Definitions

Definitions of Roles & Types

For the purpose of this website, we have defined the following terms to provide clarity on the various roles and entities within the Learning & Employment Records ecosystem.

LER Tech Vendor

Businesses and organizations, vendors and non-profit organizations which develop technology solutions, tools, and infrastructure for issuing, storing, sharing, or verifying LERs.

Businesses and organizations, vendors and non-profit organizations which develop technology solutions, tools, and infrastructure for issuing, storing, sharing, or verifying LERs.

Source

Credentialing Organization

Entities including institutions, organizations, individuals, or training providers that provide evidence of skills or achievements for a learner. These include but are not limited to primary, secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education providers, industry credentialing organizations, unions, employers (small, medium, and large enterprise), governments, licensing boards, private or community training providers, online education providers, and workplace training or education programs. Within the LER Ecosystem, an entity that provides a credential can be referred to as an issuer.

Entities including institutions, organizations, individuals, or training providers that provide evidence of skills or achievements for a learner. These include but are not limited to primary, secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education providers, industry credentialing organizations, unions, employers (small, medium, and large enterprise), governments, licensing boards, private or community training providers, online education providers, and workplace training or education programs. Within the LER Ecosystem, an entity that provides a credential can be referred to as an issuer.

Source

Funders

Any organization that financially supports work related to LER discovery, implementation and use.

Any organization that financially supports work related to LER discovery, implementation and use.

Source

Employer Partners

Employers who use LERs in their talent management processes as well as organizations that help facilitate employer partnerships for LER projects.

Employers who use LERs in their talent management processes as well as organizations that help facilitate employer partnerships for LER projects.

Governance

Federal, state, and local governments as well as other organizations that develop and implement policies and frameworks around education and workforce across institutions that support credentialing and workforce alignment and promote advancement for their constituencies; non-governmental entities overseeing accreditation; communities, consortia and networks that work to align LER workstreams.

Federal, state, and local governments as well as other organizations that develop and implement policies and frameworks around education and workforce across institutions that support credentialing and workforce alignment and promote advancement for their constituencies; non-governmental entities overseeing accreditation; communities, consortia and networks that work to align LER workstreams.

Source

Ecosystem Support Organizations

This category captures all other entities that support discovery, implementation and use of LERs. These may include:

This category captures all other entities that support discovery, implementation and use of LERs. These may include:

Consortium: A coordinated group of organizations or individuals who share relevant information with one another

User Engagement: Conducts outreach to prospective and existing users to inform development and improvement of LER implementations

Research: Conducts research on the process and outcomes of LER implementation projects

Consulting

Technical Assistance: Provides support and advice on specific topics related to LER implementation

Career Navigation: Individuals or organizations that provide guidance and support to individuals resulting in economic mobility

Data Standards Organization: Technical communities and organizations that develop and put forth specifications and standards to protect learner data and promote interoperability

HR Systems: Applications and tools designed and sold to organizations whose Human Resource professionals manage and track employee recruitment, onboarding and performance

Other

Source

Other Helpful Terms

Digital Wallet

Digital Wallet

A wallet secures and manages digital data stored in a location controlled by the wallet holder LER digital Wallet: an app or other technology used by the holder of the LER to subscribe, curate, and control access to achievement assertions and other credentials by creating a presentation that is shared with verifying parties. (IEEE LSTC, Rec. Practices for LER)

Source
Equity

Equity

In the context of LER adoption, equity refers to fair recognition of learning, and the promotion of inclusive access to quality education and lifelong learning with deliberate consideration for how innovations can be accessed by all learners.

Source
Interoperability

Interoperability

The ability of systems to work together, exchange, and make use of information from other systems. In education, interoperability is the ability of a system to exchange education and workforce information with and use information from other systems without special effort on the part of the user. This means all individuals, including learners and employers, have appropriate access to education and workforce information, allowing them to make informed decisions in the workplace.

Source
Issuer(s)

Issuer(s)

Educational institutions, training providers, testing centers and employers that supply learning and employment records and who may curate those records through an LER application or interface to help individuals understand their own strengths and weaknesses as they progress on a career pathway.

Source
Learning and Employment Record (LER)

Learning and Employment Record (LER)

Digital records of learning and experience that are linked to and controlled by learners and earners. An interoperable, well-governed LER ecosystem has the potential to transform the future of work so that it is more equitable, efficient, and effective for everyone involved: individuals, multiple credentials issuers (including education providers), employers and policymakers.

Source
LER Lifecycle

LER Lifecycle

A learning and employment record full lifecycle includes four critical stages ranging from (1) development of a collection of verifiable digital records; (2) issuance of the record or collection of records; (3) adoption; and (4) use by an individual learner and worker.

Source
Portable

Portable

Can be used in a variety of environments, across sectors and states, connecting to multiple purposes and opportunities in employment, education, and other contexts. Allows the individual to control the location, organization, and combination of their own records for their own uses.

Source
Relying or Requesting Parties

Relying or Requesting Parties

An entity that relies on the certificate and the issuer that issued the certificate to verify the identity of the certificate s subject and/or owner; the validity of the public key, associated algorithms and any relevant parameters

Source
Skills-Based Hiring

Skills-Based Hiring

The intentional prioritization of what a person can do with less reliance on proxies like college degrees or years of experience during the hiring process

Source
Secure

Secure

Complies with relevant security standards to protect the data from unauthorized editing or access.

Source
Sovereignty

Sovereignty

Individuals (or their guardians) are empowered to make informed decisions about the use and portability of their own data, that identity verification systems are transparent, and that there are adequate protections in place to preserve data privacy and security.

Source
Transparent

Transparent

Clearly defined, enables comparison, and is based on shared open standards, common language/descriptions, and skills ontologies/ frameworks. Provides contextual information for determining relevance and skills mastered.

Source
User Group

User Group

A group of stakeholders which have a specific role to play in developing, issuing, using and adopting LERs — all while centering equity as an ongoing driver for the work. User groups identified as primary stakeholders by the LER Ecosystem Map include learners and workers, employers, education and training providers, and state and local policymakers.

Source
Verifiable Credentials (VC)

Verifiable Credentials (VC)

an open standard for digital credentials that are digitally signed, which makes them tamper-resistant and instantaneously verifiable. They can represent information found in physical credentials, such as a passport or license, as well as new things that have no physical equivalent, such as ownership of a bank account.

Source

Glossary

If you are curious about a term that is not defined above, you can probably find it in the Work and Learn Ecosystem Library Glossary . This resource has been created by a collaborative advisory board of experts across the ecosystem.