2026 Badge Summit

This panel will discuss a unique academic + industry + association partnership and their co-development of digital skills-based microcredentials to create career pathways in STEM and provide additional value to end-learners. The discussion will focus on techniques for engaging industry when developing skills-based workforce training, and creating skills-based microcredentials that lead to employment.


Moderator:

• Jennifer Fong
  Sr Director, Continuing Education and Workforce Development
  IEEE

Panelists include:

• Dr. Laura Marmolejo, Ed.D
  Dean, Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Technology
  Austin Community College (ACC)
  
  
• Alyssa Reinhart, Ph.D
  Director of Workforce Development
  Texas Institute of Electronics

Digital badges and microcredentials are no longer new, they are ubiquitous. Yet employer trust in credentials remains uneven, not because employers resist skills-based hiring, but because too many credentials fail to provide defensible evidence of competence. This session focuses on what differentiates credentials that meaningfully influence hiring decisions from those that function only as signals of completion.
Drawing on national experience designing and deploying performance-based microcredentials in laboratory and technical workforce settings, this session will unpack how assessment design, not branding or platform choice, determines whether a badge can be trusted by learners and employers. Attendees will learn why many well-intentioned credentials collapse under scrutiny, how assessment shortcuts erode trust, and what it actually takes to build trustworthy credentials that function as signals of hiring readiness.
The session will examine three core design principles. First, defining competence in observable, high-stakes terms, including identifying failure modes and edge cases that distinguish genuine skill from procedural mimicry. Second, building assessments that remain fair, valid, and scalable without sacrificing rigor, particularly when credentials are deployed across multiple institutions or regions. Third, aligning credentials with employer decision-making realities, focusing on what information employers need at the point of hire, not what educators find easiest to measure.
Participants will see concrete examples of assessment structures that work, as well as cautionary examples of credentials that unintentionally undermine the ecosystem by prioritizing completion, volume, or convenience over evidence. The session will also address the ethical dimension of credentialing, including when it is appropriate to redesign an assessment when the system, rather than the learner, is at fault.
Attendees will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately to evaluate existing credentials or design new ones. The goal is not to produce more badges, but to produce fewer, stronger signals that earn trust over time and materially improve learner outcomes.
This session is designed for credential designers, educators, workforce leaders, and platform partners who want their badges to function as real currency in the labor market.

Marshall University shares a start‑to‑finish microcredential development process—from proposer planning and curriculum design to marketing, registration logistics, and badge creation. The session highlights lessons learned since we launched the Marshall Skills Exchange, how we have had to adapt workflows through a full SIS and technology change, and how we have used AI tools within the LMS and other platforms to streamline drafting, activity design, and content development while supporting engaging, workforce‑aligned microcredentials.

This collaborative session shares lessons learned from Yavapai College’s first year of microcredential development. We’ll discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what we wish we’d known, including processes, quality criteria, faculty and student support, and alignment to the workforce. Participants at any stage will be invited to share their lessons learned and learn from one another.

You know where you want to go—a robust, learner-centered badge ecosystem—but getting there takes time, persistence, and practical action. This interactive session focuses on how to operationalize policy and embed badging into institutional culture. We’ll use the Switch Framework to identify strategies for guiding the Rider (logic), motivating the Elephant (emotion), and shaping the Path (environment). Participants will explore real-world examples of governance models, approval processes, and annual review strategies, while also designing badge pathways that emphasize access, stackability, and lifelong learning. Leave with templates, tools, and a roadmap for taking the next steps—even if full adoption is years away.

If skills are the primary currency of the modern labor market, digital badges represent an undervalued asset. A significant gap exists between rigorous academic instruction and the broad, often ill-defined competencies attached to many micro-credentials. To address this, the George Washington Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP) and the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) have developed a suite of open-source tools designed to automate the alignment of curricula with granular, interoperable skill taxonomies.

This session provides a technical demonstration of how these tools lower the "transition cost" for institutions moving toward standardized digital infrastructure. The presentation will walk through the application of the DCC Credential Co-Writer, enhanced by LAiSER (Leveraging AI for Skills Extraction and Research), to translate complex syllabi into well-defined, machine-readable badges. Then, the presenters will demonstrate the GWU Credential Comparison Tool, which utilizes AI to identify alignment between existing badge frameworks and specific course content. These tools can be made available to attendees through cloud-based platforms on a trial basis at no cost, and the LAiSER team can assist attendees in downloading and running open-source software locally as a free and permanent option for analyzing skills data.  

Attendees will observe how LAiSER-driven enhancements can "upcycle" legacy credentials by embedding precise, standardized skills without increasing administrative burden on faculty. They will also be prepared to implement beta/pilot versions of LAiSER-enhanced tools on their own campuses to enhance digital credentials and existing courses.  This demonstration is intended for practitioners and policymakers seeking ready-to-use, low- or no-cost tools to implement Open Badges 3.0 and enhance the portability of human capital in a robust, interoperable skills ecosystem.

HLC launched a voluntary quality assurance framework and process that will serve to review and endorse short-term credential content providers that demonstrate meeting certain standards. Providers may be non-degree granting institutions or companies that create and/or deliver content or skills training that connects learners to labor market needs, either independently or in partnership with colleges and universities or employers. Learn about the first and second cohort of providers!

With over 1.8 million digital credentials currently available in the U.S., the landscape is characterized by rapid growth but deep fragmentation. Many state-funded initiatives remain "islands of recognition," lacking the cross-institutional portability that modern learners and employers demand. While technical standards like Open Badges 3.0 provide a framework for verification, their utility is often undermined by proprietary data silos and the absence of an interoperable skills language.


Traditional efforts to mandate unified taxonomies frequently fail due to high administrative costs and resistance from institutions seeking to maintain continuity with established practices. AI-driven mapping tools, such as LAiSER, resolve this tension by automating the translation of localized curricula into standardized frameworks. By utilizing AI to align diverse curricular materials to broadly adopted skills taxonomies, these tools eliminate the manual burden of alignment and lower transition costs. This functional approach allows institutions to maintain their unique educational identities while achieving the machine-readability required for recognition in a broader ecosystem.


In this session, presenters will explore systemic barriers to badge adoption and offer a theory of change for state-level policy. The presentation provides a roadmap for transitioning from isolated pilots toward unified "skills data ecosystems." By adopting open-source standards and AI-assisted alignment, state leaders can ensure micro-credentials function as transferable assets that provide verifiable value throughout a learner's career. The authors will present evidence on how top-down state action can dismantle data silos, enhance social mobility, and create a responsive, skills-based economy

This session introduces a ready-to-use, self-guided technical assessment tool designed to evaluate the quality and interoperability of digital badge and credentialing systems. Evolved from the SkillsFWD project and funded by Walmart, the tool focuses on credential design, metadata completeness, standards alignment, evidence structures, and system interoperability. During the session, participants will be guided through the assessment framework and invited to evaluate the tool itself, its structure, assumptions, and practical utility, using real-world credentialing challenges as a basis. This is not a conceptual exploration, but a hands-on review of a production-ready self-assessment instrument.

This session maps the STEM microcredential ecosystem, moving from digital badges to workforce-aligned learning pathways. Drawing on current research across higher education, industry, and policy, the presentation clarifies key definitions, distinguishes badges from microcredentials, examines stakeholder roles, and surfaces persistent challenges related to value, recognition, and scale. The session concludes with a research-informed agenda for future development and study.

What does it really take to build and scale a badge ecosystem to one million badges? In this interactive, game-based session, participants will play their way through Our Million Badge Story, making decisions, navigating tradeoffs, and uncovering lessons learned from the real-world evolution of the University of Phoenix’s large-scale credential ecosystem. Rather than a traditional case study, this session invites participants to step into key moments of the journey and explore the choices behind the outcomes. At each stage of the game, participants will surface insights about what worked, what didn’t, and why—connecting elements of UOPX’s story to their own contexts. The session highlights practical lessons drawn from developing PLA badges, AI-infused badges and pathways, industry-endorsed credentials, and a comprehensive skills taxonomy, with an emphasis on common pitfalls and actionable strategies participants can adapt immediately, regardless of where they are in their badge journey.

As Learning and Employment Records (LERs) gain traction, two “last-mile” questions continue to shape whether credentials can move from concept to real-world impact: what information employers actually need to make decisions, and how credentials are transferred between systems in practice.
In this session, 1EdTech will share early findings from ongoing research exploring these two foundational areas. Drawing on employer research, ecosystem surveys, and technical analysis, we will summarize:

• What employers say they need to see in credentials to support skills-based hiring and talent decisions (e.g., skills clarity, validation signals, evidence, and context).
• How credentials are currently transported across issuers, wallets, repositories, and employer systems—and where gaps, inconsistencies, or alignment appear.

Designed for a general Digital Credentials Summit audience, this session is informational rather than prescriptive. It offers a clear snapshot of emerging insights to help educators, credential issuers, platform providers, employers, and policymakers better understand the current state of LER adoption—and what may need to evolve next.
Attendees will leave with a shared baseline understanding of the evidence shaping LER discussions heading into deeper technical and employer-focused conversations.

Many institutions launch digital badges before clarifying governance, faculty authority, or academic rigor, leading to pilots that stall. This session explores a real case where an early microcredential effort failed and a later redesign succeeded by reshaping how decisions, ownership, and trust were handled. Attendees will learn how governance and culture determine whether credentials gain meaning, scale, and employer value.

Skills are assessed everywhere—but rarely in one place. This interactive session invites participants to explore a live map of how skills are actually evaluated across hiring, onboarding, and advancement, based on real employer and worker stories. Together, we’ll add our own experiences to the map to surface patterns, blind spots, and design opportunities for clearer, fairer skill signals.

This presentation explores the growing demand for trusted, high‑quality, and verifiable credentials by examining the importance of transparency in credentialing processes, highlighting strategies for effectively engaging stakeholders in credential development, and demonstrating how strong credentials enhance both student career success and employer trust.

The LER ecosystem has mastered issuing—but employers are still stuck asking “How do I verify and use this?” In this session, I’ll demo the open-source LER Skills Verifier, an employer-facing tool that makes LERs actionable for skills-based hiring. See how to verify credentials, evaluate trust, align skills to jobs, and give employers a tangible way to use LERs today. An open source T3 Network project from the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Skill Sprints are a cohort-based, on-campus model that helps college students complete Google Professional Certificates through structured “workshop” time and staff support. This session explores how Skill Sprints blend online credentials with in-person facilitation to increase engagement and completion, sharing implementation strategies, lessons learned, and a scalable framework for accelerating student career readiness.

In this session we will present a short history of skill-based credential work at Bristol Community College and engage attendees as we grapple with our current problem...Why is this information only going one way?  Can we figure out how to get this skill-based data to flow "backwards" into our Student Information Systems so that we can then get it in the hands of our academic and career advisors, academic review processes, and to help faculty by informing their instructional practices? 

Interoperable data and technology is the backbone of learner mobility. From new short-term pell requirements and a talent marketplace vision at the federal level to state-specific workforce data mandates, policymakers are increasingly requiring that digital credentials be portable, verifiable, and machine-readable across sectors. 1EdTech & WCET will provide guidance on the emerging policy landscape and review resources available to implement interoperability standards to meet policy needs.

Higher education institutions are increasingly interested in microcredentials, yet early efforts often stall due to misaligned policies, limited faculty engagement, unclear value propositions, and weak pathways. This session introduces the CREDO Process, an implementation-science–informed approach that integrates CFIR, Diffusion of Innovation, systems thinking, and the Three Horizons Framework to support institutional readiness and early-stage STEM microcredential development.