For centuries, the college degree has been the global gold standard for assessing an individual entering the workforce. But after cornering the credentials market for nearly a millennium, the degree’s days alone at the top are most definitely numbered. By 2020, the traditional degree will have made room on its pedestal for a new array of modern credentials that are currently gaining mainstream traction as viable measures of learning, ability and accomplishment. Technology is changing the job market, and it’s only natural that we find new ways of determining who’s the right fit for those jobs.
I’ll explain shortly why I think 2020 is the magic timeframe for the new credentialing movement to reach its tipping point, but first some brief history. The traditional college degree traces back to the 12th or 13th century, when the European university model developed a set of credentials that spread across the world and still remain more or less true to their original intent and structure. Even the titles of modern degrees — bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate — derive from medieval Europe’s educational paradigm.
In one respect, the staying power of the traditional degree is a testament to its timeless relevance, cultural meaning and professional utility. The world has experienced wrenching technological and cultural change over the centuries, and yet the academic degree remains the de facto baseline for fields ranging from accounting to computer science to biology — and everything in-between. I myself, a developer by trade, hold a bachelor’s degree and taught at a university before founding Pluralsight. The degree will always be relevant, but not exclusively so — even our sacred cows aren’t safe from theforces of disruption.
So, back to our timeline: 2020. For the first time in centuries, powerful forces are converging to challenge the assumption that a college degree is the only way. Frustration with the rising cost of higher education — and the underlying reasons — is at a fever pitch. Students, who are the primary customer for the trillion-dollar global education market, expect their education to improve their career prospects (86 percent of college freshmen attend college to get a better job) and are becoming disillusioned when this doesn’t always occur. At the same time, employers expect a more sophisticated worker at all levels, and a more transparent view into what qualifies a candidate for employment — both at the point of hire and over time, as skill requirements evolve.
This has led to aggressive efforts to innovate in recent years, both within and without the education community. Notably, this confluence of conditions spawned the global massive open online course (MOOC) craze, which peaked in 2012 (the “year of the MOOC”) and 2013.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment