Relational Map coming soon. Learn more about the work we’re doing with AI and view our example prototypes here.
The Data Collaborative for a Skills-based Economy (Data Collab) is a data hub that connects and aggregates data across a range of data sources to uncover how new education-to-work models can support economic mobility for new majority learners. The data collaboration infrastructure enables the Education Design Lab which manages the initiative and its partners to ask and answer deeper questions about equitable learner outcomes in non-credit programs.
Originally formed to support the Community College Growth Engine Fund, the Education Design Lab (the Lab) has designed and deployed the new data collaborative with a growing set of innovative higher education institutions that are rolling out, at scale, data infrastructure for evaluating “what works” in the world of micro-credentials, alternative pathways, skills assessments, and other short-term, non-credit programs.
The Data Collab partners (see below) established the data infrastructure and the technical, governance, and legal frameworks to support data collaboration across education institutions, government agencies, community-based organizations, and others.
The Data Collab lives at the intersection of design and data. Its work has shown that (1) education providers, policymakers, learners, and employers are eager for insights on the impact and return on investment (ROI) of short-term or non-credit programs; and (2) learners need better data on what programs are available and what their investment of time, money, and energy will yield for their own economic mobility.
Examples of the Data Collab’s accomplishments include:
Six developing areas of work are focused on more fully leveraging data to evaluate learner impact and generate new insights on non-credit programs:
The Lab, Brighthive (technical administrator), National Student Clearinghouse (Postsecondary Data Partnership submission), an external project research group (evaluator), and Credential Engine (data schema and mapping) established the data infrastructure as well as the technical, governance, and legal frameworks to support data collaboration across education institutions, government agencies, community-based organizations, and others.
Have something to add or refine? Your input in this work matters greatly and we look forward to reviewing your additions