School transcripts, projects we’re proud of, informal workshops we’ve taken and more – these are just some examples of our life’s worth of learning. For the most part, each one requires a separate process for capturing and accessing the evidence of achievement. 

And yet, employers want a detailed view of the people they’re hiring into roles. At ASU, we’re working to make the care and curation of relevant experiences data-centric and learner-centered, allowing a diverse array of records to be available right at your fingertips. 

At the center of this learning and earning ecosystem are Learning and Employment Records (LERs), which are rich data records that describe the achievement, credential or experience. These LERs allow learners, earners and employees to demonstrate the accomplishments that propel their career and educational journeys. 

What are LERs?

Learning and employment records are detailed, verified, and secure records of your education, training and workforce experience – which are readily accessible digital files. Goodbye, paper resumes!

Some advantages of LERs when compared to traditional resumes include:

• LERs can document learning from a variety of issuers, like your education experience, credentialing or military training
• LERs use a standardized data language
• The information in LERs is verified by the issuer automatically and encrypted for accuracy and privacy
• LERs are dynamic, which is a major benefit when needing to keep things up to date

Although the solutions that LERs bring are exponential, the ability to effectively transfer and move that protected data is a persistent challenge. There is a need across education systems to determine how to make the LER data operable, or clearly communicate across products and systems. Making sure that the data can connect with other systems means that information will be more widely available – and learners, earners and employees will have more opportunities in their education and workforce experiences, as well.

ASU’s Trusted Learner Network Managing Director Kate Giovacchini presented on these important topics during her session at Jobs for the Future’s annual Horizons summit on June 7-8 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

In a panel discussion titled, “Thinking in Ideals: Lifelong Learner Record Strategies to Empower Learners,” Giovacchini and fellow panelists Brian Tinsley of Digital Promise and Nick Moore, Alabama Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation, discussed how they applied the ideals of learner-centric records to create approaches that implement LER solutions, tackle continued problems, and create best practices for an interoperability infrastructure.

Key moments during the session

The panel was able to cover a lot of ground in their 60-minute session. During the discussion, presenters touched on everything from designing technology infrastructure and ecosystems to exploring the key place policies and government entities can play, to addressing the greatest barriers to success for LERs. 

Key to the Trusted Learner Network were two focal points: what role does the larger ecosystem play in the success of these projects and who should get involved. Giovacchini emphasized the nature of this work requiring community alignment and shared purpose: As technologists, skills specialists, competency designers, wallet entrepreneurs, student advocates and employment modernization funders get together in the space, all will need to provide their contribution to create a holistic marketplace that entices the learner/earner. As such, it’s crucial that parties engage now and engage often to provide contributions that lift all parties.

Co-panelists surfaced their unique perspective with the audience. Moore talked about policy and systems structure, and the need to align and build a full framework across tech, skills language and workforce language from a state level, as with the Alabama Governor’s Office work he leads. Tinsley spoke about the importance of LERs being a human-centered project; the Digital Promise team delivers research and guidance built directly from the experiences of learners/earners in the field, which recognizes that users must see, recognize and receive the value of digital credentials in order for adoption to take place.

The session ended with panelists talking about why we need to urgently make moves in our thinking and work…now? 

“We need to begin this journey now to get anywhere – this is emerging technology, and it’s helping us to push on how we have to think about credentials,” said Giovacchini. “If we believe in a future of learner empowerment, we need to embrace the change.”