XCredit Skills Validation(Education Design Lab)

Launched in summer 2021, XCredit Skills Validation is an initiative of the Education Design Lab. The Lab developed the concept of an employer-validated “XCredit”, or Experience Credit, which signals to employers the skills attained informally on the job or in life. An “XCredit” is the value given to an individual’s existing skills. Through this initiative, the Lab is offering access to an ecosystem of tools which will enable individual to validate their skills, earn credentials, and signal their skills to prospective employers. This initiative includes automated, next-generation 21st century skills assessment, a network of partner organizations prototyping additional validation tools and methods, and an interoperable ecosystem enabling a seamless  learner experience. In the assessment area, the initiative is designing, testing, and piloting two approaches to assessing and validating these skills:

• Skills assessments (experiential assessments that allow an individual to showcase skills they have gained)
• Skills artifacts (real world evidence of soft skills that can serve as a proxy for more formal credentials). 

These approaches together are expected to help learner-earners seeking better job and career outcomes to leverage the skills they already have, giving value and respect to their lived experiences.

The initiative is focusing initially on new ways of assessing and credentialing the informal learning of transitioning military members, veterans, and unemployed and underemployed job-seeking civilians.

Partners: Muzzy Lane, Talespin, SOLID, Credly, Cypher Learning, Smart Resume, Job Paths, Aspire Ability, Randa, Opportunity@Work, CAEL, Vantage Point, AstrumU, Skills Engine, Rutgers, Texas A&M Commerce, Walmart

Links to resources:

• https://sites.google.com/eddesignlab.org/x-credit/home
• https://eddesignlab.org