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Innovative Credentials

AACRAO is a long-standing champion in the advancement of Innovative Credentials overall and the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) in particular, having collaboratively developed pilots, guidelines, and best practices that expand the idea of the traditional record. Through past Lumina Foundation grants, a current grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a new grant from the Walmart Foundation, AACRAO continues to be a leader in the development and adoption of CLR in American higher education.

Additionally, AACRAO is working to promote awareness and advance knowledge around the Learning and Employment Record (LER), a system that contains verifiable information about a person’s achievements spanning an inclusive range of contexts to include the CLR, the higher education component of the LER, that provides verified credentials representing the skills and competencies achieved by the student during their academic career.

AACRAO will support higher education contributions of robust learning to the overall Innovative Credential work, which includes supporting:

  • Digital Credentials
  • Alternative Credentials
  • Micro-Credentials
  • The Comprehensive Learner Record
  • The Learning and Employment Record
  • Extended Transcripts
  • and others

by putting forth recommendations for academic record practices that protect the integrity and validity of these expressions of learner achievement, supporting the principles of interoperability and student-centered records, and continuing to seek collaboration and innovation partners.

Get Involved with Innovative Credentials

Join the Community of Practice

The AACRAO Exchange Innovative Credentials Community connects higher education professionals to learn from each other, share insights and best practices, and support the development and implementation of innovative credentials.

AACRAO Resources

  • Enhancing Accessibility and Inclusion: The 2024 Landscape of Credit for Prior Learning in U.S. and Canadian Higher Education (2024)


    The challenges and successes in implementing CPL within educational institutions are explored in this report. Issues related to institutional policies, mechanisms for assessing and awarding credit for prior learning, staffing, technology and learner awareness are examined.

  • Credential Confusion: A Call for Uniformity in Practice and Terminology(2023)


    Insights from a June 2023 Survey aimed at determining if the terms for various credentials, referred to as innovative credentials in this report, are defined and used differently based on their institutional context.

  • FINAL REPORT: Alternative Credentials: Considerations, Guidance, and Best Practices(2022)


    The AACRAO Alternative Credentials work group published their final report in July, 2022. This report provides research on best practices for members' institutions considering or already offering certificates and micro-credentials. The intention of this report is to create standards for definitions and portability of alternative credentials.

  • Implementation of the IMS Global Comprehensive Learner Record Standard: A Practical Guide for Campus Personnel(2022)


    The IMS Global CLR Implementation Guide is a comprehensive data standard that meets the objectives of an official institutional learning-focused and comprehensive learner record.

     

  • CLR Phase II Report(2021)

    CLR Phase II seeks to expand the understanding and use of CLRs among additional institutions. Download the CLR Phase II Report to learn more.

  • 2020 Guidance on the Review of the Comprehensive Learner Records (CLR) Standard from IMS Global(2020)

    Per our review, the CLR Standard from IMS Global is the only comprehensive data standard in place today that meets the objectives of an official institutional learning-focused and comprehensive learner record.

  • 2019 Standardized Components for a Competency-Based Educational Record(2019)

    For this second phase of the Lumina grant there were four main goals:

    • Facilitate the scaling of CLRs in up to 150 colleges and universities
    • Standardize the components of a CBE transcript/record with the goal of achieving 10 participating institutions in this second phase
    • Address the data integration issue
    • Leverage existing degree audit technologies to track progress toward learning outcomes/competencies.
    To achieve the goals outlined for the second item above, AACRAO partnered with the expert organization on competency-based education, member institutions of C-BEN, a “network of colleges, organizations, and individuals, dedicated to realizing the potential of competency-based education”.
  • 2018 CLR Data Integration Work Group White Paper(2018)

    During the first phase the CLR project, one of the most significant barriers to the development and implementation of the student record was the integration of data to populate the record with data and evidence of learning.

    In the second phase of work, AACRAO assembled the CLR Data Integrations Work Group to identify the barriers to data integration that exist today at most institutions. While some colleges and universities will be able to address these challenges through internal resources and expertise, most lack the infrastructure to address the barriers they may face. This Work Group provided universities with information on moving forward, creating potential guidelines, and working to promote standards that not only benefit students but also employers and other admitting institutions.

  • 2016 Fact Sheet(2016)

AACRAO Supported Resources

Innovative Credentials News:

UPCEA has announced the members of The Council for Credential Innovation (CCI), a body for senior leaders driving non-degree credential strategy at the unit or campus level, and key thought leaders from nonprofit organizations and companies actively contributing to developing the alternative credential space. Congratulations to all the council members for their work and innovation in credentialing. 

CCI

AACRAO wants to highlight AACRAO members Karen Battyle, Mark McConahay, Noah Geisel, Shawn Miller, and Doris Savron and invite all council members to continue the conversation in the Innovative Credentials Community of Practice in the AACRAO Exchange.  

Join the Exchange

National Reach
AACRAO's efforts to advance CLR have helped institutions across the United States. The 2021 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation enables additional institutions to be supported and further contributes to the knowledge resources for CLR adoption and best practices.

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External Resources

  • Alabama Talent Playbook


    Alabama is now the first state to issue a digital wallet available to all residents. The Alabama Talent Playbook explains how Alabama has created technological infrastructure to support its developing skills-based economy; this represents a huge step forward and stands out as an early exemplar of what digital credentialing can look like on a large scale.

  • C-BEN Interoperability Principles (2023)


    LERs are reshaping not only what is recorded about a learner’s knowledge, skills, and capabilities, but also how learners can access and use their data to pursue employment and further education without barriers. This vision requires interoperability of the data systems that produce LERs. To guide action, a common set of principles for education and employment data has been created for use by key decision makers who provide education and training to millions of Americans each year. Read the recent C-BEN report on Interoperable Learning & Employment Records to begin building a framework to establish seamless sharing and use of LERs.

  • Credential Engine: Reimagining the Higher Education Ecosystem
  • Learn and Work Ecosystem Library

    A digital library that collects, curates, and coordinates information resources to bring clarity to the evolving learn-and-work ecosystem.

  • UW-Madison Digital Badge Policy(2022)


    An institutional example of a digital badge policy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison (as of December, 2022).

Webinars

News

AACRAO Innovative Credentials News

Innovative Credentials News Outside of AACRAO

Why Registrars Need the CLR

An April 5, 2023 Territorium blog post: Why collegiate registrars should advocate for (and implement) CLRs in place of traditional transcripts.

Addressing Failures of Implementation

A January 30, 2023 Inside Higher Ed Beyond Transfer blog post: Addressing Failure of Implementation - Supporting and promoting innovation on campus.

Creating a National LER: How 1EdTech Can Help Get Us There

A recent white paper lays out recommendations to create a successful national LER ecosystem. Read the takeaways on how 1EdTech can help you get started with digital credentials.

Mapping the LER ecosystem to Drive Adoption and Collaboration in Service of Learners and Earners

Digital Credentials Consortium and NationSwell working with stakeholders to identify barriers and opportunities

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Bridging the Gap: The LER Accelerator's Role in Innovative Credentialing
Oct 14, 2024

Enhancing the adoption of Learning and Employment Records (LERs) in higher education.

Photograph of University Registration.

Valuing the Lived Experiences of Adult Learners
Sep 2, 2024

Understanding what Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) is, why it's important, and how you can join the conversation.

Shaping the Future of Credentialing
Aug 19, 2024

A look at the work being done to transform credentialing across higher education and how to take part in the conversation.

Contact Us

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