By Michelle Mott, AACRAO Consultant, Innovative Credentials Project Manager
In today’s rapidly evolving higher education landscape, institutions are increasingly focused on innovative credentialing solutions to bridge the gap between academic learning and workforce needs. This was a key theme during the closing plenary session of the Convergence Conference, where the LER Accelerator initiative took center stage.
What is the LER Accelerator?
The LER Accelerator was launched in 2024 with support from Walmart. The effort is boosting the adoption of Learning and Employment Records (LERs) in postsecondary education by focusing on overcoming implementation delays, raising awareness, and fostering collaboration. The initiative is supported by a coalition of leading national organizations representing various campus stakeholders:
Admissions Operations/Enrollment Management/Records & Registration - AACRAO
Information Technology - EDUCAUSE
Academic/Curricular/Faculty - AAC&U
Online and Professional Education - UPCEA
Career Centers and Employers - NACE
Institutional Research - AIR
Institutional Leadership - ACE
Competency-Based Education and Skills - C-BEN
Technology Standards and Practices - 1EdTech, Digital Credentials Consortium
Community Colleges - AACC
Advising - NACADA
Representatives from the coalition further explored the origins and goals of the initiative during the closing plenary, moderated by Julie Uranis, Senior Vice President, Online and Strategic Initiatives & Strategic Advisor at UPCEA, offering valuable insights into the ways these organizations are shaping the conversation around technology, learning outcomes, and the evolving role of credentials in higher education.
Mike Simmons, Associate Executive Director, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at AACRAO, explained that the idea for the LER Accelerator stemmed from conversations with employers and funders, like Walmart, who questioned how higher education could play a more active role in LER development. The coalition brings together the organizations that represent the key campus stakeholders involved in that process to foster collaboration and model best practices for adopting and implementing LERs. It aims to leverage the collective power of the national associations to develop a coordinated, strategic approach to help institutions design systems for LERs that prioritize learning outcomes, equitable access, and data governance.
Challenges and Opportunities in Higher Education
Institutions face a myriad of challenges and opportunities in building coalitions and systems on campuses that support LER development. From the curricular side, Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at AAC&U, reflected on the “exquisite tension between innovation and tradition” in higher education, which is fundamental to understanding the challenges faced by faculty who are grappling with how to maintain disciplinary integrity while also preparing students for the workforce. Finley’s remarks underscore a broader challenge in higher education: how to reconcile traditional academic structures with the increasing demand for credentials that reflect real-world, transferable skills. This tension is at the heart of LER initiatives, where institutions must innovate while remaining true to their core academic missions.
LERs have the potential to transform how both higher education institutions and employers understand and validate learning. The promise of LERs lies in their ability to create a holistic view of an individual’s learning journey, capturing formal academic achievements alongside co-curricular and experiential learning.
From a technology standpoint, LERs offer a data-driven approach to tracking and proving outcomes. Shawn VanDerziel, President & Chief Executive Officer at NACE, emphasized the opportunity to shift public perception by offering tangible, visible records of learning that can be communicated to both employers and students. By mapping learning in new ways and collecting data differently, LERs could pave the way for institutions to measure success beyond traditional transcripts.
There are millions of individuals with “some college but no degree,” many of whom have been underserved by traditional higher education systems, noted Kathe Pelletier, Senior Director of Community Programs at EDUCAUSE. “The opportunity for folks to gain credentials that can get them into a better job and continue to build on learning is the ‘capital W’ why.”
LERs could play a key role in addressing historical inequities in higher education by providing a framework for recognizing all forms of learning, whether they happen inside or outside the classroom. However, this also requires higher education institutions to rethink how they capture and validate learning, ensuring that all students, particularly those from underserved backgrounds, are able to fully demonstrate their skills and knowledge.
“Technology is just a tool,” Pelletier added. “But there’s so much opportunity for technology to get in the way if it’s not applied strategically.” We need to prioritize the systems approach to implementing credentials and coordinating data governance and management to facilitate better outcomes and more effective tracking of student achievements.
Breaking Down Silos and the Path Forward
The siloed nature of higher education often prevents the seamless integration of different types of learning into a unified record. Often, fragmented infrastructures prevent learning from being effectively transferred between non-credit and credit-bearing programs, limiting students’ opportunities. To make LERs work, institutions must break down these silos and collaborate across departments, ensuring that all learning counts. In addition, they must engage employers in meaningful conversations about how to translate academic credentials into the language of skills-based hiring.
By fostering collaboration across stakeholder groups—such as faculty, IT professionals, and registrars—the LER Accelerator coalition aims to build stronger, unified, scalable systems that serve learners more effectively and equitably.
The coalition is actively working to provide clear, coordinated strategies, disseminate best practices, and create meaningful outputs that institutions can utilize to enhance their understanding and implementation of LERs.
Key initiatives include:
Comprehensive LER Resource Hub: Partnering with the Learn & Work Ecosystem Library to consolidate and curate resources in a shared repository, which will help institutions navigate the complex landscape of credentials and skills.
Communications Strategy: Developing effective methods to disseminate information, ensuring that outputs are accessible and engaging to the target audience.
Interoperability: Addressing both technical and semantic interoperability to ensure that different systems and frameworks can work together seamlessly.
Skills-Based Ecosystem: Exploring the relationship between learning outcomes and skill statements to create a narrative that supports faculty in recognizing their contributions to skill development.
Communities of Practice (CoPs): Establishing CoPs to foster collaboration among institutions, enhancing peer learning, and generating practical resources based on shared experiences.
The LER Accelerator aims to create a supportive environment for institutions to engage with innovative credentialing practices, ultimately empowering them to confidently adopt and communicate about LERs. To learn more about the project, watch this week’s Credential Chat with AACRAO’s Mike Simmons and visit the LER Accelerator Initiative website for the latest updates.