How Syracuse University Scaled Its Digital Credentials Program Campus-Wide
The Organization
If you’re looking for ideas to help launch and scale your school’s digital credentialing, Syracuse University is an excellent model to follow. Its microcredentials program is among the industry’s most comprehensive, helping thousands of learners across multiple disciplines enhance their professional skills with digital badges and certificates. Students can choose from an ever-expanding portfolio of instructor-led, instructor-guided, or self-guided microcredentials, and the options are continually expanding.
Granted, taking the microcredentialing program university-wide took a lot of planning and determination. And the results didn’t happen overnight. But the effort has been worth it, and finding the right digital credentialing platform made all the difference.
Challenges
When the College of Professional Studies originally decided to adopt digital badging, they didn’t have a standard to go by. The idea was still so new, the primary goal was to help the university provide students with secure and instantly verifiable digital credentials—ones they’d be proud to put on resumes and share online—in turn growing awareness and demand for Syracuse programs.
“When I first came to this office in 2021, I met with various schools and colleges to talk about their needs,” says Arthur Thomas, Executive Director of the Office of Professional Acceleration and Microcredentials. “And overwhelmingly, they were all thinking about the concept of issuing digital badges—but weren't sure what to do.”
As a result of those meetings, Thomas saw a huge opportunity. His team was already coordinating continuing education units (CEUs) and non-credit paper certificates, so he decided to build the digital badging program from the ground up. The team developed a university-wide digital badging council and 24-page governance document to guide all digital microcredentials processes across the university.
Initially, the team used digital badge software Badgr (now Canvas Credentials) to issue microcredentials to students. But unfortunately, the platform couldn’t keep up with Syracuse’s technical and customer service needs as the microcredentialing program expanded. They needed to find a solution that would scale alongside it.
The Solution
In their search for a new digital credentialing platform, one name kept coming up: Accredible.
“When we found Accredible, our first thought was that this is too good to be true,” recalls Thomas. “Then it turned out it wasn't too good to be true. Accredible is far more robust and intuitive, with more sophisticated tools and a smooth, seamless user experience. We were thrilled.”
Accredible delivered all the capabilities the university needed—and then some. It was fast to deploy, simple to use, and easy to customize. The platform even offered granular features like dynamic attributes to automate time-consuming tasks. And with robust data analytics, the team can answer virtually every question from any school, whether they want to track course enrollments or see how many (and where) people are sharing badges on social media.
“I love the data we’re able to get from Accredible,” says Operations Specialist Allison Roth. "One department is focused on who’s actually engaged with their badge, another is more concerned with who shared it on LinkedIn, and everyone is interested in the credential share rate, reach, and program referrals. We can see all of this within Accredible.”
The difference was so noticeable that departments were initially shocked at how quickly they could create and issue a new badge. What once took weeks could now be ready in a matter of days, and requests for new features were no longer met with resistance. Instead of “we can’t do that,” stakeholders heard about innovative options to help improve the program even more.
Perhaps most importantly, the microcredentialing team found a true partner to help them scale.
“Having a dedicated team to work with is huge,” says Roth. “And I really love working with our Accredible team. We’re rapidly expanding our reach across the university, and being able to strategize with them makes a big difference as we scale both our offerings and the number of credentials we issue.”
Results
Since partnering with Accredible, Syracuse University’s microcredentialing program has taken off.
“Who we serve is growing and changing rapidly,” says Thomas. “We expect our portfolio of digital badging across the university will be in the hundreds of options for people.”
The Institute for Veterans and Military Families now offers a huge collection of courses, and several professional schools—such as the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Whitman School of Management, and the Newhouse School of Public Communications—provide all kinds of lifelong learning opportunities. As digital badging continues to expand across these and other schools, Accredible is helping to elevate university brand perception.
“What's most concerning about issuing a digital badge is whether it preserves our image and creates the overall impression we want," says Thomas. “This comes across in how our badges look, how people verify them, and how people get more information about the university. It's the sort of thing we've found to be an excellent opportunity within Accredible—to be able to present ourselves the way we wish to. And that's really something that's unique.”
And with Accredible, there are always answers.
“No matter what crazy questions we bring, Accredible is always there to answer and help support us,” notes Roth. “They’re very hands-on and provide a support system to help us.”
That support has given the team the confidence to start offering degree-bearing badges—another first for the university and the industry. As one of the first major colleges to offer digital badges for bachelor’s, associate, and other degrees, Syracuse University is a true pioneer. And the team isn’t shy about attributing that success, at least in part, to their partnership with Accredible.
“I've spent 45 years in information technology, so I mean it when I say Accredible is highly sophisticated,” says Thomas. “It’s such high-quality software—that's really what made the difference for us. You can’t miss with it.”
Ready to take your digital credentialing program to the next level?
