Freely Available Resources

We want to empower everyone to contribute to open, transparent credentialing ecosystems. In support of our mission, we develop and disseminate freely available resources and technologies. These technologies include the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), credential and competency publishing tools, an open-source Credential Registry, and methods for using CTDL-linked open data in the Registry and in an organization’s own systems and web tools. Our support includes guides and documentation, communities of practice, and basic technical assistance for publishing and consuming CTDL data. We encourage everyone to use and build upon our openly licensed resources and technologies.

Publishing Services

Now more than ever, it’s important to make rich data about credentials publicly available, communicating the credentials’ value to all stakeholders. Technical and non-technical teams at your organization can use the Credential Registry to publish linked open data about the programs and credentials you offer, including their value, transferability, alignment to occupations, job skills, and other relevant information.

Increase the relevance of credentials, programs, courses, and pathways by using the Credential Registry to publish competencies and skills and create linked open data alignments to occupational and industry frameworks (such as O*NET and NICE), job skills, and other competencies. Credential Engine provides easy to understand services packages for publishing competencies and skills, from getting started to scaling up credential and competency transparency. These packages can also be customized to meet specific needs.

Education and career pathways provide information that connects people to their goals so that they don’t get lost and lose out on opportunities. Transparency about the components in pathways– credentials, skills, jobs, and more– empowers people to get to their desired destinations more easily, efficiently, and equitably. Publishing pathways and their components to the Credential Registry provides linked open data for representing starting points, destinations, alignments to occupational and industry frameworks (such as O*NET and NICE), and optional routes within and across organizations for a person to achieve their education and career goals.

People need to combine education and training from multiple sources in order to continuously re-skill and upskill in rapidly changing careers. Unfortunately, most people do not get the full benefit of transferring their learning achievements to apply to education and career advancement. Transparency about the transfer value organizations accept or provide can help people to get to their desired education and career destinations more quickly and equitably. Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) Transfer Values can be used to describe course credit transfer among institutions, credit recommendations by third party evaluators, credit for prior learning, transfer value among different types of credentials (such as certifications mapped to college degree credit), and transfer value among different types of organizations, such as military and work experience equivalencies or transfer value applied to employment training requirements.

Solution Development Services

Credential Engine provides a suite of open, freely available technologies, including the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), credential and competency publishing tools, an open-source Credential Registry, and structured data that can be used in the Registry and in an organization’s own systems and web tools. To enable a broader community of providers to leverage these technologies more effectively, Credential Engine offers fee-based technical design and development services. We specialize in open data strategies and implementation for credentials, skills and competencies, education and career pathways, transfer value, and quality assurance.

Our services team has deep expertise in all phases of project design through implementation, including technical project management, data modeling and design, schema development and mapping, data publishing, datastore infrastructure, and integrations.  

Credential Engine offers an annual services package for technology product developers, described below. A services contract also covers general support for CTDL enhancements as well as hosting and maintaining the Credential Registry to the benefit of all stakeholders. Additional, customized services beyond those described below, including more in-depth technical services, are also available to address specific circumstances and needs.

Today, we can empower people with control over their own learning and employment records by issuing digital credentials that enable flexible curation of equitable learning and career pathways. To achieve these benefits, it is important to implement digital credentials in ways that enhance the information they communicate to all stakeholders. A new technology wrapper does not by itself ensure that credentials are machine actionable, linked, open, and meaningfully connected to useful data. The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) can be embedded as linked open data within digital credentials, connecting each credential to a global knowledge graph of information that makes the credentials more transparent and valuable.

Project Management and Implementation Services

Credential Engine has targeted expertise for helping states and regions benefit from credential and competency transparency. In addition to our open, freely available resources, we offer fee-based services for strategy, project management, and implementation support for using CTDL data effectively to achieve statewide and regional goals.

Learn more by reading our State Services Details Fact Sheet and Federal, State, and Regional Partnerships page.

Credential Engine’s suite of unique technologies and services help many different types of organizations, agencies, and companies achieve their goals for credential and competency transparency. In addition to our open, freely available resources, we offer fee-based services for strategy, project management, and implementation support focused on using CTDL data effectively.

Get in Touch

Our team of experts is ready to help you embark your credential transparency journey. Whether you have questions about our technologies, services, or don’t know how to get started, we’re here to assist.

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