A project I worked on with Credential Engine has just had its (first?) report published: Global Micro-Credential Schema Mapping: A Vital Step Towards Interoperability and Mobility.

This project was suggested by the Credential Engine‘s CTDL Advisory Group, and ran from January to June this year. That was slightly longer than its initial 3 month estimate, but we covered more than we initially expected. The intended benefits were outlined by the CTDL Advisory group, and centre on making sure that micro-credentials issued in one jurisdiction are understandable in others, even when different data specifications have to be used in order to comply with local technical and political requirements and practices where they are issued. The end result envisaged is that individuals can have their achievements recognized globally.

We used the Data Ecosystem Mapping Tool to map elements from various specifications and standards related micro-credentials, such as CTDL, Open Badges, the versions of Open Badges used by a commercial badge issuer in Canada and Australia, W3C Verifiable Credentials and the European Learning Model: more information on those and specs and who I mean by “we” are in the report.

The results are available on the Credential Engines DESM site where you can see the degree of semantic alignment between these schemas, and there are some reflections on the results in the report.