Getting Smart Podcast 214 - Peter Janzow on the Digital Credential Revolution
Today the team is talking with Peter Janzow, the current Vice President of Business Development for Credly, and the co-founder of Winterlake Press.
Peter started his education career as a textbook salesman, 35 years ago. When it looked like the digital revolution would bring print to an end, Peter built an auto-grading platform and licensed it to publishers. He sold the company and then got laid off. He found himself with a lot of skills and great experiences but no credentials. That fueled a passion for lifelong learning and ways to communicate new capabilities. In 2014, Peter helped Pearson VUE launch a claim: a credentialing platform based on the open badge standard. Last year, venture-backed Credly acquired a claim, making the combined entity a global leader in digital credentialing. Now, Peter leads business development and partnership development, including businesses like Dell, IBM, and Oracle, which use Credly to turn knowledge, skills, and abilities into a common, verified language. They enable colleges and industry associations to help learners connect with employers. Credly is at the forefront of a global movement toward lifelong learning and skills-based hiring.
Peter works with a lot of corporate clients where digital badges have really become the way that people are framing their lifelong learning and communicating their capabilities. There's plenty of evidence that badges are already catching on in both the corporate and the education side. Tune in to hear today's conversation with Peter and Tom Vander Ark to learn all about how badges are used and why they are a big deal!
Key Takeaways:
[:15] About today's episode.
[1:30] Tom welcomes Peter Janzow to the podcast.
[1:37] How did a history major become a textbook salesman 35 years ago?
[2:24] Peter reflects on his experience building Brownstone Learning.
[5:23] When did Peter first start thinking about and learning about badges and micro-credentials?
[8:27] Peter talks about his experience with helping Pearson launch a claim around 2014.
[9:00] With Credly being around since 2012, did Peter have any visibility to them at the time?
[10:18] Was there some investment when Credly acquired a claim?
[11:55] Peter provides some evidence and examples that micro-credentials and badges are really catching on in both corporate and education.
[18:23] Peter speaks about the importance of badges for work-readiness skills that can be added to a transcript and the projects they are working on to help push them forward.
[20:08] Does Peter see micro-credentials and badges replacing courses and grades as the primary way that we communicate capabilities or are they complementary?
[21:19] Peter gives his take on the perspective by critics that micro-credentials and badges are inherently reductionist; that they work for a few technical skills but they don't work well for deeper learning and critical thinking.
[23:17] When Peter thinks about designing learning experiences and creating digital credentials around those, what does he think would be the right grain size?
[26:06] About ACE and Credly's Working Transcript Project and how it can be applied.
[27:06] What's next for Credly? What is Peter working on?
[29:00] Where to learn more about digital credentials and Peter Janzow!
Mentioned in This Episode:
ACE/Credly Working Transcript Project
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