Digital Credential Wallet Pilot

Project Summary

The GV NextEd Co-Lab is piloting a new platform that uses blockchain technology to securely store educational records like courses, certificates, and other achievements in a digital wallet. The wallet can hold any type of record, existing or new, as long as it follows open standards. By sticking to these open standards, the data is easy for both humans and machines to read, and it prevents any single institution from controlling access or charging fees.

The blockchain ensures that both the learner's identity and their credentials are securely verified using cryptographic methods. This technology gives learners more control over their educational history, creating a verifiable, non-falsifiable record of their lifelong learning journey.

Currently...

  • Officially-recognized learning only takes place inside formal credential-issuing institutions.
  • Institutions “own” the records of learning.
  • Learners do the onerous work of collecting and circulating their learning records.

The world is changing...

  • The range of experiences, attributes, skills, and knowledge sought by learners or needed by institutions and employers is expanding;
  • The range of contexts—formal and informal—in which they can be acquired is broadening;
  • The technical skills and knowledge acquired are coming in smaller grain sizes (and are increasingly measurable); 
  • The durable, adaptive skills and mindsets are in larger, broader grain sizes (and are increasingly measurable), and
  • Current institutional practices and systems are insufficient to capture this information.

What if...

  • Learners owned their own records and institutions were freed from processing repeat processing?
  • Knowledge and skills in smaller grain sizes were captured so employers could easily understand an applicant's’ potential to meet their needs?
  • Learning for a more diverse array of providers, purposes, and individuals was recognized?
  • Institutions could easily access and integrate this information for recruiting and advising?

Preparing for Opportunity

What would the institutions need to do differently to circulate - accept, create and issue - learner–controlled learning records?

Digital Credential Wallet Ecosystem

How would K12, higher ed, workforce be different if they were to circulate - accept, create and issue - learner–controlled learning records?



Page last modified June 14, 2024