Building momentum in the digital credential ecosystem

Today, the learner journey is more complex than ever before. From learners navigating between multiple institutions to new paradigms to capture evidence of learning, there is an abundance of evidence that learners are establishing new paradigms for lifelong learning and forging learning journeys of increasing variety. Take a look at these numbers:

39 million learners in the United States have some college credits but no degree.
38% of college students transfer before earning their degree.
74 million digital badges have been issued.

The data paints a provocative picture: learners are interested in seeking education, they are more mobile than ever and they are seeking education and credentials in new places. To meet these changing needs, the TLN understands that learners must have more agency to tell future employers and institutions about their robust and inherently unique educational experiences and journeys.

Recently, our growing Trusted Learner Network (TLN) community of experts, technologists, employers, institutional representatives and trailblazers in the digital credentialing space gathered in Phoenix for the fourth annual TLN Unconference. During the day-long event, we explored how to design an ecosystem built on trust to advance learner agency.

Our convening and gatherings like it are vital to move digital credentialing forward and push toward widespread adoption. We must remain agile, share our stories, communicate our challenges and brainstorm how we can increase agency for students and learners to collect, navigate and share evidence of their lifelong achievements.

Where do learners aggregate these valuable steps they’ve taken in their journey? How do they navigate explaining their accomplishments — their stories — with future employers and institutions?

It was a joy to showcase how we can put the learner at the center and empower them to achieve their greatest potential with the help of the Trusted Learner Network’s technology, governance and community.

The importance of governance

Using a term like governance can have a polarizing effect, but let me explain why it's valued and necessary for the Trusted Learner Network. Recognizing that trust is central to the conceit of all credentials — trust in who or what issues a credential, trust that the recipient is who they say they are, trust that those that receive credentials care for them thoughtfully — the TLN embraces the opportunity to build trust through technology, community and expertise. The reason we’ve convened a Governing Body to build a Governance Charter and newly released Learner and Issuance Policies is to collaborate on expert-driven, evolving policies and processes, that both center the learner and recognize the unique challenges, constraints and opportunities of institutions, issuers and credential users, as well.

The people of the Governing Body bring different institutional roles and journeys, different design backgrounds, different sets of expertise and come from different states across the United States. This is one of the ways that TLN demonstrates our commitment to equity and diversity of perspective, while also understanding that responsible innovation is a design aspiration we’ll always be striving toward and continually improving.

The work that the Governing Body has done with these policies dictates the TLN technology — they are position papers that share what the rights and responsibilities are of the parties that engage with the TLN as constituents, users and practitioners.

In short, they provide an industry-reviewed method for engaging with learners and institutions, and allow others to navigate this space. With these foundational principles, we can now continue to build and grow the network.

The advancement of technology

For me, one of the highlights of this year’s TLN Unconference was highlighting the alpha version of the Trusted Learner Network and its capabilities. This is the hard work of so many, and it was a big step to be able to display this technology to the community — work is well underway to make this solution available and scalable for users.

If a learner’s institution is part of the TLN, they will be able to see their credentials and take their experience further by utilizing featured services. Currently, some of these tools include the ability to use a credit calculator, a credit maximizer to help you track your progress towards completing degrees, and Arizona State University’s Interactive Degree Planner that provides learners with personalized pathways for completing the degree program of their choosing. And we’re always looking to add more services to benefit the learner.

With the alpha version of the TLN entering its next phase of development, our trusted Architecture Advisory Committee is keeping important topics like custodianship, data mapping, security and more top of mind.

The power of community

I’m proud to share that this year’s Unconference hosted our largest attendance yet at over 120 participants — I take this as strong evidence that interest in the digital credential space is growing, especially capturing those with a strong desire to focus on the learner’s success.

This year’s workshops, which focused on how our stories influence how we innovate and finding shared language to design digital credentials — build on what we see as the next opportunities for TLN’s technology, governance and community: how and why learners will use digital credentials, and how, as a community, we can push toward adoption. These are not easy questions to answer, but I sincerely hope that participants emerged inspired by these workshops. Allow me to take a moment and thank our workshop presenters: Dr. Kelly Page (LWYL Studio), Meena Naik (JFFLabs), and Dr. Kerri Lemoie and Gillian Walsh (MIT, Digital Credentials Consortium).

But we need more than just the voices of learners. A big takeaway from the event was the interest in engaging the larger context of digital credentials — institutions, employers, technologies, nonprofits, funders — in conversation around how to best maximize the moment to prioritize learners, but also develop a system that works well and can be scaled for use by empowers, institutions and others, both utilizing TLN’s suite of solutions and all of those out in the emerging marketplace.

During our Open Space Technology sessions of the Unconference, we asked attendees: What are the actions, opportunities and challenges needed to build on the momentum we’re seeing in digital credentialing? Data interoperability, peer and self credentialing, system integration, socialization of microcredentials and badging — these are just some of the topics that participants shared as top topics for discussion.

Where do we go from here

Our three pillars — technology, governance and community — all have firm foundations. Now, it’s time to expand. We will be ready to test the TLN’s technology with ASU data in the fall to garner feedback, and we’re excited to partner with others to use this technology and bring value to students. Please reach out to me directly if you’re interested in exploring a partnership in which your organization, institution or technology harnesses TLN to spring your learners toward agency and success.

Additionally, we want to continue to find new and innovative ways to collaborate with the TLN community. We know there are many complex and pressing issues in the digital credentialing space, and, by working together, we can ensure that everyone has a seat at the table and that we are designing technology that is useful for as many people as possible.

With that in mind, we also invite those who are interested in being part of this conversation to join our governance work. By listening to the inputs of varied stakeholders — institutions, employers, learners — we can truly accomplish our goal of advancing learner agency.

With sincere thanks,
Kate Giovacchini
Managing Director of the TLN