1 of 24

CTDL Advisory Group

Kickoff Meeting�

February 14, 2023

(Happy Valentine’s Day!)

www.credentialengine.org

2 of 24

Topics

Welcome and Housekeeping

All Advisory Group meetings are recorded and the meeting resources are public information
Indicate “present” in the roster
Chat Question: Why is credential transparency in general important to each of you?

Meeting Format and Introductions

About the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) Advisory Group meeting format
Introduction to Principal CTDL Advisory Group members and CTDL team

Overview of the CTDL with Key Takeaways
Review and Consensus for Approval of the Charter

Overview of CTDL 2023 Plan of Work

Next Steps:

Charter feedback and approval
Planning for the April 11, 2023 Meeting

2

3 of 24

Purpose / Meeting Format / Introductions

4 of 24

Credential Engine:

Who We Are & What We Do

Our Mission: Credential Engine is a non-profit whose mission is to map the credential landscape with clear and consistent information, fueling the creation of resources that empower people to find the pathways that are best for them.

Our Vision: We envision a future where millions of people worldwide have access to information about credentials that opens their eyes to the full range of opportunities for learning, advancement, and meaningful careers.

How we accomplish our Mission and Vision:

Building common infrastructure and language
Collaboration
Empowerment

4

5 of 24

Purpose of the CTDL Advisory Group

DRAFT FROM CHARTER

The purpose of the CTDL Advisory Group (CAG) is to build on and expand the established foundation of the CTDL and work to position CTDL as a global de facto standard for linked, open, interoperable data for open- and closed-world modeling in learn and work ecosystems. ��The CAG provides input and participates with processes for CTDL family expansion and long-term maintenance; builds and formalizes connections with other data standards and initiatives; advocates for use of CTDL; and enables advancements through promoting projects relevant to CTDL that improve talent ecosystems.

��

5

6 of 24

CTDL Advisory Group Meeting Format

The CTDL Advisory Group is comprised of a principal group of leading experts in areas that are critical to powering talent ecosystems’ data internationally and open participation.

6

The CTDL Advisory Group meetings are structured in a hybrid format. In keeping with Credential Engine’s commitment to transparency we welcome engagement and participation by interested people in these meetings, which will add perspective and enrich the conversations and work. This hybrid format follows shared goals for transparency and open participation.
At this time we have 12 principal members and 90+ additional people registered to participate and contribute.

7 of 24

Principal Members

7

As of February 15, 2023, listed below are the principal members for this Advisory Group. These members and their organizations play a vital and substantial role in improving talent ecosystems. Credential Engine’s goal in having these members participate is to have individuals representing and bridging the global community. �

Borhene Chakroun, Director for Policy and Lifelong Learning Systems, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Located in France.
Dan Brickley, Liaison, Schema.org. Located in England.
Etan Bernstein, Co-Founder & Head of Ecosystem, Velocity Network Foundation. Located in Israel.
James Keevy, Chief Executive Officer, JET Education Services. Located in South Africa.
Jim Goodell, Senior Analyst, Quality Information Partners, Inc. (QIP). Located in the United States.
Laura Veza-Visan, Digital Labour Market Consultant for European Commission via NTTData, European Commission. Located in Belgium.
Rachel Scherer, Senior Program Officer, Data Innovation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Located in the United States.
Shizuka Kato, Analyst, Higher Education Policy Team, Directorate for Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Located in France.
Simone Ravaioli, Director Global Ecosystem and Innovation, Parchment. Located in Italy.
Stuart Sutton, Metadata Consultant, Sutton & Associates. Located in the United States.
Susanna Karakhanyan, Higher Education Policy and Regulation Director, Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge. Located in the United Arab Emirates.
Thea Sommerseth Myhren, CEO and Co-Founder, Diwala. Located in Uganda.

8 of 24

Credential Engine CTDL Team

Scott Cheney, Chief Executive Officer�
CTDL Team Members

Nate Argo, Solutions Architect
Phil Barker, Metadata Consultant (Cetis LLP)
Deb Everhart, Chief Strategy Officer
Jeanne Kitchens, Chief Technology Services Officer
Mike Parsons, Senior Solutions Architect�

Support Services Task Group Coordination

Cadence Calixto, Operations Manager
Scarlett Jeckel, Accounts and Publishing Manager

8

9 of 24

Overview of the CTDL with Key Takeaways

10 of 24

Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)

An openly licensed family of schemas modeled on the semantic web for transparency and comparability of credential and adjacent information. The CTDL is modeled on World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications for Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS). �https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook

CTDL family of standards:

CTDL for credential and adjacent data
CTDL ASN for competency data
Quantitative Data for aggregate outcome data��

11 of 24

CTDL-ASN: Vocabulary

The CTDL vocabulary includes classes, properties and concepts that are all defined for semantic meaning.

Classes: are constructs that represent groups of things in the real- or information-world that are somehow similar.

Members of primary CTDL classes have URLs based on CTIDs that are unique global identifiers.

Properties: represent characteristics of the things being described and the relationships between them. Different properties are relevant for members of different classes. Properties allow for rich descriptions and for linking data about different things.
Concept Schemes: where a value for a property is to be drawn from an enumeration of predefined terms (a controlled vocabulary) a Concept Scheme provides a set of concepts that can be used.
Concepts: predefined terms directly associated with a Concept Scheme.

11

Class = Credential Alignment Object

Class = Process Profile

Class = Certificate

Properties

Concept

12 of 24

CTDL: Key Attributes

Three integrated standards for rich descriptions of resources that link education and training to work.
Agnostic to industries and domains.
Modeled as linked open data.
Independent from serializations.
Expressed as simple statements.
Available under an open license for anyone to use.
Developed to support numerous use cases ranging from search and discovery to integrations.
Borrows from schema.org and other open schemas.
Enables transparency, comparability, reusability. interoperability.
Supports multiple languages and application profiles.
Living language following Significant Updates and Namespace Policies.
Development process inclusive of all stakeholders.
Extendable to serve many use cases including global.
Published as CTDL linked open data that is human and machine readable.

12

13 of 24

CTDL: Supports Integrations and Linked Open Data

System integrations

Linked Open Data on the Web

14 of 24

CTDL:Significant Update Process

Policies for CTDL Updates: Updates are made per the CTDL Significant Updates Policy.�

CTDL Annual Plan of Work: The CTDL develops a CTDL Annual Plan of Work that identifies the key feeders for potential CTDL updates and planned significant updates to aide with scheduling the work necessary for development.�

CTDL Task Groups: Following the CTDL Significant Updates Policy, time delimited Task Groups are formed. These chartered Task Groups are open to anyone with subject matter expertise and results in an updated CTDL domain model and terms. The work of a Task Group is followed by additional input by any interested persons and a comment period prior to updating the CTDL.

This efficient process ensures orderly changes that support and expand the durable, persistent value of CTDL Linked Open Data. Once this process is completed, all related CTDL resources are updated along with the Credential Registry publishing and consuming tools. The Registry and related tools and resources are freely available for stakeholders to publish credential and related information.

14

15 of 24

CTDL:Timeline and Expansion

15

The first CTDL release was in 2017. As a living language, the CTDL has grown to over 900 classes, properties, concept schemes, and concepts.

Legend
	CTDL
	CTDL-ASN
	QData
	Deprecated

* Depr. = Deprecated

16 of 24

CTDL: Open Resources

All CTDL resources are openly available for anyone to use. There is no membership structure, and there are no fees for using these resources available via https://credreg.net. The CTDL family of schemas is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Handbook
CTDL Terms
Serializations
Mapping Guides
Release Histories
Significant Update Policies
Namespace Policies
GitHub repository

16

17 of 24

CTDL: In Action

The Credential Finder is a tool for seeing data in the Registry that uses the CTDL linked data structure. �

https://credentialfinder.org

Follow the JSON LD links on each detail page to see instance metadata using CTDL.

18 of 24

CTDL:Key Takeaways

CTDL is a matured standard for describing data, suitable for use with systems that enable search and discovery, integrations, and many other use cases.
CTDL is based on well established RDF / Linked Open Data standards.
CTDL is living language developed through open, transparent, and durable processes.
Anyone can access and use the CTDL along with the supporting resources.
CTDL is structured to support global applicability.

18

19 of 24

CTDL Advisory Group Draft Charter Review

20 of 24

Draft Work Plan

and Charter

Review, provide feedback, and approve the Draft CTDL Plan and Charter:

Provide feedback in chat, verbally, or via suggestions and comments.
We can make some updates in real time.
Use the online consensus form.

20

21 of 24

Next Steps

21

22 of 24

CTDL Advisory Group Next Steps

Credential Engine will send a follow-up email with links to the recording of this meeting and all meeting materials.�

Indicate in the chat “Yes” if you’d like a separate deeper dive “Introduction to CTDL” session.�
Complete review and feedback of the Draft CTDL Advisory Group Charter .

Use the online consensus form to indicate approval of the Charter.

- Yes - indicates your approval.

- Stand Aside - indicates you are unable to consent or object.

- No - indicates you are objecting to the approval. An objection is valid only if it is accompanied by a description and indication of a solution.

Watch for follow up information concerning the Charter and any related topics to CTDL Advisory Group. �
Participate with the April 11, 2023 CAG Meeting.

22