2025 Badge Summit

As the demand for micro-credentials rises, institutions must design credentialing systems that provide incremental value to learners while maintaining employer relevance. This session will explore how WGU’s Unified Credential Framework (UCF) ensures that all skill-based achievements are meaningful, verified, and portable, creating a seamless pathway to higher-level credentials. Through this framework, learners earn incremental recognition of their skills, allowing them to demonstrate progress toward degrees and workforce-aligned certifications.  
 
WGU’s UCF is built on a stackable model that categorizes different types of credentials—ranging from digital badges for individual competencies to certificates, certifications, and degrees. This structured approach ensures that all credentials hold real-world value and can be easily understood by learners, employers, and academic institutions. Attendees will gain insight into the methodology behind designing micro-credentials that are competency-based, skills-denominated, and employer-validated, ensuring they contribute to career advancement.  
 
A critical component of this framework is seamless technology integration to automate credential issuance, making it scalable and accessible. WGU collaborates closely with EdTech teams to embed digital badging and credential recognition directly into the learning ecosystem. Through real-time data integration with our student information system (SIS), credentials are automatically awarded when students successfully demonstrate mastery of a competency. This means that as students complete coursework, they receive digital badges without additional administrative burden, making credential attainment seamless and efficient.  
 
To ensure industry relevance, WGU works with employers and industry partners to validate which skills should be credentialed and how they align with workforce needs. By co-designing credentials with employer input, we create stackable pathways that provide value beyond the university setting, increasing employability and career mobility for learners.