See what's new with Credential Engine in "Transparency" our monthly newsletter.

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Transparency
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May 18th, 2023

Welcome to Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. Over the next few months, Credential Engine will release new tools and resources for the public to support credential transparency and open data. We are giving our readers a heads-up on the tools and resources you can expect from us.

Our team has made significant progress in creating and piloting two new tools, the badge publisher and the pathway builder. The badge publisher tool will be officially launched on May 31st. From that point forward, badge-issuing organizations will be able to use this user-friendly tool to upload their badge data to the Credential Registry with ease. We are thrilled to announce that the pathway builder is scheduled to launch in July of this year. This new tool will enable stakeholders to create clear and customizable pathways toward learning and career opportunities, using the CTDL and the Credential Registry to provide a seamless experience.

On June 12th, we will be releasing our Equity Advisory Council’s Report and Recommendations. The Council has been dedicated to leveraging the value of open data to improve equitable access to and outcomes from education, training, and workforce development programs and pathways. The report focuses on the data elements and principles for data use to support equity for learners and workers. None of this work would be possible without the support and participation of our partners. We are excited to share these developments with you so keep an eye out for upcoming announcements from Credential Engine!
Jump ahead:

> Spotlight (#Spotlight)
> U (#Policy) pdates (#Updates)
> State Connections (#State)
> Technology & Support (#Technology)
> News (#News)


** Spotlight.
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[link removed]

Join the Badge Publisher Launch Webinar: Credential Engine’s 2022 Counting Credentials report ([link removed]) counts over 430,000 badge credentials offered in the United States. This number will continue to grow as more formal and informal learning is represented in digital credentials. Unfortunately, many of these badges are undervalued and do not unlock opportunities because people do not understand what they mean. Therefore, it’s important for badge information to be published to the Credential Registry so that the meaning and value of each badge is clear. This is where the badge publisher comes in, helping organizations that issue badges publish information about their badges to the Credential Registry. This contextualizes the badges with other meaningful data in the Credential Registry, such as skills, courses, transfer value, other credentials, and pathways. This tool is available to anyone with a Credential
Registry account directly via our existing publishing system and as open-source code for badging platforms to use as part of their services. The Badge Publisher currently supports badges in Instructure Canvas Credentials (formerly Badgr) and Credly, and can be integrated with other badging platforms that follow the Open Badge specification.

Any organization can start using this tool, and we are launching to the public and hosting a webinar on May 31st at 2 PM EST. The webinar will cover an introduction to the tool, provide an overview of how the tool works, and why this is an important development for digital credentialing ecosystems. All resources from the webinar will be made available after.
Register for the webinar here ([link removed]) .


** Updates.
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[link removed] are Hiring! Credential Engine is currently looking for a highly motivated State Partnerships Manager to join our team and provide support to our expanding network of state and regional partnerships. This position will have a particular focus on K-12 and Career and Technical Education (CTE) data, and K-12 and CTE education in general. As such, we are seeking someone with good experience understanding and using credential and learning data in the K-12 and CTE fields. Learn more about this opportunity here ([link removed]) . Please reach out to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested in learning more!

Jobspeaker and Credential Engine Partner To Deliver Comprehensive Educational Pathway Transparency: This partnership will allow credential providers the ability to raise the visibility of their programs, provide standardized data about what they offer, and more easily show transfer credit and program value to students, workers, veterans, returning adults, employers, and other job seekers, as well as employers looking to upskill their workforce. Credential Registry publishing institutions can use Jobspeaker’s proprietary AI software to map all credentials to skills to jobs through the use of CTDL. Jobspeaker and Credential Engine are committed to providing equitable access that allows learners to navigate the full range of learning and career opportunities. The two organizations believe that skills, competencies, and credentials lead to lasting careers and meaningful work that can change lives and entire communities for the better. To learn more about this partnership, click here
([link removed]) .

Join the New Rubrics Task Group: Join the Rubrics Task Group (RTG) and help expand the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). Rubrics are key to understanding competencies in relation to credentials and jobs. They specify the observable behaviors that indicate a person has reached a certain level of competence. Subject matter and technical experts from education, training, industry, and business are encouraged to join the RTG regardless of where in the world they work. As a participant, you will generate use cases and review examples and existing standards to decide how information about rubrics and their relationships to competencies, assessments, jobs, credentials, and other relevant entities can be integrated into CTDL. This short-term process involves only 6 bi-weekly meetings and follows a proven methodology that results in important and durable CTDL and Credential Registry updates. You can learn more about the task group here
([link removed]) , and if you are interested in participating, you can sign up here ([link removed]) .

Upcoming Certificates Task Group: Postsecondary institutions offer a variety of certificates, and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) already supports describing some types of certificates. Credential Engine's Certificate Task Group will delve deeper into potentially adding additional types of certificates to the CTDL. We will be inviting interested parties to join the open task group in the coming months and will keep you informed of this opportunity. As always, Credential Engine remains committed to promoting credential transparency and improving understanding and access to education and workforce information. Please reach out at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested and we will make sure you are included in all relevant communications.

[link removed] Quality Campaign’s Vision for Data Access: It’s time to ensure state data systems are open and transparent, and work for people who are navigating education and workforce pathways. Data Quality Campaign's new vision for data access describes the types of data access that people need to navigate decisions through education and the workforce successfully, details four use cases in which State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDSs) are necessary to support decision-making, and describes clear ways that state and federal leaders can take action to make this vision a reality. Credential Engine is happy to have provided input for this release and to move the work of transparency and open data systems forward. To learn more, click here ([link removed]) .


** State Connections.
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[link removed] steps in Colorado: Next month, the Colorado Workforce Development Council, Colorado Department of Higher Education, Credential Engine, and partners will be kicking off a project to help Coloradans make informed career decisions and access quality training and employment. Supported by a grant ([link removed]) from Walmart, the project will help strengthen connections between employers in need of talent and workers with job-relevant skills to ease hiring challenges and help Coloradans obtain quality jobs with a path to prosperity. Credential Engine will specifically support mapping credentials offered in Colorado to the CTDL which will be published in the Registry and used in tools supporting students, learners and workers.

Welcome to Houston Community College: We are pleased to be starting work with Houston Community College and to launch efforts to publish credentials, competencies, and more to the Registry. This initiative is a natural complement to our ongoing work in Texas ([link removed]) with the Tri-Agencies – the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Collectively this work with the state agencies, individual institutions and providers across the state, and national credentialing bodies are building out the comprehensive Texas Credential Library.


** Technology & Support.
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Provide Feedback by June 2nd for the CTDL Support Services Task Terms Proposal: The Support Services Task Group (SSTG) collaborated with the CTDL team to develop a proposal for CTDL support services terms. The SSTG focused on data that describes support available to learners and earners as they enter into, navigate, and complete informal and formal education to career pathways. The CTDL development process is driven by open participation and feedback from the community, so on May 16th, the Credential Engine team held webinars to present the proposal to all stakeholders and solicit feedback. If you missed this webinar or are interested in learning more, you can watch the webinar here ([link removed]) . Stakeholder feedback is an important part of the CTDL development process, and we invite you to review the CTDL Support Services Terms Proposal ([link removed]) and provide feedback by June 2, 2023. There
are three options to provide feedback: (1) Use comments to provide feedback directly in the Terms Proposal; (2) add comments to GitHub Issue #872: Support Services Proposal ([link removed]) or email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .


** News.
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1. GitLab Foundation’s First Grant To Illuminate Credential Quality And Outcomes (forbes.com) ([link removed])

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