Matthew Pittinsky calls it the “quiet revolution.” The CEO of Parchment and co-founder and former CEO of Blackboard has watched the relatively rapid shift from paper to digital transcripts with at least a bit of awe. He admits that as the CEO of a digital credential management company, he’s probably biased, but there’s no denying the fact that 20 years ago, well into the dot-com bubble, virtually no colleges sent or received digital transcripts. It took Parchment — originally Docufide — seven years to send its millionth transcript. Now the service processes that many transcripts every two months.
“Why print and mail transcripts when most receivers of them would prefer to get them as machine readable data and when most students would prefer to request them electronically and have them in digital form?” Pittinsky said.
Higher education institutions have moved en masse toward receiving transcripts digitally, but they’ve been slower to shift when it comes to sending them. Over the last few years, Pittinsky has watched the trend catch on rapidly across institutions. It doesn’t cost more money. Schools already charge for transcripts, so instead of putting that money toward staff time, it goes into vendor contracts. Mostly, Pittinsky said, the delay has been because of culture — getting comfortable with a new internal process, with the idea that digital transcripts are secure, and with the idea that receivers will accept the digital versions.
Now the question is how long it will take colleges and universities to embrace the fact that digital transcripts are only the beginning. With the cultural shift nearly complete and the infrastructure in place, there’s little keeping institutions from sending all kinds of credentials. And getting the information digitized has opened the door to a number of other key innovations.
Reverse Transfer
With colleges across the two-year and four-year spectrum committed to digital transcripts, the possibility of data sharing has already cleared a major hurdle. “Reverse transfer” initiatives either launching or being developed in several states strive to connect former community college students with their alma maters once they’ve earned additional credits at four-year institutions that qualify them for an associate degree.
In Colorado, Parchment provides a common electronic platform for participating two- and four-year institutions, as well as an interface for students to release their educational records from their current schools to their former ones. The company is setting up a similar system in Georgia, and in Texas, the National Student Clearinghouse has created a slightly different pathway to reverse transfer. Students are more likely to complete bachelor’s degrees if they earn associate degrees — and with the first credential, even those who don’t finish are in a better position.
Transcripts 2.0
Most classrooms do not look the same as they did 30 years ago and there’s no reason transcripts should. The digital age is here. Faculty are increasingly incorporating video into their lessons and course materials, students are reading e-textbooks, and talking to their classmates and professors via messenger apps. Powerpoint presentations include clickable links to videos and other assets. Transcripts, while still primarily static documents, are on the verge of a revolution of their own, spurred on by demand from academia itself.
“I really do believe this is a bottom-up, organic movement,” Pittinsky said. “In part because institutions have always argued the value of a college degree is more than just courses and credits.”
Dynamic transcripts that include competency based or experiential learning, links to portfolios, and other interactive elements will let digital documents convey holistic learning that institutions have always claimed to support but mostly failed to report.
A massive template for reporting post-secondary achievement could be customized with a few clicks, sending employers, registrars, and licensing boards tailored information, giving students greater power over their own educational histories and institutions a greater ability to meet stakeholders’ needs.
This new world is probably at least a decade out, but efforts are already underway, led by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and supported by the Lumina Foundation. It’s the future. Get ready for it.
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