Engaging Students online through Digital Credentials

Engaging students online throughout the course period or program is a significant factor for digital educational platforms. Students who fail to get engaged in the course eventually lose their focus resulting in their progress at the course or program getting hindered.

How vital are engaging students online:

Online education has been around for a few years now, but the recent global pandemic has proved to be a game-changer for the same. As a result, both education providers and learners had to switch to online, and even today, the need continues to be booming.This situation had education providers think about their teaching pattern, course modules, the duration and many other factors that differed from traditional education.

Lack of engagement from the learners may further lead to:

1. The learner struggling to progress further in the program
2. The learner discontinuing the program
3. Discontinuation of students affects the reputation of the education provider

So, how do we get the students engaged? This is where Digital Credentials come in,

Digital credentials play a crucial role in engaging students online. Through digital credentials, the education provider saves both their time and the expenses that go in traditional paper certification or getting the learners acknowledgement in person.

There are many ways we could use digital credentials for the benefit of engagement:

1. Digital badges for skill or accomplishment

Digital badges or e-badges are the individual’s digital credentials that display the accomplishment of performance, achievement, skill or qualification.Digital badges are backed by meta-data through technical standards set by OpenBadges, which verifies the authenticity of the badge earned.These digital badges can be used for engaging the learners.

2. Performance progress badge:

It always feels great when someone acknowledges your progress. If given a chance to prove their capability through earning a digital badge after progressing further in the program, online learners would lead to curiosity, competitiveness, and engagement in learners. These digital badges could be based upon the nature of the program, its complexity, the number of modules or duration, eventually levelling up to earn the final badge of accomplishment.

3. Digital badges through gaming:

Adding a touch of fun to the usual monotonous program is always a plus to get the students engaged. This could be done by adding gaming elements to the course pattern. Gamifying the program to earn a digital badge could be done by adding scoreboards, an achievement for a task or several accomplishments.

4. Digital certification for completion:

Apart from digital badges that go throughout the course duration, digital certification would be the final factor that would make the learner acknowledge the program post completion of it.The learner could acknowledge digital certificates to display their skill and qualification for building a more robust portfolio. Apart from digital credentials, the education provider may consider many factors, such as having a discussion forum, customer support, quality learning materials, and so on.

Conclusion:

Learners may thoroughly benefit through digital credentials and engage more in the education provider’s program.Digital credentials like digital badges and digital certifications benefit the learner throughout the course duration and post-completion.