"Alas’s story is more than just personal triumph; it’s a testament to the broader movement towards educational transparency. At the core of this transformation lies the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) and her contributions to the Learning and Employment Record (LER). Both play pivotal roles in reframing how educational credentials are understood and accessed.

CTDL provides an open and standardized way to describe credentialing information. With a defined vocabulary that keeps growing, it aims to reduce ambiguities and inconsistencies in credentialing data. LER, on the other hand, captures a learner’s achievements in real-time, enabling a continuous record that grows and evolves with the learner.

However, achieving such a level of transparency and standardization is no small task. Enter Credential Engine – a key player in this revolution. Credential Engine is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting transparency and literacy in the credential space. Through its tools and services, it maps the diverse landscape of credentials, offering a clear and comprehensive view.

Alas worked to compile data about Western Governors University’s curriculum and published the information to Credential Engine’s vast database, the Credential Registry, paving the way for users and systems to harness the information. This wasn’t merely data compilation. It was a transformative endeavor to democratize information, ensuring that students could make well-informed decisions about their educational pathways. By building this powerful connection between WGU and Credential Engine, Alas was able to bridge the information gap and present a transparent view of what each credential represents.”

Read the full blog from Western Governors University and Credential Engine here. 

Credential Engine Welcomes Two New Staff Members: This month we are excited to welcome two new staff members, Jillian Scholten and Ariel Bly. Jillian joins the Credential Engine team as the newest State Partnerships Manager where her expertise in K-12, higher education, and workforce assists states with increasing credential transparency. Previously, Jillian worked at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education as the Director of Academic Affairs and Talent Credentialing. Jillian managed the CTDL development and adoption of Indiana, Credential Engine’s first state partnership. She led the publication of 3,000+ credentials and spearheaded the creation of technology tools utilizing Registry data, including the Indiana School Finder Tool and My College Core. Additionally, Ariel Bly joins the Credential Engine team as the new Operations Coordinator. Ariel will help manage the logistics of Credential Engine and serve as support for our growing partnerships. Ariel comes from a career of working with non-profits including TreePeople and the Los Angeles Opera. 

To learn more about our staff members, click here.

Credential Engine Staff Updates: We are thrilled to announce some internal changes at Credential Engine. Rachel Vilsack, who has served as the Director of State Partnerships, is moving into a new role as the Chief Operations Officer at Credential Engine. Rachel will oversee both the state and publishing teams, focus on our U.S. operations, and ensure efficient and effective coordination of all our internal teams for the success of our partners and our mission.  Additionally, Julia Gianoulis, who previously served as the Accounts and Publishing Manager, is now our Learning Experience Designer where she is responsible for crafting engaging and effective learning experiences aligned with organizational goals, developing comprehensive guidance materials for diverse publishing formats, and maintaining content on the forthcoming Credential Registry Guide website to ensure a seamless and impactful learning journey for internal and external stakeholders.

Register for the Upcoming Midwest Credential Transparency Alliance webinar! The Midwest Credential Transparency Alliance (MCTA) is hosting a “Building Pathways for States and Regions” webinar on December 6th at 2pm ET/1pm CT. The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) and Credential Engine, through the MCTA, are dedicated to promoting credential transparency in Midwestern states and across the region. This webinar will cover the Credential Registry Pathway Builder tool, a key output from this collaboration, which offers a user-friendly interface that allows stakeholders to construct pathways, incorporating data from the Credential Registry and accommodating pathways of varying complexity. Additionally, the webinar will provide a live demonstration and identify potential applications for streamlining existing manual processes. All are welcome to join! Register here today.

Credential Engine and the Education Commission of the States (ECS) are co-hosting a State Policy Academy on Credential Transparency at the end of November.  State teams will be represented from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland.  

If your state would like to explore advancing state policies around credential transparency, please contact Scott Cheney at [email protected].

Credential Transparency State Partnerships: Credential Engine is currently working with 32 states and regions in the U.S. These state and regional partners are working with Credential Engine to use the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) and publish data to the Credential Registry to empower solutions that will aid in credential transparency within those states. Credential Engine’s technologies and tools make essential information about credentials, competencies, and pathways transparent, connected, and mappable as both human- and machine-readable data. And linked open data enables the creation of online tools that help consumers plan and optimize their learning and career journeys. Some examples of how our state and regional partners have approached using the CTDL are: 

• Building data into state, regional, and institutional decision-making tools, dashboards, and systems;

• Making public and transparent information related to funding and eligibility determinations; 

• Describing & signaling quality indicators, outcomes, and credentials of value; 

• Developing, describing, and depicting navigable education and career pathways; 

• Integrating rich credential and skills data in Learning & Employment Records (LERs); 

• Developing audience-specific counseling, guidance, navigation, and pathway tools. 

If you are interested in learning more about the projects each state and region is working on, click here. If you are interested in learning more or how to get involved, contact us at [email protected].

CTDL Work Classes and Publishing Options: On October 25, Credential Engine hosted a webinar that introduced options for publishing CTDL Education to Work classes of data. The CTDL provides essential terms that bridge the gap between learning and working.  These terms link Jobs, Occupations, Work Roles, and Tasks to credentials, learning programs, assessments, competencies, skills, pathways, and more. This transparency via connected, open data empowers individuals to pursue educational opportunities tailored to their career goals, enables education providers to align with employer needs, and assists employers in finding relevant credentials and programs that prepare for the jobs they offer. If you are interested in learning more about these data and how to start publishing today, click here.