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

View this email in your browser ([link removed])


**
Transparency
------------------------------------------------------------
.
June 15th, 2023
Welcome to Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. We are one week away from the official start of summer, and the staff at Credential Engine couldn’t be more excited. And excited for the exact reasons you’d think- we have our Pathway Builder launching in just over a month! While summer means beach, sun, and bodies of water, it also means new tools from Credential Engine. As always, we will continue to inform our readers about Credential Engine updates, so keep reading to learn what’s new this month and we hope everyone has a great start to summer!
Jump ahead:

> Spotlight (#Spotlight)
> U (#Policy) pdates (#Updates)
> Policy Corner (#Policy)
> Technology & Support (#Technology)
> Events (#Events)


** Spotlight.
------------------------------------------------------------

Credential Engine’s Equity Advisory Council Report and Recommendations Release

On June 12th, we released our Equity Advisor ([link removed]) [link removed] Council’s Report a ([link removed]) nd Recommendations ([link removed]) on improving equity in and through the expanded use of linked, open, and interoperable data about credentials, competencies, programs, quality, outcomes, and related aspects.

The Council’s report and recommendations focus on two areas:
* What are the data points ([link removed]) that students and workers need to know–and that providers should make public–in order to make their most informed decisions about whether a program and credential can lead to an equitable outcome for them, and
* What are the data use principles ([link removed]) that counseling, guidance, navigation, and pathway tools and services should incorporate in order to ensure that such data are most effectively usable and used by students and workers to achieve their most equitable outcome.

The report identifies three tiers of data ([link removed]) to describe a range of elements about education and training providers, programs, credentials, supportive services, quality indicators, transfer value, pathways, outcomes, and links to job skills. These three tiers are designed to recognize and support providers’ ability to make the data available, and the Council and Credential Engine call on all providers of educational and occupational credentials to commit to publishing these three tiers of data as open and interoperable data using the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL).

In addition, the Council identified six broad principles ([link removed]) for the appropriate and effective use of these data to support students’ discovery and successful navigation of pathways and transfer to achieve optimal and equitable outcomes. The Council and Credential Engine also call on all entities building customer-facing tools and services to adopt these data use principles and to utilize available CTDL data.

T ([link removed]) ogether ([link removed]) these recommendations can and should also be utilized by federal and state agencies, systems and districts, funders, and others to ensure that the necessary information is both available to and best used by students and workers. Our goal with this report is to encourage all credentialing issuing organizations and institutions to publish these data elements that support transparency and equity, and for all organizations, institutions, and policymakers to include the principles outlined as requirements or considerations in their procurement, evaluation, and reevaluation processes.

We are pleased that a number of education and training entities have committed to publishing, or are already publishing, many of the data elements identified in Tier 1, including but not limited to: Western Governors University (WGU), Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR), and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. We are also pleased that a number of organizations that develop and provide counseling, guidance, navigation, or pathway tools and services for students, workers, and employers have committed to the data use principles outlined in the report, including but not limited to Territorium, the College Board, and the Learning Economy Foundation.

An open, public webinar is scheduled for July 20th, 2023 at 1 PM ET to share information about the report, its recommendations, and how to publish and use the identified data. To register, please click here ([link removed]) .

Read the full announcement here ([link removed]) . To view the full report, c ([link removed]) lick here ([link removed]) .

To learn more about this work, visit www.credentialengine.org/equity


** Updates.
------------------------------------------------------------

Learn About New CTDL Support Services Terms: We are excited to announce the completion of the significant updates process for the new CTDL Support Services terms, effective June 1, 2023. This involved the successful formation and conclusion of the Support Services Task Group on April 28, 2023. In addition, we held public webinars ([link removed]) on May 16, 2023, followed by a two-week comment period. The purpose of these updates is to ensure orderly changes that enhance the enduring value of CTDL Linked Open Data. The CTDL family of specifications has been updated, along with the Credential Registry publishing and consuming tools. You can now access and utilize these updated terms. Please join us for a webinar on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 12:30 am ET to learn more about the CTDL Support Services and publishing options. See the World Clock
([link removed]) for your local time and register for the webinar here ([link removed]) . Learn more information about the Support Services updates here ([link removed]) .

Chairperson elected to CTDL Advisory Group: Simone Ravaioli, Director of Global Ecosystem and Innovation at Parchment, has been elected to Chair Credential Engine’s CTDL Advisory Group ([link removed]) . The CTDL Advisory Group brings together both a principal group of leading experts in areas critical to powering talent ecosystems’ data internationally and open participation. This group provides important updates on CTDL developments and opportunities to provide input to planning, expanding, and global positioning of CTDL to help power data for talent ecosystems. Contact us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested in learning more or how to get involved.


** Policy Corner.
------------------------------------------------------------

Alabama House Bill 109: On May 26th, the Alabama State Senate approved HB109 and moved the legislation to the Governor, which she signed on June 1st. This transformational legislation includes three sections: Alabama Credential Quality and Transparency Act, the Alabama Terminal on Linking and Analyzing Statistics on Career Pathways Act, and the Alabama College and Career Readiness Act. Together, this will substantially overhaul the State’s workforce system, establish an Alabama Credential Registry, utilize the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), and align the system to new sets of occupational competency frameworks.

Click here ([link removed]) to learn more about the role of credential data in Alabama.


** Technology & Support.
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed] Registry Badge Publisher: We are thrilled to announce that the Credential Registry badge publisher tool is now available for use. The badge publisher tool empowers organizations issuing Open Badges ([link removed]) to seamlessly import public information about their badges into the Credential Registry. With the Credential Registry badge publisher, you can effortlessly import essential details about your badges, including badge name, description, earning criteria, and more. The tool automatically maps these fields to the CTDL, enabling you to easily describe your badges. Most recently, California State University, Dominguez Hills imported 76 badges
([link removed](CSUDH)%20College%20of%20Continuing%20and%20Professional%20Education:%20Owns/Offers%2076%20Credential(s)&filterparameters=%7B%22n%22:%22organizationroles%22,%22aid%22:3480,%22rid%22:[6,7]%7D) via Canvas into the Registry, marking the first organization to use this new tool via Canvas. We encourage all badge issuers to use this tool so they can contribute to an open and accessible ecosystem of credential information. If you missed the badge publisher launch webinar, you can watch it here ([link removed]) . To learn more and get started with publishing your badges, visit: credentialengine.org/badge-publisher-tool/.

Kicking off the Rubrics Task Group: On June 14th, the Rubrics Task Group (RTG) held its first meeting. The RTG focuses on representing rubrics as machine actionable data in such a way that enhances the transparency of credentialing and other processes in which they are used in fields such as education, training, assessment, recruitment, and advancement. 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. Participants are generating use cases, and reviewing 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. You can watch the first meeting here
([link removed]) .


** Events.
------------------------------------------------------------

C2ER 63rd Annual Conference & LMI Institute Annual Forum ([link removed])

June 12-15th, Detroit, MI. Rachel Vilsack, Director of State Partnerships, will be speaking at the Workforce Roundtable, the Illuminating Career and Credential Pathway Open Data session, and moderating the Addressing Social Mobility with Industry Training Programs session. This conference brings together local and regional researchers to hear about how they use data in innovative ways to create unique answers for their local economy.

Velocity Network Foundation General Assembly 2023 ([link removed])

June 19-20th, New York, NY. Scott Cheney, CEO, and Deb Everhart, CSO, will be in attendance at this year's Velocity General Assembly event. This event brings together leaders from across their membership to discuss innovation and key architectural issues, share best practices, and collaborate on addressing market needs as it adopts Velocity Network as the next-gen data utility layer underlying the global labor market. Cheney will be speaking at the "Velocity Network can power-up the global education system" session while Everhart will be speaking at the “Making sense of credentials: Linked Open Data & Semantic Interoperability" session.

============================================================
Follow us on:
** Twitter ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
Copyright © 2023 Credential Engine, All rights reserved.

Questions? Email ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.

Was this email forwarded to you? ** Sign up here ([link removed])
to receive your own copy.