockchain and digital credentials contribute to talent management from both the employer and the employees’ perspective?
Blockchain has the capacity to become a trusted service to check and validate the accuracy of information provided by job applicants. This could include checking things like education, skills, past work experiences and training courses completed – reducing the time spent by recruiters and hiring managers in verifying individual applications. Can the centrally notarisation provide respite for the employers from the challenges of identifying talent and providing evidence of talent? How can blockchain be used for regularly providing certification/evidence of skills and competences developed?
Blockchain transfers power from certificate-giver to the certificate-holder. Blockchain could also offer more personalised information management to job seekers and better match their profile with job offers. How does this impact the employers’ role in recruitment processes, talent management, and training and development? The digital divide persists and remains evident between different sections, factions, cohorts of the workforce. Some employees are more digitally inclined, able and willing and comfortable with the use of more IT tools in their work environment. Others remain aloof and trusty of more traditional working procedures. Could a wider use of blockchain and a dependence of it for evidencing talent possibly create a further divide for those employees less ICT-friendly?