There have never been more ways to pursue continuous education. Learners can choose from thousands of massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, unlike accredited degrees awarded by traditional colleges and universities, these new modes of learning lack coherent credentials. Coursera provides certificates learners can affix to LinkedIn profiles, Udacity offers verified Nanodegrees recognized by its partners, and General Assembly is building its own credentialing network, but the problem for those using Learning Management Systems (LMS) is that each system is an island upon which the records of learning are stranded. Degreed seeks to salvage that education.
Degreed is effectively three products in one. First, and perhaps most importantly, Degreed is an online platform for tracking, measuring, and sharing skills acquired outside formal education. Second, Degreed is a learning ecosystem that aggregates relevant learning materials—articles, e-books, and videos—from across the Web. Finally, for a fee, Degreed for Business operates as an enterprise learning portal that integrates with existing learning management systems and proprietary content, providing administrators a holistic view of employee learning. While I will speak to the latter point, this review focuses more on features related to the individual account, which I expect will be most relevant to PCMag readers.
While Degreed deftly interoperates with online learning platforms and provides an ingenious way to create long-term learning plans (Pathways), its learning scoring system craves a human touch, and its tools for adding learning (browser bookmarklets) deserve an overhaul. Despite a few rough edges, however, Degreed provides a keystone for continuous education, a platform through which individuals and employers can track and share learning, wherever it occurs.
Getting Degreed
Signing up for Degreed is free for individuals and less cumbersome than registering for a Facebook account. In fact, Degreed allows expedited registration using a Facebook profile, after which it prompts learners to select categories of interest and individuals to follow. In hindsight, I wish I had taken this part of the process more seriously. While Degreed accepts fairly general categories (e.g., education), it also suggests more specific topics (such as higher education). Given that categories determine the kind of content the platform aggregates, I recommend choosing specific tags at the outset. That said, learners can add or remove categories at any time via Settings. While in Settings, I would also recommend customizing email preferences—otherwise you'll end up receiving daily emails about learning, followers, and comments.
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The other key step—and one that I wish Degreed added to the initial setup—is to add the browser bookmarklet. Dragging that bookmarklet into your browser's bookmark bar will enable you to add or save articles and videos when you're outside Degreed. I stipulate "articles" because when I tried to add books from the likes of Google Books or Amazon, they registered as articles. (The workaround is to manually add books within Degreed.) Apple Safari users should also be warned: At time of testing, the bookmarklet didn't save any materials from v.9. Ideally, learners should use Google Chrome, for which Degreed offers a toolbar extension. In addition to easy access, the Chrome extension also allows users to share materials with Degreed contacts.
The Dashboard provides a sort of curation of curated materials. Each day it recommends five articles or videos based upon categories of interest (Today's Learning). Learners can also monitor progress by timeframe and category (Your Learning Activity) or access materials saved for later (Learning Queue).
Degreed
Scoring Learning
Degreed assigns resources numeric values, which their management claims are based upon duration, modality, difficulty, and quality. In some instances, the approach appears sensible. Completing a 250-page e-book is worth significantly more points (16.71 points) than reading a one-page article (.09 points). However, a short blog post (.09 points) received the same score as a lengthy essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education (.09 points), which seems problematic.
I began to sense numeric caprice as I added formal and informal learning to my profile. While I expected that a Udacity Data Analyst Nanodegree would outweigh an individual course, I didn't anticipate it would be valued at almost a hundred times (502.64 points) that of the edX course (6.28 points). Others, particularly from Udemy ($0.00 at Udemy) , were almost valueless: A class on Excel Formulas (.01 points) was worth less than a blog post (.09 points). My formal education, meanwhile, remains unscored. Because Degreed allocates points to classes rather than degrees, I will have to manually add courses if I want credit for my higher education. Finally, it's exceedingly easy to game the system. From the Library, learners can rack up points by marking materials as read without ever opening them.
This wouldn't be a concern if Degreed didn't place so much emphasis on points. Every time you add learning, it's scored. In the navigation bar, your cumulative score displays below your name. It's addictive—and arbitrary. Assigning points to the second decimal place presupposes a precision that does not yet exist.
Pathways and Goals
A problematic points system doesn't negate the fact that Degreed does an exemplary job interoperating with various online platforms. Adding courses from edX, Coursera ($0.00 at Coursera) , Udemy, Udacity (Visit Site at Udacity) , and Khan Academy was as simple as typing a few strokes and watching Degreed auto-populate course names, URLs, and summaries. For learners who pursue a lot of online learning, Degreed consolidates all that continuing education with one profile.
The platform also encourages learning across platforms. From the Learning Plan, users can create learning goals such as finishing items from their Queues or completing Pathways. A Pathway is a sequence of content, but unlike a traditional course, it can be comprised of articles, books, videos, events, as well as other courses. From Pathways, learners can either enroll in existing Pathways (Library) or create their own (Authoring). Users can search across the Degreed Library, filter results, and drag and drop items into a bin on the right side of the screen. The only confusing part of the process is that to finalize your pathway, you must click the Create tab and drag modules back into the center column. Authored Pathways are private by default, though learners can share sequences by invitation.
Degreed for Business
Pathways might persuade enterprise clients to purchase Degreed for Business. Because Degreed can tap into proprietary libraries with SkillSoft or Lynda, companies can create programs that draw upon both public resources as well as private training materials across multiple repositories.
At no cost, individuals can connect with, follow, and share materials with others (People). Degreed for Business adds Groups, with which individuals can be organized by area of organization. Within each group, administrators can track activity through leaderboards. Thanks to the portability of Degreed accounts—individuals can carry their profiles from one job to the next—administrators get a holistic view of learning, which enables savvy managers to identify and encourage employees' interests with flexible spending accounts (FlexED).
Bridging the Divide
Degreed is many things, but it is no silver bullet. The platform's scoring system, in particular, needs human oversight. However, in less than three years, Degreed has begun to bridge the once-cavernous divide between formal and informal learning and to surface the myriad ways learners pursue continuous education.
Given that profiles are free and portable, individuals ought to embrace Degreed. For companies, Degreed for Business may require more consideration. Pricing information isn't publically available, but it is a subscription service priced per user per month. Small businesses might find that Degreed for Business makes a traditional LMS unnecessary, whereas larger companies might find that it helps them connect systems. Free demos are available at Degreed's site. Our Editors' Choices for traditional learning management systems are Absorb(Visit Site at Absorb LMS), Moodle (Visit Site at Moodle) , and Schoology.
Despite a few rough edges, Degreed promises the keystone for continuous education: a platform through which individuals and employers can track and share learning, wherever it occurs.
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