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Digital Credentials and Skills

Based on Open Standards from IMS Global

IMS Global

Open Badges

Comprehensive Learner Record

CASE

March 2022

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20+ Years of

Learning Impact

Offering sustained value for K-20 educators, corporate learning, state agencies and edtech solution providers.

a non-profit, dedicated to lifelong Learning

See IMS Global's Latest Annual Report

Education Institutions

American Public Univ System

Arizona State University

Brown University

Univ. of California System

Georgia Tech

Indiana University

Harvard Bus. Publishing

Penn State University

SNHU Southern NH Univ

University of Michigan

University of Notre Dame

University of Pennsylvania

University of Wisconsin

Western Governors

Yale University

28 statewide education agencies

50% of top 10 school districts

Tech Innovators

2U

Amazon Web Services

Adobe

Apple

CompTIA

Concentric Sky/Badgr

Coursera

Credly

edX

Google

Microsoft

Oracle

Salesforce

Workday

Zoom

Partial Membership List

American Association of Collegiate Registrars

Charles Koch Foundation

Lumina Foundation

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Walmart Foundation

See all members

725+ member organizations headquartered in 28 different countries
7,000+ member staff in the IMS community
100+ leading higher education institutions, state/national systems, and education associations
95+ leading K-12 districts and state/government agencies
380+ edtech solutions and corporate learning providers

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Digital Credentials Ecosystem

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Why Digital Credentials and Why Now?

Growth in existing and new medium-to-high skilled jobs

Traditional hiring signals (degree, resume) and edu providers are imperfect

Instruction is (gradually) moving toward competency-based education

Everything is digital and cloud-based, why not CLR and credentials?

“Traditional” learner concept is changing

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Foundations for Digital Credentials and Pathways

Token Representing an Achievement

Publish and Relate Skills

Longitudinal Record of Achievements and Milestones

IMS Open Standards Enable an Interoperable Ecosystem

Open Badges

CASE

Competencies

and Academic

Standards Exchange

Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR)

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Open Badges (OB)

2013-2016

43,000,000+

2016 - Present

Open Badges Issued Worldwide

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Comprehensive Learner Record Standard (CLR Standard)

Open Standard for Personal Achievements

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A Connected Skills Ecosystem

Open Badges + CLR + CASE

Unique Id: d499f1b8-aad2-11ea-b166-0242ac1c0003

Curriculum Competency and Skill

Framework

Industry Published

Competency Frameworks

Education Provider

Employers

Learner-Worker

Job/Role

Competency

Requirements

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Skills-based Hiring is on the Rise

Survey of 750 employers on readiness for digital credentials, skills frameworks and skills-based practices

75% of HR leaders report that they have some type of technology system or bank of competencies and roles to use when creating job descriptions
Some type of skill or competency frameworks are commonly used for hiring, assessing candidates or employees’ and staffing and resource planning
69% agree industry-led competency frameworks could be beneficial in creating a more fluid market for talent in their industry
A majority of organizations (73%) reported some level of dedicated talent analytics efforts reflecting the availability of people analytics technology tools and the maturation of this emerging area within HR organizations.
When described, the value propositions of digital credentials to improve hiring, skill assessment, and training strongly resonate with HR leaders

Click to Open

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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Digital Credentials Contain High Quality, Verified and Structured Data

Verified Knowledge, Skills and Competencies

Targeted Degrees and Certifications

Test Results Grades

Proficiency Levels Evaluation Scale/Rubric

Specializations Degree Major/Minor

Learning Pathways

Evidence and Performance Demonstrations

,,,

CLR provides HR/ATS and talent system algorithms with data to enable bias-free, skills-based hiring

Incorporates data on technical and foundational (‘soft’) skills

Example of Metadata in CLR Standard

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Officially Recognized and Adopted by AACRAO

Read the full report

Link to AACRAO

CLR Resources

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Part of a Developing Credentials and Skills Ecosystem

Verifiable

Credentials

How is a CLR different from an LER?

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Compatible with Emerging Digital Wallet Standard

Other

Government Documents

The W3C Verifiable Credential standard is a meta-standard for digital documents

Health Records

VC’s are a general standard for exchange of many types of digital “claims”.

These VC’s types are defined by domain-specific standards bodies for Government (Passports, Driver’s License), Health (Vaccines) and Education (Badges, Comprehensive Learner Records) provided by IMS Global. IMS is also working with the HR Open Standards org on employer based achievements.

Learning and Skill Achievements (CLR/OB)

Open Badges 3.0* is a Verifiable Credential

CLR Standard 2.0* is a Verifiable Credential

*In progress targeted for completion August 2022

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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An Open Standard for Learning and Employment Records

Certificate

Degree

Achievements can be associated to each other within the CLR to express a variety of relationships such as a learning pathway, sequence or a stackable credential.

Courses

Competencies

Competency

Job Role

Skills

CLR PACKAGE

Achievements

Publisher

Learner

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Assertion

Unique ID

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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CLR Content can be Linked to Published Frameworks

...and explicitly aligned to published skill and competency frameworks in academia and industry.

Frameworks

Learning Outcomes
Pathways
Competencies
Skills

Unique Alignment ID

Machine based algorithms can process the context and structured metadata within each achievement assertion.

CLR PACKAGE

Achievements

Publisher

Learner

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Issuer

Achievement

Assertion

Unique ID

Assertion

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CASE Connects a Credentials Ecosystem

An open standard for publishing frameworks in a digital form for interconnection

Curriculum and Competency

Framework

Industry

Competency Framework

Education Provider

Link frameworks like web pages

Employers

Learner-Worker

Unique Id: d499f1b8-aad2-11ea-b166-0242ac1c0003

Job Description/

Competency

Requirements

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Unique Id: d499f1b8-aad2-11ea-b166-0242ac1c0003

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CLR Value for Your Organization

Official Organizational Record Validated achievements, milestones and skills across all stages of education and employment.		Developmental Supports scaffolding of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) assessments at defined or increasing levels based on structured rubrics.
Longitudinal Reflecting the personal progression of learning over time in context of an optional pathway..		Personal and Intentional Captures the individuals’ curricular, co-curricular and employment pathways and intended goals.
Integrative Captures relationships between learning outcomes and skills in and outside the record.		Transferable and Secure Creates an immutable, unchangeable record transferable among organizations and individuals. Independently, or as a W3C VC.
Contextual Reflects the progression of learning of related skills in context of a pathway or framework.		Verifiable Verifiable as individual achievements and as a complete record.
Self-sovereign Empowers the learner or employee to privately share the record in whole or parts.

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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CASE Connects an Expanding Credentials Ecosystem

An open standard for publishing frameworks in a digital form for interconnection

Curriculum

Competency

Framework

Industry

Competency Framework

Supports CASE

Education Provider

Employers

Learner-Worker

Supports CASE

Open Badges + CLR

Job Role

Competency

Qualifications

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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Wellspring Initiative

Connected frameworks, primary employer research and demonstration software

Interconnected Frameworks (CASE)

Education Providers

Employer Partners

8

16

750 Employers

Readiness

Plans

Cost-Benefit

Primary

Employer

Research

The Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy

Sponsored by 1EdTech Foundation and supported by the Charles Koch Foundation and the Walmart Foundation. See Phase II report

3 Workstreams

Submit CLR

Wellspring is building a demonstration ATS. The products listed are examples of possible products to consume CLR

APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM

ATS

Job Skills Framework (CASE)

CREDENTIAL

HUB

and WALLET

Search

Learning Outcomes Framework (CASE)

Functioning Demonstration Software available to Members

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Built for Interoperability

ACHIEVEMENT

PORTAL

Learning Management System

Assessment and/or Evaluation Platforms

Academic Assertions

Competency Assertions, etc.

HR/Talent

Information System

Student Information System

Compliance Assertions

REST API

Intra-Organization

REST API

Achievement Assertions

External Issuers

Inter-Organization

REST API

Self-Assert, Curate, Export/Share

Individually Controlled

REST API

OPEN

DIGITAL WALLET

TALENT SEARCH

and

APPLICANT

TRACKING (ATS)

Machine Processing and

Algorithms

CREDENTIALS

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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Open Standards Can Power a Virtual Talent Network

Riverwell Community College

Riverwell High

Riverwalk Place

Plural Games

NIASE

Digital Wallet

Platforms

Exeter Volvo

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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Build Demonstration Software

TALENT SEARCH

and

APPLICANT

TRACKING (ATS)

Self-Assert, Curate, Export/Share

Ava

ACHIEVEMENT

HUB

OPEN

DIGITAL WALLET

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@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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Interoperability with IMS Standards

SIS

LMS

Achievement Portal

Assessment Platform

LTI

Digital Wallet

OneRoster

OB/CLR

ASSERTION OPTIONS:

OB 3.0 Credentials (Get, Post)

CLR 2.0 Credentials (Get, Post)

OneRoster

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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How to Trigger an Achievement Assertion

Grade Level

Perf Standards

SEL Skills

Institution’s Curricular

Framework in

CASE

Courses

Assignment

Assessment

Requirements Satisfied?

Trigger Achievement Assertion

Is aligned to defined credential-eligible items in CASE (marked in green)

OB/CLR

Achievement Portal

Platform

Gradebook

Based on the institutions’ Credentialing Plan, an Achievement Assertion is to be made when conditions for the achievement have been satisfied

GUID

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Collaborating with Innovators and Key Stakeholders

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Early Adopters of the CLR Standard

Indiana University
Johns Hopkins University
University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)
Walden University
Western Governors University
Broward County Public Schools
Edina Public Schools
North Dakota DPI

AEFIS
ELocker
iDatafy / SmartResume
Mastery Transcript Consortium
Parchment
Peridot Learners EDGE
Public Consulting Group
National Student Clearinghouse
RANDA Solutions
Territorium

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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AACRAO CLR Showcase Participants

Elon University
University of Central Oklahoma
University of California San Diego
Southern New Hampshire University
Lipscomb University
South Texas College
University of Missouri
Colorado School of Mines
Western Seminary
Towson University
Indiana State University
University of MD Baltimore County

Walden University
University of South Carolina
Rasmussen University
University of Maryland Global Campus
Winston Salem State University
IUPUI
Purdue Global
Purdue University NW
University of Southern Indiana
Tennessee Board of Regents
University of North Texas
Ball State University

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org

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IMS Leading the Community

Member-based Technical Workgroups
Digital Credentials Innovation Leadership Network

Higher Education Institutions
Discuss pressing issues, share ideas, and build successful community-focused solutions

Digital Credentials “Learn and Lead” Roundtables click

Focus on building a community of HED institutional leaders
Lessons learned and best practices

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Resources Available

To quickly understand, develop and even test your CLR and CASE software applications. Click to open links below.

Below resources are free to access and use

OpenAPI (Swagger, view only)
OpenAPI (Swagger, interactive)
CLR 1.0 JSON Schema
CLR 1.0 JSON-LD Context

Sample CLR’s (in JSON-LD format)

Requires Membership or access with a Free IMS Account

Not an IMS member? The demo resources above are available by request. First, sign up for a free IMS account and then contact Dan Blickensderfer, IMS program manager (dblickensderfer@imsglobl.org).

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Digital Credentials Ecosystem

@Learningimpact | imsglobal.org