This year, Workcred will launch a new Micro-chat Series—hour-long open discussions focused on topics ranging from stackable credentials to upskilling and reskilling in a competitive marketplace. The sessions, which will be held quarterly, will provide an engaging open forum for attendees to discuss current issues related to credentialing.
The debut session on May 11 will highlight the question: “How are Pandemic-Related Changes Affecting the Quality of Credentials?” Representatives from certification bodies and other credentialing experts will hone in on challenges and concerns related to recent changes in the credentialing industry, as highlighted in a recent Workcred blog post,
Are Pandemic-Related Changes Negatively Affecting the Quality of Credentials?
The May session, featuring credentialing expert Dr. Cynthia Woodley, COO and psychometrician of Professional Testing, Inc., will explore how the credentialing industry has shifted over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic, the credentialing industry typically operated under accepted standards for the development and ongoing maintenance of credentials to help assure the validity and reliability of the examinations and the programs they represent. However, during the last two years, many changes—and sometimes, shortcuts¬—have been made in the credentialing industry, specifically in certification and licensure. These changes include the suspension of eligibility criteria or elimination of competence verification, which are now becoming more commonplace. As an example, within the healthcare sector,
professionals in the frontlines were allowed to practice without meeting the minimum competence requirements or obtain the necessary credential.
In light of some key changes, significant questions for the credentialing industry remain: Are the changes that have recently occurred due to the pandemic or something else, and are these changes an improvement? Or rather, are the changes actually affecting the quality of credentials, particularly related to their validity, reliability, fairness, and legal defensibility?
REGISTER HERE to discuss these issues during the May 11 micro-chat: “How are Pandemic-Related Changes Affecting the Quality of Credentials?” and stay tuned for future sessions.
