Simplifying Credential Data Management using Credential Transparency Identifiers (CTIDs)
Credential Registry Pathway Builder Informational Video and Resources
Explore our Credential Registry Pathway Builder and all related materials!
Credential Registry Badge Publisher Tool Overview Video and Resources
Explore our Credential Registry Badge Publisher and all related materials!
Learning and Employment Records (LERs)
Learning and Employment Records (LERs) provide interoperable, portable credentials that document people's skills, educational experiences, and work histories. LERs document learning and experience wherever they occur, including in the workplace, through education and training, community activities, or military contexts. These resources provide context for how CTDL makes LERs meaningful and valuable.
Credential Engine and the Open Skills Network: Powering Connections in Learn and Work Ecosystems
The Open Skills Network and Credential Engine together support the development of rich, meaningful skills information publicly available and reusable on the web. The combination of data among connected skills, credentials, courses, and pathways from multiple sources is exponentially more powerful than information from any single source or system. And when all of this linked data is open, it can be used by everyone to support the needs of evolving learn and work ecosystems.
Open Skills And Rich Skill Descriptors: CTDL Enables Connections And Collaboration Blog
With growing momentum for skills-based education and hiring, we all need to work together on shared solutions for more equitable ecosystems that enable everyone to have the skills necessary to thrive in a fast-moving and ever-evolving workforce. The Open Skills Network has advanced this work by releasing the open-source Open Skills Management Tool. The Western Governors University (WGU) Skills Library, developed by a team of experts, is now freely available. And the Credential Registry provides over 51,000 open skills from hundreds of sources, combined with valuable contextual information in the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). We’re primed for innovation, with more great work underway, and you can contribute! We get a lot of questions about how to combine these solutions, so here is a concrete example and a what/why/how for using open skills collaboratively. Read the full blog to learn more!
Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials Report
Annual report series from Credential Engine helping to map the credential landscape.
Credential Transparency Illuminates Paths to a Better Future: Infographic & Video
Both the infographic and video introduce the idea of credential transparency and help users understand the goals and value of the work.
Education and Training Expenditures in the U.S. Summary
This report analyzes the estimated yearly expenditures on education and training in the U.S.
Fact Sheets
Learn about how Credential Engine is bringing transparency and credential literacy to the marketplace for different audiences including higher education, the business community, and certification & licensure. Follow the link below to view all of our fact sheets.
Frequently Asked Questions
A selection of our most frequently asked questions and answers about Credential Engine's goals and technologies.
News and Media Features
This selection of press clips and other media are notable examples of how Credential Engine's work is being highlighted and gaining traction.
Slide Deck
This PowerPoint presentation describes who Credential Engine is, what we do, and how transparency leads to transformation. Partners can adapt and customize this slide deck based on their needs.
State Policy Briefs
A series of policy briefs offers guidance to state leaders--supported by real state examples--on how to advance credential transparency.
The Learn-and-Work Ecosystem
Almost 1,000,000 credentials exist in the United States. It’s difficult to find relevant information about many of them, but The Learn-and-Work Ecosystem Guide, developed by the Lumina Foundation, highlights the many intersecting initiatives aimed at shedding light on the confusing marketplace and shows where Credential Engine and its technologies fit.
Webinar: Empowering Equitable Pathways with Learning and Employment Records
Midwest Credential Transparency Alliance (MCTA) Pathways Action Team: A Brief
A Guide to Use Cases
Use cases describe how students, employers, educators, policy makers, and other stakeholders can use the data in the Registry to address specific questions or challenges.
Roles and Responsibilities
Credential Transparency requires a collaborative effort; this guide provides context for who should be involved in the work within states and what their roles might be.
Services from Credential Engine
Credential Engine offers a wide range of freely available resources as well as fee-based services that meet the needs of organizations managing credential and competency data.
Bulk Upload Publishing Resources
The publishing resources below provide instructions on how to publish credential data via the Bulk Upload publishing method.
Credential Engine Services
Credential Engine offers a wide range of freely available resources as well as fee-based services that meet the needs of organizations managing credential and competency data.
General Workflow for Beginning Partnerships with Credential Engine
A general workflow that state teams follow as they begin the work towards credential transparency and their partnership with Credential Engine.
Instructions for Publishing Your Organization to the Credential Registry
View step-by-step instructions to create your organization's account and publish to the Credential Registry via manual entry, bulk upload, or the Credential Registry Assistant Publishing API.
Trusted Third Party Publishing Policy
Many state and regional partners have existing credential data collection processes; Credential Engine's trusted third party publishing policies are designed to streamline workflows for efficient publishing while ensuring buy-in and participation from credential providers.
Additional Fact Sheets
Learn more about some of the technologies behind Credential Engine's work: the Credential Transparency Description Language and linked open data.
Consuming Data from the Credential Registry – Guidance for States
Use these resources to develop tools and applications that pull data from the Registry.
Use Cases by Stakeholder
When a state commits to credential transparency, it unlocks a multitude of opportunities. This document outlines some of the many goals, initiatives, and uses that comprehensive and open source data about credentials can support.
Credential Transparency: An Essential Part of Attaining State Goals
This Policy Brief outlines the actions state policymakers can take to make credential transparency part of their state’s education, workforce, and economic development strategies.
Signaling Expectations for Credential Transparency – Sample Language
Sample statement developed in consultation with Credential Engine’s Higher Education Advisory Group to help communicate institutional expectations for credential data transparency
Guidance Signaling Expectations for Credential Transparency – Sample Language
Institutions and agencies can use this sample language signaling an expectation to link to the Credential Registry and support publishing and consuming data in CTDL in requests for proposals (RFPs) and other procurement practices related to educational technology. Click below to view this in our main resource database.
Publishing Guides
Useful resources to get started with publishing and useful questions for developers building a connected learn-and-work ecosystem.
Vendor RFP Language
This sample RFP statement has been developed in consultation with Credential Engine’s Higher Education Advisory Group to help communicate institutional expectations for credential data transparency.
Publishing Cost Information
Credential Engine has recommendations publishing complex information such as costs.
Completing Updates to the Currency Policy and Reports
Credential Engine created an automated process for quality and currency controls.
Best Practice for Publishing
In order to ensure users have a basic level of data points by which to compare credentials, Credential Engine developed a policy to require a minimum set of data for those adding their data into the registry.
Competency Editor Instructions
These resources show how to efficiently edit competencies in the registry.
Credential Transparency Description Language Fact Sheet
This fact sheet describes CTDL and its uses. Follow the link below to download the sheet from our resource database.