Skillsoft Awards 4.5 Million Digital Badges to Learners
New Delhi: Skillsoft, a provider of digital learning, training, and talent solutions to help organizations unleash their edge, has seen a rapid increase in learner engagement and self-led online learning since March 2020, with learners earning an unprecedented 4.5 million digital badges upon the completion of select courses. In February, Skillsoft digital badging capabilities launched to offer a virtual, verifiable representation of skills learned on the Skillsoft Percipio learning platform. The overwhelming success of Skillsoft digital badges reflects an increasing appetite for on-demand skills training, particularly at a time when organizations around the world are facing disruption in the face of a global pandemic.
Retaining a modern skill set is critical for team members across organizations. At CGI, one of the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world, 85 percent of its staff are deployed on client projects at any given time. So, when a number of those jobs were temporarily halted due to COVID-19 and team members were awaiting their next assignment, the Learning and Development (L&D) team launched CGI Academia, a companywide online learning program powered by Skillsoft Percipio. Since the end of April, more than 44,000 of CGI’s 77,500 employees around the world have leveraged CGI Academia, spending 278,865 total hours on the platform, and earning 145,000 digital badges and counting.
“With digital badges completed on topics such as AI, agile software development, and machine learning, Skillsoft is helping CGI reskill, upskill, and futureproof our members at an absolutely critical time,” said Helen Sussex, FLPI, Director, Global Learning Design and Creation, Culture and Experience CoE, CGI. “Within the first three months of launching CGI Academia, we are already seeing a transformation across the business as skill development creates tangible value for our global team members and customers alike.”
Skillsoft’s digital badges are proven to motivate learners and increase employee engagement. By inspiring individuals to build a virtual portfolio of their achievements and skills, digital badges drive continuous learning across an organization and the embedded metadata is secured in a blockchain that belongs to the learner to ensure verifiability. Once earned, the digital badges can be shared across more than 100 social platforms or via email, supporting each learner as they build their virtual portfolio and accelerate their professional brand.
The global community has quickly embraced the opportunity to earn credentials for their newfound skills. Between January and July of 2020, content accessed via Skillsoft’s learning platform has tripled, while the average number of courses each learner around the world uses to upskill and reskill has increased by 55 percent. At the onset of the pandemic, when much of the world was confined to their homes, people turned to learning to navigate the transition to virtual work and collaboration, fill extra time, or sharpen their skills. As remote work has become a longer-term reality for many, it’s clear that demand for digital learning experiences has been sustained.
“Skillsoft’s digital badges have inspired, motivated, and engaged millions of learners at a time when people around the world have begun to truly embrace the value of continued growth and development,” said Apratim Purakayastha, CTO, Skillsoft. “As today’s professionals navigate a skills economy, digital badges enable learners to build a portable, verifiable digital portfolio spotlighting their earned skills and authenticated credentials.”
Learners can earn digital badges by completing courses on Skillsoft’s Percipio platform or through integrations with LMS partners like SumTotal Systems, SuccessFactors, Degreed, Saba, and Cornerstone OnDemand. Digital badging capabilities are also being integrated into Aspire Journeys, which are role-based learning paths for high-demand skills like Data Science, Blockchain, and Python in addition to the company’s Aspire Journeys for Leadership Development.