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

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Transparency
Credential Engine develops its data standards through open, inclusive, and transparent processes
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August 21st, 2024
Welcome to Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. Check out job opportunities, how to get involved in Credential Engine’s work, where we have been highlighted in partner resources, and more.
Jump ahead:

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


** Spotlight.
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In this fourth and final installment of our series on the Credential Lifecycle, we’ll explore the Job Placement & Advancement phase, where credentials play a crucial role in helping employers source well-qualified candidates and assist employees in choosing, locating, and advancing their careers. This phase focuses on the practical application of credentials in the workforce, ensuring that both job seekers and employers can effectively utilize credential data to achieve their goals.

The Job Placement & Advancement phase is integral to bridging the gap between education and employment. It involves managing credentials, defining job roles, evaluating credential value, and maximizing talent development. By leveraging the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), stakeholders can enhance the clarity, relevance, and interoperability of credential information, leading to more informed hiring decisions and career advancement opportunities. Let’s take a closer look at how the use of CTDL adds value in each of these four stages:

Stage 7: Manage Credentials ([link removed])

In this stage, CTDL empowers credential earners by enhancing the connectivity and usability of their credential information. Digital credentials described using CTDL can be stored, curated, and shared through various applications, making them more practical for job applications, professional development, and career advancement. CTDL also helps credential earners align their achievements with industry frameworks and career pathways, ensuring that their credentials are always relevant and up-to-date.

Digital wallets, credential management, and student information systems may use CTDL to include data about the competencies learners have demonstrated along with the courses and assessments they have taken to earn their credential(s). Using linked open data in this way allows individuals to tailor and showcase their credential data to advance their career goals.

Stage 8: Define Job ([link removed])

CTDL provides a standardized framework for defining job roles by linking them to specific occupations, work roles, tasks, and competencies. Employers and workforce agencies use CTDL to ensure that job descriptions are precise and align with industry needs. This approach streamlines the hiring process, making it easier for organizations to articulate job requirements and for job seekers to understand what is expected.

Career planners, job applicants, hiring managers, HR leaders, and tech owners all benefit from the consistent data structure of CTDL to align skills and competencies with job requirements. Linking these to education and work contexts also promotes equity and transparency in hiring processes and broadens the applicant pool to include those from non-traditional backgrounds.

Stage 9: Evaluate Credential Value ([link removed])

CTDL enhances the evaluation of credential value by providing clear, standardized descriptions of credentials, competencies, and verification profiles. This enables hiring managers and HR professionals to assess candidates more accurately and efficiently, using reliable information about credentials to ensure that they meet jobs’ specific requirements, including mandatory qualifications for safety or compliance reasons. Additionally, CTDL helps job seekers present their qualifications in a way that resonates with employers, increasing their chances of securing well-matched and suitable job offers.

By using HR systems that detect, retrieve, and present CTDL information, employers, career coaches, and workforce agencies can improve candidates’ fit for their roles. These quality hires reduce turnover and increase employee satisfaction and productivity in the long term.

Stage 10: Maximize Talent ([link removed])

In this final lifecycle stage, CTDL and the Credential Registry play a vital role in maximizing talent by providing detailed, standardized information about career pathways and credential requirements. By incorporating CTDL pathways in career planning and performance reviews, organizations can ensure that employees' career strategies are aligned with clearly defined pathways, facilitating targeted professional development and career advancement.

A full suite of HR, learning, talent management, and workforce development tools may use linked open data to gain a macro view of organization and workforce talent pools and ensure their alignment to meet company and industry needs. These same tools may be used to provide individuals with personalized recommendations for upskilling to meet their educational and career objectives so that they may remain competitive in an ever-changing job market.

Call to Action & Conclusion

The Job Placement & Advancement phase is critical for ensuring that credentials are effectively utilized in the workforce, helping both employers and employees achieve their goals. By leveraging CTDL, stakeholders can enhance the clarity, relevance, and usability of credential information, leading to more informed hiring decisions and better career outcomes.

Thank you for following our series on the credential lifecycle. We encourage you to explore how CTDL and the Credential Registry can be integrated into your organization's talent management and career development strategies. Learn more about each credential lifecycle here ([link removed]) .

For more information, visit our Credential Transparency Toolkit ([link removed]) for roles and use case-specific resources to empower your credentialing journey.


** Updates.
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Credential Engine’s Counting Credentials Report, Sponsorship Invitation: The credentials marketplace is large and complex and will continue to grow as the economy requires both new skills and credentials. It is also undergoing a dramatic reshaping in the form of massive digitization, both in the form of the representation of the skills and credentials earned, as well as how such credentials are captured, managed, shared, and valued in the economy. Credential Engine’s Counting Credentials report aims to provide information on how many credentials are available in the U.S. and identifies where those credentials come from (view our 2022 version here ([link removed]) ), providing the crucial data to start understanding the breadth of credential data available in the country. For our next Counting Credentials report, we are inviting sponsorships. This sponsorship opportunity will place your organization at the center of
understanding digital credentialing and showcase your dedication to creating transparent, efficient, and effective ecosystems. By supporting our upcoming report, your organization will gain visibility among pivotal influencers in education, workforce, business, and policy on both a domestic and global scale.
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, click here ([link removed]) . Please reach out to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested or have any questions.


Join the Credential Engine Team - Two Job Opportunities Now Open: Credential Engine is seeking a State Partnerships Manager ([link removed]) to join its state team and provide support to a growing number of state and regional partnerships. This role will advance our vision, mission, and goals of credential transparency to ensure that everyone can make their most informed decisions with regard to credential opportunities and pathways, manage a set of place-based projects and specialized working groups, research and connect with related initiatives, projects, policies, and opportunities, identify ways to expand the work, and more. If you are interested in applying, learn more about this opportunity here ([link removed]) .

We are also hiring a Solutions Engineer ([link removed]) to be responsible for designing, developing, testing, and deploying software solutions. This includes creating APIs and distributed systems, setting up continuous development gates, and integrating technologies. You will work with a distributed team, engaging with stakeholders and customers to ensure high-quality, secure, and scalable solutions. Learn more about this opportunity, roles, and responsibilities here ([link removed]) .
Reach out to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) if you are interested in learning more.

New Staff Member Joins Credential Engine: Elizabeth Poff serves as the new Publishing Partner Success Manager at Credential Engine, where she leads the accounts and publishing team to support partner CTDL data publishing as well as develops comprehensive training and guidance materials for publishing to the Credential Registry. Before joining Credential Engine, Elizabeth spent over 20 years in higher education with roles in teaching, training, and technology. Most recently she served as a web developer in digital strategy at the University of Texas at Austin. Poff will work with the Accounts and Publishing team. Learn more about our team here ([link removed]) .

National Skills Coalition Releases Non-Degree Credential Navigation Handbook, Highlighting CTDL: In a recent release from the National Skills Coalition, Charting a Course to Quality: A Navigator’s Handbook to a Robust Non-Degree Credential Data Ecosystem ([link removed]) , a comprehensive handbook designed to guide states in developing robust data systems for evaluating non-degree credential (NDC) programs, they highlight the actions states should take to make sure that key stakeholders can make data-informed decisions related to NDC programs, learning, and career pathways.
One of the practices shared is to “publication of key data and findings via consumer-facing tools, ideally via the use of linked, open, interoperable data formats such as the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), to allow students/workers, education providers, employers, and other stakeholders to understand and make informed decisions based on the outcomes and trends associated with particular NDCs, including, secure digital student records such as learning and employment records.” Making credential data transparent via linked-open data empowers learners and workers to understand opportunities and make more informed decisions. Check out the NSC handbook here ([link removed]) .


Credential Registry Guidance Resources on Certifications Now Available: Check out our newest resources on the Credential Registry Guidance site ([link removed]) focusing on publishing a small number of certifications to the Credential Registry via Manual Entry and publishing a larger number of certifications into the Credential Registry using a Bulk Upload CSV template (e.g., spreadsheet):
* Get Started: Publish Your Certifications via Manual Entry ([link removed])
* Get Started: Publish Your Certifications via Bulk Upload ([link removed])


** State Connections.
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State Partners Quarterly Meeting Recap: We had an excellent turnout for our August state partner meeting, which included a deep dive into publishing Transfer Values (TVs) to the Credential Registry. If you missed it, check out the recording ([link removed]) to see an overview of TVs, hear from our partners in Kansas and at Western Governors University (WGU) about what they’ve already published, and learn how you can connect to the 10,000+ American Council on Education (ACE) Credit Recommendations published to the Credential Registry.

Presenters included: Credential Engine, Nathan Snyder with the Kansas Board of Regents, Alas Cotita with WGU, and Sarah Cunningham with ACE.

Credential Engine - State Partner Community of Practice: Join us for our first Community of Practice Chat! This is an opportunity to connect with fellow state partners, ask questions, and collaborate on best practices. Whether you're looking for advice, sharing your own experiences, or simply interested in making connections with other states, this meeting is the perfect space to engage with other state and regional partners. Don’t miss out on this chance to build meaningful connections and contribute to a dynamic community of practice!

Our first State Partner Community of Practice Chat will take place on September 11th, 1 pm ET/12 pm CT/11 am MT/10 am PT. Add this Zoom link ([link removed]) to your calendar if you would like to attend!

Partnership with Texas Continued: We are excited to announce that our contract with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) will continue for 2024-2025. This extension will continue the current work of the Texas Credential Library while also working to publish more training provider data, collections of industry-based certifications and adult education credentials, and to spotlight credentials and pathways in key occupational sectors, like early childhood and child care professions. All of this data will be available in the Credential Registry and the Texas Credential Library. Learn more about our work with Texas here ([link removed]) .


** Technology & Support.
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Credential Engine Releases Global Micro-Credential Schema Mapping Report: We are excited to announce the release of the report Global Micro-Credential Schema Mapping: A Vital Step Towards Interoperability and Mobility ([link removed]) from the Credential Engine CTDL Advisory Group. The CTDL Advisory Group ([link removed]) guided a project to map micro-credential schemas using the Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper (DESM) tool. This global project aimed to develop an understanding of how different micro-credential data standards and regional and local documents can be aligned to improve interoperability. Micro-credential schemas define key information such as name, description, credits earned, cost, competencies, digital issuance, and more. The report covers the benefits of a micro-credential crosswalk,
the Data Ecosystem Schema Mapping Tool, the mapping process, and reflections on the mappings. These insights lay the groundwork to further this valuable work, providing benefits such as aiding policymakers, supporting credit recognition for international admissions, and fostering global mobility.
View the Report here ([link removed]) . To explore the initial mappings, visit Credential Engine’s Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool ([link removed]) .

Credential Engine Releases Updated Learning and Employment Records (LER) Action Guide: Credential Engine’s fifth version of the Learning and Employment Records Action Guide ([link removed]) is now available, including new resources such as the LER Toolkit from the T3 Innovation Network. LERs empower people with control over credentials, employment, and skill records of their achievements, offering transformative opportunities to connect learning with careers and improve the outcomes of investments in education and training. Data transparency using the CTDL is an essential foundation for interoperable, meaningful, human- and machine-actionable LERs. This Action Guide describes the phases and steps that stakeholders can follow to develop and sustain trusted LER ecosystems.

Invitation to Participate - Join the Issuer Registry Advisory Group: In today’s digital age, ensuring the authenticity of credential issuers is crucial for empowering decision-makers who rely on accurate credential information. The Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) and Credential Engine are collaborating on a joint 2024-2025 project to explore the governance and technology needs for issuer registries being used within the Learning and Employment Record (LER) ecosystems. This initiative aims to enhance trust in LERs by creating a model for interoperable issuer registries.
We are convening a targeted advisory group of subject matter experts to participate in the Issuer Registry Advisory Group. The group’s recommendations, expertise, and guidance will be instrumental in developing an issuer registry proof of concept through open community input. Participation in this advisory group will yield guaranteed outcomes and significantly impact the digital credentials ecosystem. Learn more about this opportunity here ([link removed]) , and join the Advisory Group here ([link removed]) .


** News.
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* Credentialing growth through work (digreenstein.com) ([link removed])

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