The digital age presents invaluable tools for professionals. With many professional accreditation programs largely taking place online, the modern workforce is taking advantage of accessible growth opportunities. Upon completion of such an online course or certification, digital credentials serve as presentable, verifiable achievements that can easily transfer over various platforms and technologies.
With advancements in analytics and AI, digital credentials are a valuable resource for employers that seek quality candidates. However, to build a digital credentialing system that is user friendly, verifiable and shareable, credentialing institutions must create a platform based on an interoperable tech ecosystem.
To learn more about interoperability, check out our blog post, Interoperability Assurances: A Step by Step Guide.
Today we’ll explain how to build a flexible digital credentialing system for the success of professionals, employers, and institutions that host the accreditation.
IMS Global Standards for Digital Credentialing
IMS Global is a pioneering organization for developing top-of-the-industry digital credentialing systems and programs. The IMS Global network advances the digital credentialing landscape by developing standards such as Open Badges, the Comprehensive Learner Record and the Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE), along with many others.
The IMS Global standards work together to integrate learning pathways, verification, and various badging and learning platforms. The organization, along with its standards for interoperability, enables professionals and employers to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Learn more about the IMS digital credential standards that enable innovation in professional development below.
Open Badges
Open Badges act as visual symbols of professional accomplishments. The symbols are embedded with data on the certification or achievement and can be easily shared from one online platform to another. Open Badges allow professionals to bridge the gap in their resumes or transcripts, providing a more complete picture of the professional experience.
The IMS Global Open Badges 2.0 standard enables features like skills metadata, verifiable authenticity and quality, in addition to earners’ control of their personal achievement records. The standard supports an interoperable tech ecosystem, ensuring that the digital badge is verifiable, transferrable and all the embedded achievement data is completely secure.
Comprehensive Learner Record
The Comprehensive Learner Record captures the entire accreditation lifecycle, from the professional development plan to execution. Formerly known as the Extended Transcript, the Comprehensive Learner Record acts as a digital ledger containing all data of the achievement, such as coursework, professional experience and other learning activities.
IMS Global’s Comprehensive Learner Record provides a secure digital record solution centered around professional development that is flexible for the modern professional landscape. The Comprehensive Learner Record is founded on specifications of organizations such as American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).
Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE)
The IMS Global CASE standard connects the entire ecosystem of digital credentialing. The CASE framework delivers a reliable way for credentials to comply with industry standards, discover relevant content for qualifying assessments and align credentialing across various professional development programs.
CASE enables the seamless digital exchange of competency definitions between various systems within the credentialing framework. CASE allows easy sharing of resources utilizing different learning standards by defining associations between sets of standards and competencies . The standard also provides rubrics with performance level descriptions and scoring that can be aligned to credentialing standards.
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The arsenal of IMS Global standards furthers the development and adoption of innovative digital credentialing programs that support competency-based education. In addition, by building an interoperable tech ecosystem based on IMS Global standards, organizations can effortlessly transfer digital credentials across various programs, institutions and employers. Take advantage of these various frameworks to ensure that your digital credentialing platform is poised for flexibility and success.
