The Open Group is pleased to announce the piloting of our Open Badge program for the professional certification programs. We are partnering with Acclaim, a division of Pearson VUE, an exam delivery company, to provide digital versions of our credentials. As a consequence, this means over the coming months, we will be issuing badges for all of The Open Group Certification Programs.
The pilot is initially focused on the The Open Group Open Certified Architect program, as well as the knowledge based Open FAIR™ and IT4IT™ certifications. Upon successful completion of the pilot program, we will be extending the roll out to the entire Open Group Certification portfolio.
These web-enabled badges will allow everyone with an Open Group certification, to clearly, more simply, and consistently promote their Open Group credentials online.
What are Open Badges?
In an age where we are communicating more and more information electronically, Open Badges are a means for an individual to display, and an organization to easily verify certifications, achievements and credentials in a very visual manner online. For example, digital badges are used in popular social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, as well as embedding badges into your own websites, e-mail footers or resumes.
These credentials will be represented with a digital image which contains verified metadata that describes an individual’s qualifications and the process required to earn them. A credential is a qualification, achievement, quality, or aspect of a person’s background, especially when used to indicate their suitability for something.
A sample badge is shown below:
What are the benefits to individuals?
Every credential and profile on Acclaim has a unique URL that can be embedded into a resume, website or social media profile. This means, that when you achieve a new certification, you can very easily communicate this with your peers and professional colleagues.
Similarly, when you are ready for your next career move, Open Badges allow you to more easily communicate your Open Group Certifications to prospective employers.
As well as being able to display your achievements, this also helps you as an individual, stand out from other candidates, when applying for your next career move.
What are the benefits to organizations?
For an organization, Open Badges help eliminate some guesswork during the recruitment process. The badges improve and enable verification of potential candidates’ credentials due to the more detailed information regarding any certification with the Acclaim system. This also allows recruiters and employers to get a much clearer idea and the context of any certifications an individual has, which makes the decision-making process more thorough.
Next Steps
If you currently hold an Open Group Certification, you will receive an email over the coming months requesting permission from you so we can issue the appropriate badges you have earned.
If you hold an existing certification in either the Open CA, Open FAIR or IT4IT program and would like to participate in the early part of the pilot, please send your contact details to our badge administration team at badges@opengroup.org.
Once you have granted permission, you will receive email from Acclaim notifying you that you have been issued the appropriate badge.
In order to display your badge on your LinkedIn (or other social media) profile, log in to Acclaim, select the badge you would like displayed on LinkedIn and then select ‘share’. The site will then explain the steps for connecting to LinkedIn and a series of confirmation steps.
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