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Making learner and worker records more meaningful and relevant:

The value of the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)

June 2020

We encourage reuse and remix of this resource with attribution

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The importance of credential and competency transparency
Empowering learners, workers, employers, and credentialing organizations with valuable, transparent, interoperable records
The value of Linked Open Data and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)
How to include CTDL Linked Open Data in learner/worker records

Overview

There’s a lot of change happening in the arena of credentials, competencies, and digital records of learning.

Together we’ve made a lot of progress toward ensuring that essential information about credentials, competencies, pathways, quality, outcomes, and connections to jobs and occupations is openly available on the web, as well as using digital credentials to help people have more control over their own learning records.

Now it’s time to make sure learning records contain relevant and machine actionable data. Linked open data in the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) provides structure to describe all different types of credentials and skills, empowering people to use them on their learning and career pathways.

To help you as you connect credential and competency data with digital records of learning, in this presentation we’ll cover:

The importance of credential and competency transparency
Empowering learners, workers, employers, and credentialing organizations with valuable, transparent, interoperable records
The value of Linked Open Data and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)
How to include CTDL Linked Open Data in learner/worker records

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The Importance of Credential and�Competency Transparency

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Who we are

Non-profit
Community built
Vendor agnostic
Data Driven
Mission oriented around credential and competency transparency

What we do

Advocate for credential and competency transparency
Develop and support linked open data schemas
Provide open, interoperable infrastructure
Build and mobilize partnerships

About Credential Engine

What we do NOT do

Collect or verify personally identifiable information
Issue credentials
Verify issued credentials

Many of you know who we are

Credential Engine is a non-profit whose mission is to create credential transparency, reveal the credential marketplace, increase credential literacy, and empower everyone to make more informed decisions about credentials and their value.

Our openly available tools and services provide

A common infrastructure for organizing credential and competency data—with our systems, your systems, and on the web
a common language to describe education and workforce data so that apples-to-apples comparisons can be made-- the Credential Transparency Description Language
policy to support credential transparency
open-source technologies to allow anyone to access credential and competency information
All of this enabling an open marketplace for customized applications and tools

It’s also important to note what we do not do, especially as we’re talking about the topic of learning records
We do not

Collect or verify personally identifiable information
Issue credentials
Verify issued credentials

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“We don’t have a minute to waste.”

- Secretary Arne Duncan & Governor Jeb Bush

730,000+ credentials

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The education and workforce marketplace is complex and opaque

Over 738,000 credentials offered in the U.S., millions worldwide, across many different types of credentials and providers
Educators, policymakers, employers, and the general public struggle to evaluate the meaning of credentials and competencies, including:

the learning outcomes they represent
their quality
connections to other education and training opportunities
connections to jobs and career pathways

Before Credential Engine and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), there was no common language or data structure to describe or compare all different types of credentials

Quality Assurance (QA)

Competencies

Credential Engine’s work is important now more than ever because in the rapidly changing world of learning-and-work, the number and types of credentials and credential issuers are growing faster than our ability to make sense of this marketplace.

Any and all different types of credentials from different providers *can* be valuable to the people who earn them. But they can also be dead-ends, misleading, or mismatched. They can waste time and money. The fact is that this is a dynamic and constantly changing marketplace where credentials vary in content, quality, and value, in some cases aligning to career pathways, in some cases stacking to other credentials, but generally not with clear, transparent explanations of how that works.

There is currently a lack of clarity about what’s inside all of these credentials: competencies, costs, occupational alignments, and connections or comparisons with other credentials.

Technology can help provide better transparency, but until Credential Engine developed the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), there was no common language or technology infrastructure that included all different types of credentials.

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What if...

Education and training organizations could make their credentials and competencies transparent so everyone can see what they’re really made of—and understand the value of what’s inside?
Employers had a Rosetta Stone to help them match candidates’ credentials and competencies to job requirements?
State and federal agencies could access credential and competency data in a common structure that connects people, programs, and potential?
Learners and workers could easily communicate what they know and can do, giving them clear and equitable pathways to career success?

With Credential Engine, we can build this future together.

Today, we can make credentials and competencies�more transparent, relevant, and valuable

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Empowering learners, workers, employers, and credentialing organizations with valuable, transparent records

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Credential and competency ecosystems

Credentialing Organizations

Quality Assurance Entities

Employers

Credential Registry Linked Open Data (CTDL)

Accredit, approve, endorse, recognize credentials and/or credentialing organizations

Issue credentials to learners

Publish their credentials and competencies in CTDL

Credential Earners

Use credential and competency data to hire, upskill, and re-skill workers

Issued records contain CTDL

How do stakeholders come together in learn-and-work ecosystems, and how can they achieve credential, competency, and employment record transparency together?

This diagram helps us see how credential and competency data can be used to communicate among stakeholders in connected learn-and-work ecosystems.

And It’s important to keep in mind that linked open data transparency is not dependent on having hundreds of thousands of credentials and competencies described using the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). The important thing is that relevant stakeholders in an ecosystem have data that is relevant to their needs. So the ecosystem connections you’re seeing here could be applied, for example, across all of the credentials offered in a state, or they could be applied to a specific programs at a specific institution and how that institution collaborates with specific employers that they have identified as partners.

Here in the middle, you see the credential and competency data in the Credential Transparency Description Language, which can be stored in the Credential Registry and/or embedded in web pages. Credentialing organizations, like colleges and universities, publish their own credential and competency data to the Registry. Quality assurance bodies, such as accreditors, also publish information about their own organizations and the credentials and/or credentialing organizations for which they review quality.

Employers can publish information about their organizations and the credentials and competencies they endorse as meeting their needs, including linking them to their job roles.

On the bottom left, you see the individual learner/workers who earn credentials and are issued learner records. The Credential Registry does not collect or track information about individuals or the credentials that have been issued to them. The connection between learner records and the Credential Registry is that the records issued to a learner can include CTDL and links to the unique identifiers of the credentials and competencies in the registry. Then people, systems, apps, and web tools can use those identifiers to link back to the full set of data about the credential, credential issuer, competencies, quality assurance, and all of the rich data that’s linked to the record.

The key point is that all of these stakeholders need to “speak” common, open data languages and be able to meaningfully exchange data. Part of the problem now is that different stakeholders use different data structures that are not connected. Linked Open Data can bridge across education and training, quality assurance, employment, and importantly, the credentials and digital records issued to individuals.

Individual learner/workers earn credentials. The digital credentials and learner records issued to an individual can include structured Linked Open Data. Then the records can link back to rich, interconnected data about the credential, credential issuer, competencies, quality assurance, occupational alignments, and more.

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What are interoperable learner/worker records?

Digital records of learning from diverse sources
Shareable by the learner/worker
Representing learning achievements from education and training, workplace, military, and community
The records can be verified
Verifiable and secured
Interoperable: transferable and machine-actionable across education and employment systems and processes
Various names:

Interoperable Learning Records (ILRs)
Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs)
Badges
Digital credentials

There’s been a lot of progress in the past few years in using digital credentials to help people have more control over their own records of learning achievement. Now it’s time to make sure those records include relevant and machine actionable data.

There’s growing momentum behind digital learner/worker records, which are called by various names, including interoperable learning records (ILRs), comprehensive learner records (CLRS), badges, etc. In particular, there’s growing acknowledgement that learners are workers and workers are learners, so people need to be able to collect their achievements and skills from multiple sources. Records from multiple sources include credentials, skills, military records, work experience, community learning, and other information.

Other important characteristics of these records are that they need to be

Digital
Verifiable
Secure
Shareable by the learner/worker, and controlled by them so that the individual’s privacy is protected and their records are only shared when and with whom they choose
Interoperable: which means that they need to be transferable and machine-actionable across education and employment systems and processes

T3 definition: “An interoperable learning record (ILR) is a digital record of learning that can document learning wherever it occurs, including at the workplace, through an education program/experience, or through military training. An ILR can also be linked to an individual for the purposes of pursuing additional educational and employment opportunities. Digital learning records go by many names but what makes them an ILR is their ability to be transferable and recognizable across student information, employer HR, and military systems.“ https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/t3-innovation-network/ilr-pilot-program

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How do these records work?

Education, training, employer, military, and community organizations issue digital records of learning achievements to individuals.

Individuals collect records in a “wallet,” “backpack,” “portfolio,” or “collection” that they control.

The individual curates sets of records to share on the web and in applications for education and employment.

That can all seem pretty abstract. How do these digital records work?

Education, training, employer, military, and community organizations issue records to individuals.

Individuals collect records in a “wallet” that they control.

The individual curates sets of records, and they decide how and with whom to share these records on the web, in professional and social profiles, in applications for education and employment, etc.

The diagrams you see here provide a simple visual of a phone app where the individual can see an overview of their credentials, skills, and jobs, click on a credential to see more information about it, and go into further detail to see the competencies included in that credential.

An app like this would also include features for individuals to receive and verify their credentials, share them, and choose specific records to put in applications for education or employment.

Apps like this are being built as we speak.

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How can learner/workers use their own records?

Collect and curate records
Analyze strengths and gaps in skills
Explore career opportunities
Include records in a professional or social profile
Apply for, enroll in, and complete education and training
Apply for employment
Manage career advancement and transition

�

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How can employers use�interoperable learner/worker records?

Search and discover potential employees
Receive relevant job applications
Analyze employees’ current skills and skills gaps
Help employees upskill and re-skill efficiently
Communicate career pathways

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How can credentialing organizations use�interoperable learner/worker records?

Search and discover potential students
Receive relevant enrollment application information
Offer students transfer value for advanced standing based on their records
Help students complete education and training programs more efficiently
Communicate education and career pathways

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What makes interoperable learner records�valuable in ecosystems?

However, today….

Traditional records often include little information
Traditional records are generally siloed and can only be read/interpreted in a specific system
Combining records from diverse sources is generally impossible, confusing, or cumbersome

Learner/worker records are only as valuable as the information they communicate

But even as we consider these many opportunities of even the most basic implementations of digital records, we need to ask ourselves, what makes them valuable?

When we consider the big picture and long term, we need to address now the fact that learner/worker records are only as valuable as the information they communicate.

Let’s not make huge investments in issuing digital credentials that just deliver digital versions of clunky, opaque traditional records.

Let’s not waste our time collecting and exchanging records that can’t be meaningfully used across systems and on the web.

Now is the time to move beyond PDFs and buckets of words.

Because today,

Traditional records often include little information (e.g. a training program description or course IDs on a transcript)
Traditional records are generally siloed and can only be read/interpreted in a specific system (e.g., Student Information System or Human Resource Information System but not both)
Combining records from diverse sources is generally impossible, confusing, or cumbersome

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Learner records need valuable, structured information

So that….

The records include rich data
The data is structured and open
Records from diverse sources can be meaningfully compared, curated, and combined

Learner records become valuable when they communicate clear, actionable, relevant information

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The Value of Linked Open Data and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)

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Learner records need structured, Linked Open Data

System integrations

Linked Open Data on the Web

To provide the value of structured, open data for learner and worker records, Credential Engine’s approach is to use what has worked in so many other industries, such as retail sales, hotels, air travel, maps, and many others.

Linked Open Data

There are important differences between Linked Open Data and data that is designed for system integrations. Many different open standards structure information for system-to-system data exchange and data ingestion. One system can be configured to “talk” to one or more other systems, while the systems themselves in most cases keep their internal proprietary data structure. The diagram of boxes here shows an abstract representation of specific data flows that are configured system-to-system. This type of interoperability is critically important, especially for providing integrations between different types of systems, such as educational student information systems and employers’ human resource systems. These types of systems are not going away, and integrations between them will continue to be important.

But Linked Open Data provides vastly broader opportunities for interoperability-- including the power of linking learner/worker records to structured data anywhere on the web, from any source. Linked Open Data is just like links between web pages, only it links data. The round visual here shows an abstract representation of countless different points of linked data. Linked Open Data is humanly readable, machine-actionable, and web searchable. And anyone can create links to anyone else’s data that has been published or shared on the web-- it’s as simple as creating links to web pages, but it’s connecting points of data that can then “talk” to each other and create meaningful, useful interactions, like when your map tells you the hours for a nearby restaurant. Your records of credentials and skills could tell you about a nearby job opening, if you opted in to an app or other tool that let you control this type of data sharing.

So imagine the power of Linked Open Data that enables us to not only provide interoperability for integrations between systems, but also develop web searches, apps, and discovery tools that make use of dynamic data on the web.

[For more information on system integrations, see these presentations, “APIs are Not Enough” and “Benefits of a Common Schema”:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TXoW0wtc3AbN_Al3HKgo0H4VHqLe5kwaj-h33-R-ldo/edit#slide=id.p

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HoQhIOPcnBHpggYaNH3qKx3eOjQAk-JaphyvexXgkO4/edit#slide=id.g544b4a84b9_2_40 ]

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Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) Terms

Over 500 Linked Open Data terms providing rich descriptions of credentials and competencies

Certification:

Time-limited, revocable, renewable credential awarded by an authoritative body for demonstrating the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform specific tasks or an occupation.

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CTDL Linked Open Data structure

Linking between credentialing organizations, credentials, competencies, programs, courses, assessments, pathways quality assurance, occupations, job skills….

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CTDL Linked Open Data example

Santa Rosa college offers a Certificate in Dental Assisting that requires completion of their Applied Dental Science program and requires specific competencies and is accredited by the American Dental Association.

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CTDL Linked Open Data globally unique identifiers

Each component has a unique identifier that can be linked to/from anywhere on the web, including across different data providers: identifiers for credentialing organizations, quality assurance organizations, credentials, competency frameworks, competencies, occupational frameworks, job skills….

For example linking the Dental Assisting Certificate to the O*NET occupation of Dental Assistants

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How does CTDL in learner records work?

Learner records can link to CTDL data that has been published to the Credential Registry. These links use globally unique identifiers on the open web to power the record with rich descriptions of the credentials and competencies earned by the individual. ��This allows for records from multiple learners to reference the same credentials and competencies, which not only reduces data duplication and maintenance, but enables powerful search queries and data analytics.

So that’s kind of abstract. How can we visualize how it works in the app we were looking at before?

Learner records can link to CTDL data. These links use globally unique identifiers on the open web to power the record with rich descriptions of the credentials and competencies earned by the individual. ��This allows for records from multiple learners to reference the same credential and competency data on the web, which not only reduces data duplication and maintenance, but enables powerful search queries, comparisons, and data analytics.

So when the individual is looking at their list of credentials, they can click through to more information about the credential, which is provided by the CTDL Linked Open Data. Further detail about their competencies is also linked in the CTDL. And the data can link out to other sources and connections, such as the O*NET occupational alignments of their credentials and the connections between their competencies and the skills required for job roles. Apps like this and/or web interfaces can connect to job search apps, career coaching tools, and pathway exploration, among other things.

A person can explore and understand the links in their own achievement records, empowering anyone to find or define their own individualized pathways. They are not boxed in to the data that’s in a specific system.

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CTDL Linked Open Data in learner records

With CTDL in learner records…..

The records link to rich Linked Open Data
The data is humanly readable and machine-actionable across different types of systems and on the web
Records from diverse sources can be meaningfully compared, curated, and combined
And most importantly… learners, workers, educators, and employers are all empowered with the context they need to make informed decisions about education and career pathways

Learner records become valuable when they communicate clear, actionable, relevant information

Learner records become valuable when they communicate clear, actionable, relevant information… which is much more powerful when that information is Linked Open Data

Because then,

The records include rich data (e.g., full information about a credential, skills, the learning and assessment process, quality assurance, occupational alignments, etc.)
The data can be linked on the open web
Records from diverse sources can be meaningfully compared, curated, and combined
Information can be kept up-to-date and connected across higher ed and workforce agencies, education and training organizations, and employers
We can navigate links between education competencies and job skills
And most importantly… learners, workers, educators, and employers are all empowered with the context they need to make informed decisions about education and career pathways

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We can transform�education and workforce ecosystems

Credentialing Organizations

Quality Assurance Entities

Employers

Credential Registry Linked Open Data (CTDL)

Accredit, approve, endorse, recognize credentials and/or credentialing organizations

Issue credentials to learners

Publish their credentials and competencies in CTDL

Credential Earners

Use credential and competency data to hire, upskill, and re-skill workers

Issued records contain CTDL

Now we return to this diagram to see in more detail how credential and competency data can be used to communicate among stakeholders in ecosystems. And It’s important to keep in mind that linked open data transparency is not dependent on having hundreds of thousands of credentials and competencies described using CTDL. The important thing is that relevant stakeholders in an ecosystem have data that is relevant to their needs. So the ecosystem connections you’re seeing here could be applied, for example, across all of the credentials offered in a state, or they could be applied to a specific programs at a specific institution and how that institution collaborates with specific employers that they have identified as partners.

Here in the middle, you see the credential and competency data in the Credential Transparency Description Language, which can be stored in the Credential Registry and/or embedded in web pages. Credentialing organizations, like colleges and universities, publish their own credential and competency data to the Registry. Quality assurance bodies, such as accreditors, also publish information about their own organizations and the credentials and/or credentialing organizations for which they review quality.

Employers can publish information about their organizations and the credentials and competencies they endorse as meeting their needs, including linking them to their job roles.

On the bottom left, you see the individual learner/workers who earn credentials and are issued learner records. As I said at the beginning, the Credential Registry does not collect or track information about individuals or the credentials that have been issued to them. The connection between learner records and the Credential Registry is that the records issued to a learner can include CTDL and links to the unique identifiers of the credentials and competencies in the registry. Then people, systems, apps, and web tools can use those identifiers to link back to the full set of data about the credential, credential issuer, competencies, quality assurance, and all of the rich data that’s linked to the record.

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How to Include CTDL�Linked Open Data in

Interoperable Learner/Worker Records

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How Credential Engine enables Linked Open Data

CTDL Schemas �Common language to describe key features of credentials, credentialing organizations, competency frameworks, and quality assurance bodies as Linked Open Data.

Publishing Tools�After creating a user account, organizations use the (1) Publishing Assistant API, (2) bulk upload, or (3) manual entry to convert organization, credential, competency framework, and quality assurance information to CTDL and publish to the Registry.

Credential Registry�More than a database, the Registry collects and connects data described with CTDL schemas and supports and an open applications marketplace.

Credential Finder�A basic app to view and explore the information published to and stored in the Registry.

Community – A wide range of stakeholders participate and receive technical assistance and other services to both publish to the Registry and consume the data it houses.

*

To unlock the power of credentials, skills, and competency information, we’ve established the schemas, infrastructure, and the Credential Registry services--for connecting into larger ecosystems

We do this by leveraging the power of technology and the strength of our strategic partners to create clarity, connectivity, and value for anyone and everyone who uses education and workforce data to inform policy, make hiring decisions, or set strategic goals to create social and economic change.

CTDL: The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) is an open-source machine-readable language, for describing credentials and their connections on the open web. The CTDL has defined over 500 terms related to describing credentials, including requirements, delivery, costs, financial assistance, duration, jurisdiction, competencies, learning opportunities, assessments, quality assurance, review processes, and much more. Common descriptors allow for better apples-to-apples comparison between credentials.

Publishing processes: Credentialing organizations can translate information about their credentials into the common language of CTDL and publish it to the Credential Registry. After creating a user account, organizations can publish their information to the Credential Registry. Organizations have a suite of options to add information to the Credential Registry.

Credential Registry: The Registry stores open CTDL data about credentials, credentialing organizations, competencies, quality assurance bodies, and all the rich connected data associated with them. It can make connections not only among one institution’s data, but also across the wide variety of data and credentials in the Registry. Developers can create specialized applications to utilize Registry data for different types of audiences, such as employers, veterans, and learners.

Credential Finder: A basic app to view and explore the information stored in the Registry. The public can use the Finder to see all information published to the Credential Registry.

All supported by a diverse community: A wide range of stakeholders provide and receive technical assistance and other services to both publish to the Registry and consume the data it houses. Credentialing bodies, developers, and other users have access to resources such as do-it-yourself guides, best practices, and technical support.

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Use the ILWR Guide

This guide will be updated frequently:

Using CTDL for data design
Using CTDL with IMS Global Open Badge or CLR
Referencing Registry Data in an ILR
And more….

https://credreg.net/quickstart/ilwrguide

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Power your records with CTDL

Define requirements for valuable information you can provide that makes your learner/worker records valuable.
Organize your data about credentials, competencies, occupational alignments, etc. from one or more sources.
Design your learner records to use CTDL schemas, and for existing data, map it to CTDL schemas.
Include CTDL in the digital records that you issue to individuals.
Use CTIDs with Registry data to link to rich credential and competency information from within learner records.
Publish your credential and competency data as CTDL to the Registry and the Web.

See your learner records come to life in the ecosystems�of linked open data across the web.

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Make learner records

meaningful, relevant, and valuable

Learn	Read our ILWR blog, see the recorded webinar, or a PDF Subscribe to Credential Engine News and Resources Read the Whitepaper on Interoperable Learning Records Join our Technical Advisory Group Sign up to participate with the T3 ILR project Join an active W3C Credentials Community for technical design
Advocate	Promote credential data transparency through policy, business practices, and within your networks Share the ILWR Guide Share other technical and communications resources
Partner	Collaborate with Credential Engine to build new solutions that innovate education and workforce ecosystems (info@credentialengine.org)

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Make learner records

meaningful, relevant, and valuable

Act	Use the Credential Transparency Description Language to make learner records transparent and meaningful, empowering learners and workers on their education and career pathways Start an ILR data design and document your requirements Link ILRs to credential and competency data in the Registry�or on the Web Use the ILWR Guide Publish credential and competency data as Linked Open Data�to link to from learner records Start by setting up your no-cost Credential Engine account

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Follow @credengine on social media

Deb Everhart, Chief Strategy Officer deverhart@credentialengine.org

Jeanne Kitchens, Chief Technology Services Officer jkitchens@credentialengine.org

General Information: credentialengine.org

Technical Information: credreg.net

ILWR Guide credregnet/quickstart/iwlrguide

Credential and Competency Finder: http://credentialfinder.org

General Email: info@credentialengine.org

�For more information