Episode 08: Are Degrees a Relic of the Past? Conversation with David Blake, Founder of Degreed
David Blake, founder of Degreed, returns to another episode of Illuminate Higher Education with podcast host Kiran Kodithala (CEO of N2N Services). David and Kiran continue the discussion around lifelong learning and how individuals can create their own learning journeys using countless online resources beyond the traditional school- or college-based degrees and certifications.
David shares how, when crafting Degreed’s business model, it became clear that commitment and investment from employers would be critical in fostering adoption of these new learning methods. After all, individuals are usually seeking new skills and abilities to improve their employment prospects. Degreed gives employers a way to see evidence of how an individual can actually use the skills learned, rather than simply relying on course completion or receipt of a particular certification.
According to David, the barometer for expertise on a given topic is whether or not other experts agree that an individual is an expert. The most obvious example of this is a doctoral candidate presenting to a review board of his or her peers before receiving a Ph.D.
To this end, rather than gauging the value of education by courses completed or content consumed, Degreed has a process that allows for peer review and final evaluation by trained psychometricians.
Discover more about Degreed by visiting their website and following on LinkedIn or @degreed on Twitter. You can also connect with guest David Blake on LinkedIn and follow @davidblake on Twitter.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
See you in the next episode.
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This episode is brought to you by N2N’s Illuminate App, the iPaaS for Higher Education.
About N2N Services
Founded in 2010, N2N is committed to serving educational institutions and helping them figure out how to serve their students, faculty, and staff using the most innovative technologies and solutions available in the marketplace. Over the last decade, N2N has served over 300 academic institutions and enabled their student success journeys.
N2N Services Inc. is a leader in enterprise application integration and strategic advisory services for higher education, At N2N, we are committed to providing the highest quality solutions and collaboratively building student-centric solutions.
Learn more at https://illuminateapp.com/web/higher-education/.
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