filters

This tool has been developed for colleges and universities that are ready to establish or grow a learning and employment record (LER) system to support skills-based learning and hiring. Use this tool to determine your current stage of development across the categories identified. Colleges and universities in the effective practice stage of development are best positioned to empower underserved adult learners. Please also refer to Rethinking Community College Systems for a Skills-Based Talent Ecosystem: A Playbook for Learning and Employment Records for examples and key strategies that will help you succeed.

Digital credentials can contain a link to more information about the credential on Credential Engine's Credential Registry. This information can help employers and others better understand the meaning of the credential.

To achieve interoperability, action is required by the public and private sector. To guide action, a common set of principles for education and employment data has been created for use by key decision makers who provide education and training to millions of Americans each year, including policy makers, state and federal agencies, philanthropy, employers, colleges and universities, K-12 district leaders, workforce agencies, and military branches.

Over the last few months, I’ve asked the same question to corporate leaders from human resources, talent acquisition, learning and development, and management backgrounds. The question is this: What kind of data needs to be included in learning and employment records to be of greatest value to you in your role and to your organization? The answer varies slightly by industry and position, but unanimously, the employers I’ve talked to would find the greatest value in utilizing learning and employment records that include verified skills data. There is no equivocation.

In Summer 2023, CAEL (the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) and The EvoLLLution conducted a survey of CAEL higher education members and The EvoLLLution subscribers to investigate the extent to which their institutions are considering CLR implementation, and whether they are taking steps to reconceptualize their courses and credentials in terms of skills or competencies rather than credit hours. Follow-up conversations with select CAEL members who are taking steps to move towards skill-based credentialing models and an informal information-gathering roundtable at the 2023 CAEL Conference in November further informed the study.

A one-pager on how skills-based hiring infrastructure can better connect job descriptions, intermediaries, jobseekers, education providers, and digital wallets.

This playbook for learning and employment records outlines a first step in unpacking the complexities of LERs identified by policymakers and employers into the day-to-day efforts of higher education. The LER Stages of Development: Skills-Based Education and Employment Ecosystem, an LER engagement and implementation tool that accompanies this playbook, provides a self-assessment framework for functional areas including academics, student services, workforce partnerships, data and technology, and the state or system landscape

Credentials come in all shapes and sizes, but those issued electronically as standards-based digital credentials have the potential to remove systemic barriers, facilitate recognition of KSAs, improve the hiring process, and recognize learning and achievements earned in traditional and non-traditional ways. But what do all of these terms mean, and how does one differ from the other?

A guide for creating credential transparency to support a future credential marketplace for everyone.

Learning and employment records (LERs) such as diplomas, transcripts, badges, micro-credentials, certifications, and work experiences are being published as verifiable digital credentials according to the well-established and supported technology standard, W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) (https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/). This web specification provides the guidelines and models for how to develop software that issues and verifies cryptographically secured digital credentials that are flexible enough to accommodate identity verification, supply chain management, government documents, and also learning and employment records. This paper describes how VCs have increased the efficacy and integrity of digital learning and employment records, reviews the roles and activities involved with VCs, and discusses the status of the education data standards that are adjusting to this new paradigm.

Learning and Employment Records (LERs), an individual’s records of verified credentials, skills, and employment, have the potential to transform the nation’s education and employment systems. Yet, when it comes to convincing employers of their value, the focus on “potential” is a problem. While aspirational language can be an opening hook in any sales pitch, any user will expect concrete details about a product or service before signing on. Much of the existing messaging supporting employer adoption of LERs for upskilling (for current employees) or skills-based hiring (for new employees) focuses on benefits for employers that are vague and unlikely to inspire continued interest at scale. Language used in LER literature is frequently hopeful and ambitious, rather than speaking to outcomes.

Terminology is important. The words or names we use to label and describe a program, project, innovation, or movement can make or break the success of those initiatives. With our words, we can inspire, describe, motivate, and engage. In the same vein, we can also unintentionally confuse, alienate, or repel. In our work to understand the messages, narratives, and themes that leaders are using to describe “blockchain-powered credentialing technology” and “self-sovereign identity solutions,” we came across dozens of terms that describe the same general body of work. This brief describes our findings and makes some early recommendations for language and messaging strategies that may resonate more with employers.

This report makes the case for the urgency of connecting employers with untapped talent and how to do it in a way that will invigorate the economy for the mutual benefit of those individuals, employers, and our communities. We’ll unpack the larger trends influencing the workforce and highlight actions to help business leaders, policymakers, advocates, educators, and innovators seize this opportunity.

Use Cases for Education and Training Providers to Implement Labor-Market-Informed Strategy, Career Pathways, Skills Alignment, Digital Credentials, and Continuous Improvement.

This report attempts to map the space that exists between the promise of digital credentials that represent skills, competencies and abilities and their widespread adoption in employment-related use cases. It is based on a set of semi-structured interviews with leading experts and decision makers in North America and Europe, desk research and expert analysis.

Develops aspirational use cases to align leading employer practices in skills-based hiring and advancement that have the potential to achieve results for both employers and job candidates based on a balanced set of success metrics. This project includes aspirational learner/worker-centered use cases that empower them to use innovative developments in resumes, profiles, learning and employment records, and guidance services. Identifies likely failure points in implementation and scaling, including employer and candidate capacity, time and resource commitments, and the state of available data, technology and standards.

Digital Promise collaborated with workers in frontline sectors along with leaders in higher education, design, and technology to explore how LER technology could be used to promote greater equity across education and workforce systems. Drawing on our Inclusive Innovation Model, we engaged frontline workers, referred to as participant-advisors, in a series of design sessions to understand their perceptions of emerging LER technology and identify potential gaps in the design for developers.

To learn how employers and employees view and value alternative credentials and explore workforce readiness alternatives that build access and diverse talent strategies, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the SHRM Foundation, with funding from Walmart, conducted research during the summer of 2021. They surveyed U.S. executives, supervisors, HR professionals and workers with no direct reports. Additionally, qualitative information was gathered through a series of focus groups (Learning Labs). The results were then reviewed with HR professionals to gain greater insights on the findings.

This report reflects the culmination of the first phase of a two-year initiative focused on exploring both the opportunities and the risks of utilizing blockchain to translate skills and educational experiences into a language that individuals—and employers—can use.

Describes the importance of the learning recognition of the future: integration of learning and work; equity and inclusion, the centering around a student’s individual learning and competencies, and, woven throughout, the leveraging of technology in new ways to improve efficiencies and affordability.

Five categories of requirements and options for creating Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs) for Competency-Based Education were identified and tested with several colleges and universities.