Learning and earning

慕课的回归

One way of dealing with that is to divide the currency of knowledge into smaller denominations by issuing “digital badges” to recognise less formal achievements. RMIT University, Australia’s largest tertiary-education institution, is working with Credly, a credentialling platform, to issue badges for the skills that are not tested in exams but that firms nevertheless value. Belinda Tynan, RMIT’s vice-president, cites a project carried out by engineering students to build an electric car, enter it into races and win sponsors as an example.
解决这个问题的方法之一，就是将现有流通的知识分解为小面额的组成部分，将它们做成“数字认证”来奖励那些小目标。澳大利亚最大的高等教育机构 RMI 正和一家名为 Credly 的认证平台合作，来为那些用人单位需要但是在学校考试中却不会出现的技能提供认证。RMIT 的副总裁 Belinda Tynan 举例到，一些工程专业的学生正在一个电动汽车的项目，并让汽车通过参加比赛来获取赞助。

The trouble with digital badges is that they tend to proliferate. Illinois State University alone created 110 badges when it launched a programme with Credly in 2016. Add in MOOC certificates, LinkedIn Learning courses, competency-based education, General Assembly and the like, and the idea of creating new currencies of knowledge starts to look more like a recipe for hyperinflation.
数字认证的问题在于很容易引发认证数量的激增。单单 Illinois State University 在 2016 年和 Credly 启动一个项目时就创设了 110 个认证。算上慕课认证，领英学习课程，General Assembly 等等机构，这种认证看起来更像是出现了恶性通货膨胀。

David Blake, the founder of Degreed, a startup, aspires to resolve that problem by acting as the central bank of credentials. He wants to issue a standardised assessment of skill levels, irrespective of how people got there. The plan is to create a network of subject-matter experts to assess employees’ skills (copy-editing, say, or credit analysis), and a standardised grading language that means the same thing to everyone, everywhere.
一家初创公司 Degreed 的创始人 David Blake 希望通过建立认证中央银行来解决这个问题。他想要对技能水平建立一个标准化的评价体系，而不管这些人是怎么获得这些技能的。这个计划想要创造一个由领域相关的专家组成的评价网络来评价雇员的技能（编辑，语言或者能力分析），以及一套适用于所有人所有领域的标准化评价分级体系。

Pluralsight is heading in a similar direction in its field. A diagnostic tool uses a technique called item response theory to workout users’ skill levels in areas such as coding, giving them a rating. The system helps determine what individuals should learn next, but also gives companies a standardised way to evaluate people’s skills.
Pluralsight 正在自己的领域朝着类似的方向前进。通过一套使用了被称为 item response 理论的分析工具来评价用户在编程等领域的技能水平，最终给予评级。这套系统可以帮助确定用户下一步应当学习的内容，同时也可以给予公司员工一套标准化的评价。