Lehigh University has taken a democratizing approach to higher education by expanding and defending the the value of experiential and residential learning wherever it may occur. Lehigh provides blockchain-anchored, summative credentials embedded with micro-credentials. This “stackable credentials” approach offers a learning design model that builds on existing credentialing paradigms to advance formal, publicly-recognizable models for higher education. The pilot implementation currently offers Blockcerts for:
- Division 1 athletes
- Students who complete Lehigh’s study abroad programs
- Students who complete Lehigh’s highly competitive Mountaintop Fellows Institute.
Lehigh’s approach not only embraces formal recognition of expanded paradigms for learning; it anchors those records to the institution while also empowering students to own and share those credentials over their lifetimes in support of self-sovereign identity. Lehigh’s Blockcerts project moves closer to democratizing higher education by moving away from only valuing the diploma and offers a scalable model for other institutions.