These terms reference the draft glossary in progress with the T3 Innovation Network Learning & Employment Record Guide.
A statement in a credential about a person's achievement.
A logically related set of competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities, or other attributes (KSAOs). When they are stored in computer-friendly formats, they can be easily used across systems.
We use the World Wide Web Consortium's broad definition of credential to mean anything that describes something about a person or a thing, i.e. qualification, competency, or clearance. This includes someone's identity, license, diploma, work eligibility, badge, certification, etc.
A digital credential wallet is an application that supports the storage and exchange of digital credentials that conform to a credential standard. Here we are focused on LER/VC compliant credentials. They have services for storing, viewing, and sharing credentials that include protecting them from being tampered with by cryptographic proofs. Many wallets also support self-authoring of credentials that can be signed by the wallet holder. Many wallets can store credentials in formats like CLR, VC, and Open Badges.
Any links, multimedia, work samples, assessment results, or other documentation provided with a credential that supports its credibility and value.
The ability of different devices, software, or systems to successfully talk to each other. Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems.
An organization or person who creates and digitally signs a credential.
LERs are a category that describes a record or collection of records relevant to education, hiring, career advancement. The current best practice for LERs for the purpose of skills-based hiring and advancement is for LERs to meet a set of criteria that supports their usefulness for representing a person's achievements and qualifications interoperably (across different organizations' systems, including HR systems, education systems, and online profiles).
We recommend awarding credentials using the latest versions of CLR, Open Badges, or W3C Verifiable Credential (VC), which are all compatible with the Verifiable Credentials standard. We call these credentials LER/VCs. These credentials should be stored in digital storage systems (i.e., wallets, portfolios, backpacks etc.) and easily movable between them.
While there is little agreement on the definition of a microcredential, one suggestion is: "A microcredential is generally a subset of learning achievements or outcomes that is less than a full degree or certificate" (AACRAO, 2022).
Ideally they are stackable and demonstrate earning criteria. A microcredential can be awarded in various formats, like as a digital badge or paper certificate.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, provides a useful definition: “Open Standards are standards made available to the general public and are developed (or approved) and maintained via a collaborative and consensus-driven process” (ITU, 2024).
This definition implies that open standards are not just available for anyone to read and implement, but the process of creating them is itself open to participation. In practice, the definition of open standard is widely interpreted. Some are designed by a small group of organizations in commercial consortia. Others are created using open processes that encourage broad participation. Some standards are voluntarily adopted, others are mandated by regulators. "A specification created by a single organization that is available for anyone to freely use and which has been broadly adopted might also be considered an open standard" (Open Data Institute, 2018).
Digital badges which are awarded using the Open Badges standard.
Skills-based Hiring and Advancement (SBHA) refers to a recruitment and career development approach focused on evaluating and promoting people based on their skills and competencies. It is a process by which employers and HR service providers identify, recruit, hire, and advance candidates informed by skills and competency data, helping to more effectively match candidates' skills and competencies with the skill and competency requirements of work or learning opportunities (USCCF, 2022).
Automated procedures that check the digital signature or "seal" on a credential. These include a set of general checks (has the credential been signed by the issuer and not modified since signing), as well as business-logic checks that may include "is it expired?", "has it been revoked?", "does it conform to the expected format?" It is crucial to understand that verification checks the "seal" on the credential but does NOT imply evaluation of the truth of any statements within a credential.
Note that this standard specifies only the outer envelope of the credential, not the credential inside.