Hello and welcome to Certified Insights, by your digital credential friends at Accredible.
Each month, we bring tips and strategies for growing your credentialing program — in less than 5 minutes. Up next:
🔮 2025 credentialing predictions
🎥 YouTube becomes the top learning resource (not offered by employers)
🔗 2024's top credentialing trends, the next big thing in credential innovation, and how digital credentials elevate existing programs
It may seem odd to start our brand-new newsletter with predictions and hot takes from folks outside the regular authors who pen (type?) this newsletter.
But that’s precisely how this newsletter is different. Yes, we’ve been in the credentialing game for over a decade and have issued 125M+ digital credentials to 25M+ learners on behalf of our customers. But we truly believe we’re on this journey with you.
Not to mention, it’s prediction season!
We’ve asked some of the brightest minds in credentialing to consult their crystal balls and share their vision for 2025. Here are a few that caught our attention.
Digital Credentials Will Improve Hiring Signals in an AI-Driven World
With the rise of AI resume builders, it’s easier (and quicker) than ever for candidates to submit a job application. Ian Davidson, Chief Growth Officer at SmartResume, notes:
“Employers will soon recognize the over-inflation of job seeker qualifications and the flattening of the talent pool caused by a sea of resumes created using AI technologies. In return, they will seek solutions that validate skills and verify key qualifications of their job requirements, increasingly embracing verifiable credentials as anchors of trust in the hiring process.”
He predicts that 2025 will lead to short-term strategies to understand which resumes have “real” hiring signals. In the long term, he thinks companies will invest heavily in incorporating verifiable credentials into the hiring process.
Digital Credentials Will Transform Workforce Development
With today’s economic pressures and rapid changes in job requirements, companies have a choice: adapt through upskilling or risk falling behind. Holly Garner, VP of New Channels and Head of Workforce at Junior Achievement USA, shares:
“Thus far, companies have been slow to move to skills-based hiring. But in the next 3 years, we will see employers take a clear interest in credentialing and badging as a way to build employment pathways WITHIN the existing walls of an organization.”
For true workforce transformation, companies must turn inward and actively chart employee development paths — ideally with credentials demonstrating their skills and knowledge.
Credit for Prior Learning Will Become the Standard in Higher Education
Derrick Anderson, Senior Vice President of Education Futures at the American Council on Education, explains:
“2025 could be the year when credit for prior learning becomes standard practice in higher education. Whether an organization issues credentials, evaluates them, or receives them, everyone needs to be able to show how they are adding transferable value that learners can use whenever and wherever they want.”
This should be music to everyone’s ears. Nontraditional credentials and prior military, work, and life experiences built into degree pathways will give learners more avenues to success and empower education providers to respond to evolving workforce demands.
Credentials Will Convey the Whole Story of a Learner’s Journey
Credentials can tell you a lot about someone’s skill set, but they can’t paint the whole picture. At least, not yet. According to Rochelle Ramirez, SVP of Product at Accredible:
“By 2025, credentials will need to do more than just validate isolated skills — they’ll need to tell the whole story of a learner’s journey. People aren’t looking for a one-off badge; they want a comprehensive narrative that connects their skills, experiences, and growth over time.”
This shift will push the credentialing industry to evolve, offering richer, more dynamic representations of learning — helping us finally realize the promise of Learning and Employment Records (LERs).
These are just a few of the 2025 predictions from our 14 industry leaders. Check out the rest and upvote your favorites in our "The Future of Credentials: 2025 and Beyond" blog post.
We’ll share the top-upvoted predictions on our LinkedIn in the coming weeks, so be sure to give us a follow.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a bright start to the new year! We’ll be back in January.
Cheers,
Ryan
Adobe’s recent survey of 2,000 global learners revealed that YouTube is the #1 learning platform for Millennials and Gen Z, and industry-specific websites are #1 for both Boomers and Gen X.
What are your thoughts — more surprised by the large number of learners heading to YouTube or the wide variance in learning preferences by generation? Reply to this email and let me know.
Accredible’s 2024 Year in Review
Across 36M digital credentials, what were the top searched courses? Top skills earned? Top credential issuers? Explore all that and the trends that shaped learning and career outcomes in 2024. The TL;DR: y’all were busy in 2024.
Attaching Evidence: The Next Big Thing in Credential Innovation - Noah Geisel
A thought-provoking piece on how evidence-backed credentials are transforming how we validate skills, offering practical takeaways for leaders looking to enhance the value and credibility of their programs.
How Digital Credentials Can Elevate Existing Programs - EdSurge
1EdTech’s Rob Coyle and Kelly Hoyland explore how digital credentials enhance program value, engage learners, and align skills with careers. See examples from the University of Georgia and Central Oklahoma using CLRs to highlight knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Tired of juggling paper certificates, PDFs, and endless manual processes to track learner achievements?
Or running into scaling limitations with your current digital credentialing solution?
Accredible has you covered. Create and issue branded and verifiable digital credentials that showcase skills and provide real value — without the hassle.
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Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
