by Jarek Janio, Ph.D.
Education is full of signals. Transcripts, GPA, course titles, and degrees all tell a story but not always the full story. At a recent Friday SLO Talk, Noah Geisel reminded us that much of what makes a student truly prepared for life and work is never reflected in these conventional signals. Instead, it lives in what’s often called the “hidden curriculum” the informal, often unacknowledged set of skills and behaviors that students develop outside the spotlight of formal instruction.
Geisel, through stories drawn from his own life pooper scooper jobs, volunteering at Sundance, navigating group projects made a powerful case for why we need to credential the invisible. His argument was not theoretical. It was personal, practical, and deeply resonant: Students are building skills all the time. But if we don’t recognize them, we’re leaving critical assets untapped and entire communities undervalued.
What Is the Hidden Curriculum?
The hidden curriculum is not found in syllabi or test scores. It’s the unspoken code of behaviors, mindsets, and values that shape student success things like:
- Initiative and self-direction
- Empathy and emotional intelligence
- Stress tolerance and time management
- Civic participation and teamwork
- Leadership and adaptability
These skills aren’t usually graded, but they are essential. They determine how well students navigate college, collaborate with others, and transition into work or further study. Yet, because they are harder to measure and not formally assessed, they often go unrecognized.
This creates a dangerous dynamic: students with more social capital those who know how to speak the language of the institution, or who come with built-in networks are better equipped to signal these skills. Everyone else, no matter how capable, gets left out of the narrative.
Credentialing the Invisible
What Geisel proposes backed by a growing movement in education is that Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and micro-credentials offer a new way to bring the hidden curriculum into the light.
Imagine if, instead of leaving “soft skills” to chance, institutions embedded them into the SLOs of every course, program, or co-curricular activity. Imagine if micro-credentials weren’t limited to technical skills or course completions but also recognized behaviors like:
- Leading a student group project with empathy
- Managing competing deadlines while caring for family
- Mediating peer conflict in a community initiative
- Consistently showing up prepared, focused, and collaborative in class
If such behaviors are observable and they are then they are assessable. And if they are assessable, then they are credentialable.
Why It Matters: Equity and Belonging
This isn’t just about assessment. It’s about equity.
When we fail to acknowledge these skills, we reinforce a system where only the loudest, most resourced, or most confident students get recognized. The quiet student who organizes her household schedule, helps siblings with homework, and completes assignments between work shifts may be demonstrating more resilience than anyone else in the class but unless someone is watching, no one sees it.
Worse, students themselves often don’t recognize the value of what they’re doing. They internalize the idea that unless something is graded or listed on a syllabus, it doesn’t count. Credentialing the hidden curriculum flips that message. It tells students: What you do matters. Who you are becoming matters. And we see it.
Making It Practical: Tools for Recognition
So how do we make the invisible visible?
This begins with observation and intentional design. Instructors, advisors, and program leads can develop rubrics aligned with behavioral indicators not abstract traits like “motivation” or “grit,” but actions that show, for example, “initiates group tasks without being prompted” or “adjusts plans in response to feedback.”
Some institutions are already using tools like:
- Behavioral rubrics linked to SLOs
- Co-curricular transcript systems
- Digital portfolios with reflection prompts
- Badging platforms with embedded metadata
- AI-powered simulations that assess decision-making, empathy, or leadership in real time
For example, a simulation might place a nursing student in a high-stress patient interaction scenario and assess how they respond under pressure. Another tool might analyze peer reviews in a group project to identify patterns of leadership or collaboration.
These are not science-fiction ideas they are tools available now. What’s missing is a widespread commitment to design credentials with these outcomes in mind.
Co-Designing Recognition with Students
A compelling idea raised during Geisel’s talk and echoed by others in the SLO community is this: What if we co-designed badges with students?
Rather than faculty solely determining what’s worthy of recognition, students could help define which skills and behaviors matter in their lived experience. This is especially powerful for adult learners, first-generation students, and others whose journey includes substantial learning outside the classroom.
By co-creating the criteria, naming the skills, and linking them to real-world stories, students not only gain recognition they build agency. They learn to articulate their strengths, reflect on their growth, and advocate for themselves in professional or academic spaces.
The Role of AI in Validating Hidden Skills
AI can be a powerful ally in this work but only if we use it intentionally.
Already, AI is being used in hiring and admissions to screen candidates based on written language, facial expressions, or other proxies. Without thoughtful design, this can amplify bias and erase context. But if we build AI tools aligned with well-defined SLOs, they can help validate behavior-based skills at scale.
Imagine a virtual interview that assesses a candidate’s ability to:
- Manage conflict
- Communicate clearly under pressure
- Navigate ethical dilemmas
- Express empathy in a service interaction
These tools are not replacements for human judgment, but extensions of it allowing educators to recognize more students, more fairly, across more learning environments.
Shifting the Focus of Recognition
If we take Geisel’s message seriously, we must ask:
- What are we currently missing in our assessment systems?
- Who is being left out of recognition and why?
- How might our SLOs evolve to reflect not just content knowledge, but human development?
- Are we building tools that see all students, or just the ones who already know how to be seen?
The hidden curriculum doesn’t have to remain hidden. With thoughtful SLO alignment, transparent assessment, and inclusive credentialing, we can surface the unsung skills that truly shape success.
This work is not just technical it is ethical. It is about restoring visibility to the full range of student experiences, and in doing so, restoring dignity to the everyday acts of resilience, creativity, and care that too often go unnoticed.
Let’s start seeing what’s already there.