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As technological-based learning has flourished, evolving digital mediums are providing learners with 21st Century workforce ready skill sets not traditionally offered in college and university traditional education certification programs (Graves, 2013; LeBlanc, 2012; Mintz, 2013). Marketing online personal learning has opened consideration for the need for different types of credentialing, which in have been viewed in the past as inferior to standardized credentials from universities and colleges (Carey, 2012a, 2013a, 2013b; Christensen, Horn, Caldera, & Soares, 2011; Helmsley-Brown & Lowrie, 2010; Maney 2012a, 2012b).
Christensen and Eyring (2011) refer to online learning as a “disruptive innovation”, “ a process that allows as simple, affordable, and accessible product to replace a product that is complex, expensive, and inaccessible, even if the initial quality of the new product is inferior” (Casares, Dickson, Hannigan, Hinton, & Phelps, 2013, p. 11). Certifications have been traditionally tied to credentialing authorities for recognition as degrees or academic credentials, which were then, accepted as formal qualifications for professional practice (Goliogoski, 2012; Halavais, 2012). E-Learning 2.0 expertise acquired from virtual class participation does not fit “the constraints of the brick and mortar campus…without the aid of an educator being present” (Dougherty, 2012, p. 3).