Badging for Business: Next-Gen Professional Learning in the Workplace

Micro-credentials and badging have transformed the professional learning landscape for teachers. Recently we’ve even gone as far as saying that micro-credentials are the future of professional learning. While schools and districts have been busy building next-generation professional development systems, companies and businesses have been hard at work using badging for employee professional development as well.
Like educators, people in the workplace deserve a clear map of what they need to know and be able to do, multiple ways to learning, and options for demonstrating mastery. Similar to the changes we are seeing in education, the “show what you know economy” is on the rise and is increasingly being codified by badging. These changes are important to know and understand especially if you are a new GenDIY employee making the transition to the workplace.
In the corporate space, this shift is what Intrepid Learning calls Collaborative Learning at Scale: mobile first environment, short form content delivered anytime anywhere, social components, gamification for motivation, opportunities to demonstrate learning.
Employees now expect that technology in the workplace should support their ability to learn and apply learning.
Leaders like Intrepid are moving the space to deliver value not only to businesses with innovative approaches to PD, but also to employees with credentialing that can be carried throughout their careers.
In this episode of the Getting Smart podcast we travel to Seattle’s Pioneer Square to visit Intrepid Learning to talk with Marketing Manager Catie Bull and CEO & Co-Founder Sam Herring.

Microsoft is an example of a company who is not only embracing the shift to digital for employee PD, but also the badging opportunity. This guest blog originally ran on IntrepidLearning.com and features insights from Microsoft program manager Hilary Albert who attributes their engagement to three factors.
For more episodes of the Getting Smart Podcast, check out:

• Getting Smart Podcast | Rethinking Educator Professional Development with Micro-credentials
• Getting Smart Podcast | Reclaiming the Classroom with America’s Teachers
• Getting Smart Podcast | Tom Vander Ark on Why Talent Matters

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