The Importance of Certification in Education
Originally published at Certification in Education
In the 21st century, one of the most critical factors the learners pay attention to is the availability of certification when taking part in specific educational courses. Some people need these certificates to make use of them as a proving document when applying for jobs. Others are just fond of collecting such pieces as the result of their acquired knowledge and experience.
As all of us know, the educational industry is highly growing in the digital world. Many education providers have already shifted to online teaching. And even some specialists who did not offer teaching services started to create and sell online courses in their professional fields. In this way, they get additional income, only once making efforts on the course creation.
If you are also involved in the e-learning industry or you are just interested in joining the huge community of e-teachers, then you should take into consideration the importance of certification in education. This is the point I am going to discuss with you in the following article.
The Advantages of Certification for Education
When the digital market is full of different platforms in the educational industry and there are many online education providers, you should offer features the learners focus on and make a difference. One of such features is the certification system. Below, you may get familiar with the powerful aspects of providing certificates. Check them out and decide on your own whether or not you really need them.
#1 Link to the job market demands
Students may prefer your course over other courses if you provide a certification because it is an important career-building tool. Employers regularly use certifications as selection criteria for hiring and promotion and are willing to pay certified professionals more for them. The credentials define a clear career ladder from beginner to expert, validating qualifications at each career stage.
When we think about considering digital skills, what the person knows needs to be related to what is demanded in the market — no matter big and small. Instead of focusing on methods that have previously proven to be popular or successful, the education providers should look at the types of programs that deliver the best ROI (return on investment) for the learners who are looking to enter or progress in the workforce.
In the past, educational institutions were criticized for not providing graduates with work-ready skills. It meant that graduates leave a university or college with knowledge that is not applicable to roles and are lacking in other areas such as analyzing complex problems, working with statistics, and innovation. As a result, many graduates need to return to education in order to gain the knowledge they need to compete in the workforce.
Certification solves this problem. It provides students with specialized skills that are immediately applied to a role. Additionally, industry-validated certifications can provide students with access to subject matter experts they may not have had access to before. Above all, on graduation, certified professionals can prove the quality and relevance of their knowledge to employers in order to stand out from the crowd at interviews or when an opportunity for promotion arises.
#2 Add a new dimension to your offering
If you have your e-teaching website and sell online courses, you may provide a new dimension to the available services. As the required skills (by companies) have moved on, some trainers haven’t adapted their service offerings yet. Along with the roles becoming more specialized, currently, the learners look for opportunities to learn in niche areas that may boost their careers and wage packet.
Updating your educational portfolio and including some specialized certifications may help you enter a new market of professionals and target potential learners who are interested in your niche and want to join the community.
Additionally, these days when you offer online learning services that lead to certification provides great opportunities to arrange flexible and interactive content for the learners. The greatest thing is that they have access to this data from any place and at any time. This is a great advantage, especially in the current time-starved world.
#3 A sense of achievement
The role of certification in education is critical, regardless of the fact if it’s a certificate earned to mark a childhood milestone or the one you are handed when you graduated from university.
They are rewards to students and stand as a piece of evidence that confirms an important accreditation. The same works in the case of online video courses. Certification is meant to add value to any program, from company training to art studios. Course certificates increase the value of your course, providing an opportunity to sell it for more at the same time adding a sense of achievement to your students.
#4 Stand out from the competition
With the digital world growing so fast, it is not easy to stand out from the pool of competitors in an industry, especially if there are many programs on offer. Always keep in your mind that the learners have high expectations and a clear image of what they need from a course or certification. The key point is that delivered education should provide insight into a particular area and the working knowledge needed to excel so trainers usually need to offer something over and above what their competitors are. Just like companies looking to attract and convert customers, educational institutions, as well as individual education providers, need to prove their worth as a brand.
In the end, the recognition in the marketplace along with the digital presence (this is the most common place where learners look for information on courses) tends to help in the process of engaging students and driving enrollments.
Listening to the needs and requirements of the students, the education providers should decide on making use of digital marketing to the portfolio and offer services that the students need.
#5 Increases the level of the student motivation
Online certificates have proven to improve the learners’ engagement and increase the rates of course completion. Wonder why? Students are fond of gaining diploma papers and documents that serve as proof of acquiring further knowledge. This is the reason why setting the goal of having one more certificate for their portfolio will give your students additional encouragement and motivation to complete the course.
Therefore, this is a nice trick that helps to significantly reduce drop-outs. Do not forget that the learners get a chance to share the course certificates on different social media channels such as on their LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter profiles, or on any other platforms. Accordingly, more people will learn about your online course and along with time, it will become viral and attract more and more eyeballs and sales.
#6 Tracking Student Performance in Online Training
Providing a certificate is a great way to realize how many of your students successfully complete the training course. It is also an opportunity that makes learners feel the happy moment of gaining an achievement. As for the education providers, they get a chance to separate successful results from the learners that dropped off along the way. Even the marks and the right or wrong answers are visible. So, you may check out the questions for which students give wrong answers and try to find out the reason. Maybe the explaining content is not clear enough for them to fully understand the point.
In case you are selling courses to corporations, it also becomes a great way to introduce and share the information data. The certificate may be printed and shared with the HR department or the managers of the company.
#7 Offer Trustworthy Training Services
When students get certificates after completing the training course, the value and credibility you offer increases. This is especially required for companies who organize training for employees. They may buy your course and use it to train the employees, get new specialists, etc. This way, they may track the time and results.
These companies will shortcut those employees or potential workers who successfully pass the tests and get certified. Or, perhaps you can set a certain amount of training courses before employees can advance. This way you will be reassured your employees hold the right qualification. Generally, it’s a good idea to reach out to professional awarding-bodies to make sure that you provide high-quality training service.
#8 Improve Your Branding
The online teaching platform you rely on becomes your personal brand. Especially if it is a separate website with your custom domain as Uteach offers to create, you have built your own online brand. Going the extra mile for your students and offering them a certificate when they pass online courses on your site, has a critical influence on your own success as an online instructor.
Just stop for a moment and consider: the more professional the service you offer appears to be, the more you are likely to take care of those small details that make the difference to your course. And, every certificate proudly presented by your students increases the visibility of your brand name. Awareness is the first step to creating global branding. This will help more people to learn about your services and if required they will remember and come back to making use of your services.
Type of Certificates for Education
There are different types of certificates. It depends on their purpose creation. What is rather helpful to distinguish is that two main types of certificates are more common. Here they are:
✓ Certificate of Completion: students are awarded these certificates when they complete all the learning units of the course or get a passing grade in all the examination points included in the training course.
✓ Certificate of Knowledge: these types of certificates are awarded at the end when the course duration is over and once the tuition is completed. This is the time when it is required to passing the final exam that is designed especially for this purpose.
Uteach covers certification features and the education provider may attach it to their services, offering better results and improving their experience. The most fantastic thing is the relation of course — test — certificate. I am sure you have created engaging training videos and published them on your website. Learners take part in these courses and pass tests to check their acquired knowledge. These tests are possible to create and automate. In this regard, online automated tests are also a great support to the process. They help to save time and energy. Those students who successfully pass the tests get certificates that are automatically generated by the system for the students who get passing grades. This important process in online teaching is implemented by the system according to the settings of the instructor.
If you also want to provide a certification service for your students and increase the credibility of your training services, then make use of the features Uteach offers. Join our teaching community today or schedule a free demo in order to learn more about the platform and offered services.
