New Stanford University study: Sharing Coursera Micro-Credentials on Professional Network Platforms can significantly improve learners’ employment outcomes

Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer, Coursera

Today, I am excited to share some new independent research from Stanford School of Business and highlight the employment advantages offered by microbes on Coursera. New paper, “The value of non-traditional certificates in the labor markettransparent,The results reported are from random experiments, and found that shared microscopic judgments as proof of skills increase learners’ chances of obtaining new jobs. These impacts are especially powerful for learners who lack traditional certificates, have no relevant work experience or are based on emerging markets.

“Our research shows that when Stanford Economics Professor Susan Atey said, “these digital certificates can make these digital resources more common, so microcredits can meaningfully promote employment prospects for those who have traditionally failed to enter the labour market when they are traditionally lacking learners who have traditionally lacked their labour market.” ”

Emil Palikot, an assistant professor of marketing at Northeastern University, added: “Seeing how light changes (simply eliminating the small friction in the sharing process) can lead to a significant increase in certificate sharing, which in turn increases the speed at which people can find new jobs.”

Technological changes continue to change the global labor market. Regardless of its position, it is increasing the need for digital roles and can also enable individuals to be hired. Talents in emerging markets often lack training for these roles, driving global learners to pursue work-related micro-beliefs to bridge skills gaps and gain new career opportunities.

To explore the impact of micro-certification on learners’ employability, researchers Susan Atey and Emil Palikot from Stanford University Graduate School (GSB) and Northeastern University conducted a randomized experiment measuring the impact of credential sharing on corporate outcomes of a team of 40,000 racers. They try to understand:

• The impact of certificate sharing on employment capacity – Does microbelievers effectively enhance job prospects by providing new skills to learners and proofing them to employers?

• The effectiveness of platform-driven credential sharing – Evaluate the built-in features of Coursera and tips on how to affect the likelihood of learners sharing their certificates online.

• Differential benefits of underserved learners – To what extent, non-traditional certificates benefit from learners in developing countries or without university degrees, and which groups gain the most from these opportunities.

The main findings of the study include:

• Displaying non-traditional certificates on professional online platforms can significantly improve learners’ employability, especially learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. Micro learners were shared on LinkedIn to show that their new skills are 6% more likely to report new jobs within one year of doing so than those who do not share reward certificates.

• Encourage and simplify certificate sharing. A platform feature, including nudges and simplified sharing processes, increases visibility and work outcomes.

• Microsharing is more beneficial for learners with lower baseline employment. Coursera and Stanford GSB found that the lowest level of employability learners – based on their initial probability of reporting new jobs based on characteristics such as past employment history, education level, university type and age, experienced 11% employment capacity.

Research authors recommend:

• Online learning providers should continue to develop and promote the functionality that encourages the sharing of non-traditional certificates. All of Coursera’s certificates are provided by top universities and leading industry partners and can be shared seamlessly on LinkedIn.

• Educational institutions and policy makers should support initiatives to increase the credibility and recognition of non-traditional certificates. By doing so, they can effectively demonstrate their skills to learners of adverse backgrounds in the absence of traditional degrees or relevant work experience.

These findings provide strong new experimental evidence that acquiring and sharing of micro-convictions can reduce variance in employment outcomes, especially for those without traditional certificates or strong employment history.

Coursera continues to expand its micro-approved collection and recently released ten job-related professional certificates provided by leading industry players such as Amazon, Dell, IBM, Microsoft and Xbox. In 2024, Coursera recorded over 4.3 million enrollments in our entry-level professional certificates that provide learners with all backgrounds and geography to get the most important remote digital work within six months.

The full study can be accessed here.