by Kit Johnson (UCLA alumni)

Educational technology is one a few key buzzwords of today. As we continue to progress into what is being referred to as the ‘new normal’, we are seeing not only K-12 education affected but also college and university students. One of the key players in assisting students to hit the ground running with respect to their future career is <a href=”http://www.certificationpoint.org/student%20freelance.php”>CertificationPoint</a>, founded by Byron Giles. Mr. Giles founded CertificationPoint in 2012 and applied for and received a copyright in 2014.

At the core of the reasoning for the tradition of going to college is to mature and expand education in hopes of being a better career fit for future employers. An area where there has seemingly been a shortfall is the ability or opportunity for gainful employment after college. A fair amount of blame is normally thrown in various directions to include the college due to the expenses which attending college entails. Our nation’s colleges are not the point of failure and have done a reasonable job in getting students prepared. There are times when a portion of the due diligence falls on the society to assist in the preparation of students as they enter the job-market. Quite a few educational technology resources have stepped up to the plate as witnessed by awards such as EdtechDigest.

Byron Giles, at CertificationPoint, has focused in on assisting student with gaining a level of experience within their future career based on the number of collaborative projects complete. The platform is very similar to the freelance platform UpWork, but with CertificationPoint students actually bid on projects based on their experience level. On the other side of the coin service buyers and businesses can add a mentor to the project for peace on mind that the project will stay on course. It is an interesting concept which has been gaining considerable attention.

Building work experience while in college can be difficult. Many traditional students carrying a full course load and many non-traditional students working fulltime with a family. It’s awesome to see education technology platforms coming to the forefront which allow for not only experience within a chosen degree plan and career field, but also enabling student to close the knowledge gaps which book knowledge without the help of hands-on experience can create. The closure of some of the knowledge gaps can mean the difference between getting the job as well as hitting the ground and impressing a future employer.