Digital Badge Credentials for Working Adults

Digital badges are portable, verified credentials that working adult learners can earn and share with employers upon completion, before graduation. Badge adoption has accelerated significantly as a category: the number of digital badges available to learners more than tripled between 2022 and 2025, growing from 521,000 to 1,708,774 (1EdTech 2025 Badge Count, 1edtech.org). Badges now represent more than half of all credentials in the U.S., numbering over 1 million among 1.85 million total U.S. credentials (Credential Engine Counting Credentials 2025, credentialengine.org).

Yet only 46% of employers regularly see digital credentials in applications, according to Accredible's 2025 State of Credentialing Report - a survey of 502 HR and recruiting leaders (accredible.com). This creates a gap between employer demand and what most candidates provide. Skills-mapped programs that build and surface verifiable credentials address this gap directly.

Skills-mapped programs that issue digital credentials at the course level address this gap directly: students accumulate verified credentials throughout their program, making their skill attainment visible and verifiable before graduation rather than waiting for a single degree credential at the end.

Do Digital Badges Help with Getting a Job?

Yes - the employer data is specific. According to Accredible’s 2025 State of Credentialing Report, a survey of 502 HR and recruiting leaders conducted in spring 2025:

For working adults in skills-mapped programs, the credential is earned while the student progresses and is shareable before graduation. A student who completes a course with a 70% proficiency threshold on a skills-tagged assessment earns the badge - and can share it to a LinkedIn profile, attach it to a resume, or bring it to a performance review conversation prior to graduation. The employer who receives it can verify it in one click.

University of Phoenix Badges

University of Phoenix has awarded digital badges through the Credly platform since September 2021. As of March 2026, UOPX has reached a milestone of more than one million digital badges awarded. University of Phoenix is one of more than 4,000 organizations issuing credentials on the Credly platform globally.

Badge Types at University of Phoenix

Within the University of Phoenix Credly implementation, two primary credential categories are issued:

Phoenix Success Series Competency badges earned for demonstrating specific professional and academic skills through summative assessments. Each Phoenix Success Series badge corresponds to a specific, assessed competency - not a participation record or course completion - and carries metadata identifying the skill, the assessment method, and the date earned. These badges are designed to be legible to employers outside of higher education contexts: a hiring manager does not need to understand the UOPX curriculum structure to interpret a credential that says “Quantitative Reasoning: assessed at 70% proficiency threshold, University of Phoenix, March 2025.” Examples include: Intentional Communicator, Reflective Communicator, Reflective and Strategic Problem Solver, Quantitative Reasoning, Qualitative Reasoning, and Teamwork, Collaboration, and Conflict Resolution. As of June 2024, 377,875 Phoenix Success Series badges had been earned. Source: UOPX Press Release, June 25, 2024.

University Learning Goal Badges Badges tied to university-level learning objectives that span program types and are designed to reflect broader competencies developed across a degree program. As of June 2024, 212,117 University Learning Goal badges had been earned. Source: UOPX Press Release, June 25, 2024.

How Working Adults Use Digital Badges

For working adults, the timing of credential availability is a practical matter, not an abstract one. Most degree programs produce a single credential - a diploma - at the end of a multi-year enrollment. A digital badging system layered into a skills-mapped curriculum produces credentials throughout enrollment: one for each skill demonstrated to the proficiency threshold as the student progresses. That means a working adult enrolled in a two-year program can begin accumulating verifiable evidence of competency in the first semester, not the last.

This matters particularly for adults who are enrolled to advance within their current organization, not only to change employers. For example, a badge earned in a quantitative reasoning course can accompany a performance review conversation after it was earned, and need not wait until after graduation. An employer who receives that badge can verify it independently - what skill it represents, how it was assessed, and which institution issued it - without contacting the university. That verification path is a concrete feature, not a promise.

The value of digital credentials for working adults is most pronounced because their employment context is active: they have current employers, active performance reviews, and ongoing professional development conversations. The following describes how digital credentials create value at each enrollment stage.

According to Accredible’s 2025 State of Credentialing Report, 63% of employers have hired a candidate at least in part because of a digital credential. The same survey found that 86% say they would be more likely to interview a candidate with a digital credential proving a key skill, and 91% actively look for digital credentials when reviewing candidates. Yet only 46% regularly see them in applications - meaning the majority of candidates are not yet surfacing credentials that employers are actively looking for.

For working adults in skills-mapped programs, this creates a straightforward opportunity: earning and sharing verified credentials throughout a program directly addresses the gap between what employers are looking for and what most applicants are currently providing. Most candidates are not providing credential evidence that most employers are actively seeking. Working adults in programs that issue verifiable credentials throughout enrollment are surfacing evidence that makes their skill attainment visible in a way a transcript cannot.

For prospective students evaluating programs, the availability of a digital credentialing system is one verifiable indicator of a program’s commitment to skills development.

Sources: Accredible 2025 State of Credentialing Report (survey of 502 HR and recruiting leaders, spring 2025, accredible.com/reports/2025-state-of-credentialing-report); 1EdTech 2025 Badge Count (1edtech.org, December 2025); Credential Engine Counting Credentials 2025 (credentialengine.org)

Frequently Asked Questions