Credentialing Organizations
Definition: Entities including institutions, organizations, individuals, or training providers that provide evidence of skills or achievements for a learner. These include but are not limited to primary, secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education providers, industry credentialing organizations, unions, employers (small, medium, and large enterprise), governments, licensing boards, private or community training providers, online education providers, and workplace training or education programs. Within the LER Ecosystem, an entity that provides a credential can be referred to as an issuer
Examples: Colleges and universities, union apprenticeships, industry association for manufacturing or early child care, state licensure associations, boards of nursing, education, and cosmetology etc., NGOs or non-profits, online learning providers
Roles and Workstreams
Developing
- Partner in research and pilots — to better understand LER ROI for institutions and their learners, engaging stakeholders across the education/training institution, including leadership, faculty, student affairs, registrars, continuing education, career counselors, etc.
- Align curriculum and learning outcomes to learner and employer needs
Issuing
- Issue digital, open standards compliant, data rich academic credentials including degrees, diplomas, certificates, and licensures
- Explore a competency-based approach to designing curriculum, learning, and assessment
- Develop policies and practices to validate and document skills, use skills in credit for prior learning, admissions, and audits for program completion.
- Define governance and infrastructure to ensure quality assurance of issued credentials (influenced by industry standards, accreditation bodies, local employers and educators)
- Work with policymakers on qualifications frameworks for transparent learning progressions
- Ensure that credential and skills data are issued and used in an interoperable manner
Using
- Undertake change management including training educators, counselors and learners on LERsImplement curriculum with skills and competency-based approaches to assessment for publishing to LER
Adopting
- Include support for LERs in admissions systems and decision making processes, expanding prior learning recognition to offer credits for experiences in other settings and institutions
- Adopt new practices to use LERs in the learning journey, including but not limited to, the curriculum, advising, scholarships and career services
- Track data on effectiveness for institutions and learners — including competencies, skills and their associated rubrics within the curriculum
Action Areas
There are key action areas that we believe LER ecosystem stakeholders should focus on to make significant progress towards adoption in service of equity and opportunity. All action areas rely on the participation of stakeholders in pilots, research and advocacy initiatives.
Promoting Adoption
Identify the advantages of using LERs, as compared to current practices, towards stakeholder goals and agendas. Define metrics for success and develop data driven value propositions.
- Partner in research and pilots — to better understand the return on investment for learners, educators, and administrators
- Align curriculum and learning outcomes to learner and employer needs
Building Employer Demand
Scale LER issuing and increase employer demand and capacity by supporting integration with existing systems and demonstrating usability and value.
- Connect supply and demand by increasing the number of verifiable credentials issued and guiding learners and earners in their use of LERs to apply for jobs and other opportunities
- Co-design credentials with local employers, to ensure matching of learning outcomes with the skills desired in the workforce
Gathering Data on Impact
How do we know LERs are effective in unlocking opportunities for learners and streamlining processes for employers and educators? Stakeholders across the ecosystem must collect empirical data that confirms value statements about LERs and identifies areas for improvement in work streams.
- Engage stakeholders across the organization, including leadership, faculty, student affairs, registrars, continuing education, career counselors, etc. in tracking data on effectiveness of LERs for institutions and learners
- Align curriculum and learning outcomes to learner and employer needs and develop metrics for measuring learner success along the learner journey has predictive validity
Support Degree and Skills Based Systems
LERs can be issued for large scale achievements like diplomas and degrees or for more granular ones like courses or even individual skills and competencies. The ideal LER Ecosystem will support recognition of learning and abilities obtained through both traditional and skills-based systems.
- Explore competency-based approaches to designing curriculum, learning models and assessment
- Develop policies and practices to validate and document skills, use skills in credit for prior learning, admissions, and audits for program completion.
- Define governance and infrastructure to ensure quality assurance of issued credentials (influenced by industry standards, accreditation bodies, local employers and educators).
- Work with policymakers (including input from Commonwealth countries and EU) on qualifications frameworks for transparent learning progressions.
- Issue digital versions of credentials that are based on open standards, ensuring that credentials are interoperable across the various systems a learner may encounter in the learning and career journey.
“LERs are so important to students I work with; stop considering people for what they look like, where they went to school… just consider what they can do.”— Angela Consani, Co-Founder & CEO, Bioscience Core Skills Institute
Business Case
Cost efficiency - cost savings from the improved outcomes of institutional efficiency in admissions, transfer and learner mobility
Potential for enrollment growth - expand continuing education programs in particular to support re- and up-skilling
Admissions - better ability to provide personalized supports based on applicants’ skills and competencies and match learners with suitable academic and training programs
Social Case
Preparing learners for success - By issuing LERs for both large scale achievements and more granular competencies, learners are better able to curate and market their particular skills and abilities when entering the workforce or seeking high earning careers
Leadership as a learner-centered institution - open up access to quality learning opportunities to more learners by mitigating barriers to entry
