The document discusses the importance of open educational credentials and highlights challenges such as limited digital access, lack of technical standards, and closed systems that hinder educational opportunities. It proposes the development of a digital standard for documenting credentials and outlines existing EU standards that could support open educational practices. Finally, it envisions a future with universal recognition of credentials facilitated through technologies like blockchain.

1. Open Credentials for
Open Education
Moving the Needle Forward
Ildiko Mazar
Knowledge Innovation Centre
Open EducationWeek – 8 March 2019

2. Education is a Public Good
This means
 Open Access to Educational Opportunities
 Use of Open Educational Resources
 Empowerement of Students through Open Educational Practices

3. A typical
process model
for Open
Education
Open
Educational
Resources
Open
Educational
Practices
?
Educational
Credentials

4. Credentials are still not digital
Limited Access to Underlying Information
Not valid currencies on job market
Lack of (Technical) Standards for
Credential Information
Closed Standards for Security & Verification
No Aggregation of Credential Data
What’s
wrong with
(digital)
credentials?

5. Credentials
are still not
digital

6. Limited
Access to
Underlying
Information

7. Not valid
currencies on
job market
Source: Career Arc
If it costs an employer more to verify a credential than
to test the skills,
the credential is effectively worthless.

8. Lack of
Technical
Standards
leads to
exclusion
Source: Career Arc

9. Closed
Standards for
Security and
Verification

10. No
Aggregation
of Credential
Data

11. Closed
Credentials
expensive and time consuming to
acquire
hard to use and share
hinder Open Education by failing to
evidence flexible learning pathways
in a transparent manner
exclude the people who need them
most
can be abused by networks of
intermediaries
do not inform policy

12. We have all the pieces for an
Open Credential System

13. EU Standards
for
Qualifications
EU standards for qualifications
European Qualifications Framework: gives an indication as to
the level of various qualifications
European Diploma Supplement: provides a standardised
template to give additional information about a degree
European Credit Transfer System: allows for individual
learning units to be described in terms of knowledge, skills,
responsibility and autonomy
European Skill, Competences, Qualifications and
Occupations database provides a standard terminology

14. EU Standards
for
Qualifications
EU standards for qualifications
European Qualifications Framework: gives an indication as to
the level of various qualifications
Not for non-formal education or microcredentials
European Diploma Supplement: provides a standardised
template to give additional information about a degree
Only for degrees
European Credit Transfer System: allows for individual
learning units to be described in terms of knowledge, skills,
responsibility and autonomy
Only for Higher Education - not included fully in qualification
European Skill, Competences, Qualifications and
Occupations database provides a standard terminology
Not used by the tools above

15. Technical
Standards:
Open
Badges
too open to be useful for
Higher Education

16. National ID
Systems
can replace
companies as
sources of trust
for signing
too complex to use
for the average person

17. With Blockchain you don’t need an intermediary to sign a
document at all
the technology is still
extremely young

18. A Global Platform for Skills already
exists… should one company have
a monopoly on skills data?

19. Elements of a
System for
Open
Educational
Credentials

20. Working on
open
solutions...
Create a digital standard format
for documenting open education
credentials based on ECTS
oepass.eu
Open Education Passport

21. The Learning
Passport
Comprehensive
documentation of
learning experiences in
terms of:
•Awarding body
•Credential awarded
•Holder of credential
•Evidence of achievement

22. Working on
open
solutions...
Support Future Learning Excellence through
Micro-Credentialling in Higher Education
Create a model blockchain
infrastructure for storing and
automatically verifying credentials
microcredentials.eu

23. The
Credentials
Clearinghouse

24. The
Credentials
Clearinghouse

25. www.microcredentials.eu
Imagine a Future
where recognition is
universal
automatic
seamless

26. European
framework for
digitally-
signed
credentials
The MicroHE extended ESCO metadata standard is available at:
https://github.com/MicroCredentials/MicroHE

27. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
You can download this presentation at:
Ildiko Mazar
ildiko@knowledgeinnovation.eu
https://www.slideshare.net/ildikomazar

28. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which
reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
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