Knowledge

Academic advising is the collaborative process by which students engage with a member of their institution (professor, mentor, or advisor) to receive direction or advice on academic or personal decisions. The purpose of this process is to counsel or inform students, so they get the most of their college experience. Advising includes establishing educational goals or milestones based on the student’s interests and intentions.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, accreditation is the process of assessment meant to improve academic quality and institutional accountability by an established set of standards to ensure a basic level of quality. Accreditation covers both the initial and ongoing approval of an educational institution or program. Entire schools or institutions can be accredited (referred to as institutional accreditation), as can individual schools, programs, or departments (referred to as specialized or programmatic accreditation). Accreditation can be conducted on the national, state, or private organizational levels. The accrediting agency establishes an agreed-on set of standards, evaluates organizations or institutions, and then re-evaluates the provider on a set schedule—typically, every five or ten years.

Adult learners are known by a variety of names: nontraditional students, adult students, returning adults, adult returners, mature learners, comebackers. Common characteristics: usually 25 or older; delayed entering college for at least one year following high school; usually employed full-time; often have a family and dependents to support; may have started college as a traditional student but needed to take time off to address other responsibilities; looking to enhance their professional lives or may be switching careers; have more experience than traditional students, having already started a career or served in the military; more mature, independent, and motivated than traditional students.

Alternative credentials are competencies, skills, and learning outcomes derived from assessment-based, non-degree activities that align to specific, timely needs in the workforce. Different types of alternative credentials include but are not limited to: (1) Digital Badge—verified indicator of accomplishment, skill, knowledge, experience, etc. that can be earned in a variety of learning environments. Digital badges are awarded based on competency, not necessarily the completion of a program. The badge itself is an icon that can be displayed on a website, profile, email signature or anywhere else on the Internet. (2) Verified Certificate—awarded to indicate completion of an online course, especially a MOOC. Students must complete all program requirements and then verify their identity before receiving the credential. Course sequences are a form of verified certificates that indicate a pathway of courses for learning a specific topic.(3) Microcredential—highly specific, competency-based degree or certification. Microcredentials are often created and chosen to align a student’s needs with instructional goals. The credential is earned upon the completion of certain activities, tasks, projects, and/or assessments.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an all-in-one human resource(HR) software that automates the hiring process. It helps HR teams manage every part of recruitment (from job posting to onboarding): (1) stores job candidate information, including resumés, cover letters, references, and other recruitment and hiring data that HR teams can easily access and organize; (2) tracks job candidates and their application status throughout the hiring pipeline; (3) weeds out unqualified candidates and recommends the best fit for a position based on the parameters set by HR and only those on the shortlist are moved to the next stage of the hiring process; (4) automates time-consuming administrative tasks such as manually screening applicants, reading resumés, scheduling interviews, and sending notifications and emails to job candidates and employees.

Apprenticeship is an industry-driven, high-quality career pathway that combines classroom instruction with on-the-job experience. Through apprenticeships, employers can prepare their future workforce, and individuals can obtain paid work experience while earning a nationally recognized, portable credential. Employers can choose to register their programs with the U.S. Department of Labor to show prospective job seekers that their apprenticeship program meets national quality standards.

With the advent of degree audit software, the software can be used to audit coursework students have completed and automatically award degrees and certificates if they have completed the required coursework. This is practiced as a method for increasing degree and certificate completion,

Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger technology in which records are stored together as blocks of information connected to other similar blocks of information. Blockchain use in educational records rests on the premise that giving learners access to and control over their educational records enables the easier sharing of their knowledge, skills, and work experience with employers and educational providers. This opens avenues to start or further their careers and increase their economic and social mobility.

Career coaches are experts in career planning, resumé building, negotiation, and interviewing. A career coach helps working professionals and recent graduates make educated decisions about their careers. Career coaches focus on actions, results, and accountability, seeking to inspire and empower their clients to set and achieve career goals.

Career counselors work mostly with college students and recent graduates. They are frequently found in community colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and high schools.

Career navigation services help individuals of all ages understand how their personal interests, abilities, and values can help shape their educational and career goals and contribute to their success. A range of providers offer career navigation services including school and college counselors, third-party career counselors (working in-person and online), military transition centers and recruiters, prison centers/offender rehabilitative services, immigration centers, and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Type of award conferred by a college, university, or other postsecondary education institution indicating the satisfactory completion of a non-degree program of study. Typically, the course requirements for earning a certificate are less than those for earning a degree. Most certificates require no more than one year of full-time academic effort. A certificate may be for-credit (academic certificate) or non-credit (continuing education certificate). They are not time limited and do not need to be renewed.

Awarded by certification bodies—typically nonprofit organizations, professional associations, industry and trade organizations, or businesses—based on an individual demonstrating, through an examination process, that she/he has acquired the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform a specific occupation or job. Depending on the certification body, they may be called industry or professional certifications. Although training may be provided, certifications are not tied to completion of a program of study as are certificates. They are time limited and may be renewed through a re-certification process. Some certifications can be revoked for a violation of a code of ethics (if applicable) or proven incompetence after due process.

A job description explains the tasks, duties, functions, and responsibilities of a position. A common job description outlines the expectations of a job in a way that is comparable to other similar positions.

Community college baccalaureates are new forms of baccalaureate degrees conferred by community colleges, which have historically awarded the associate degree as their highest credential. About half of the states provide authorization for some or all of their community colleges to award baccalaureate degrees.

A measurable, assessable capability of an individual that integrates knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions required to successfully perform tasks at a determined level in a defined setting.

Competency-based programs transparently communicate the learning objectives students must achieve to earn degrees and other credentials; enable students with existing knowledge and skills to personalize their educations and accelerate progress towards completion; use technology that enables students to learn anytime, anywhere, at prices they can afford’ and integrate support from faculty, mentors, and coaches that can build confidence needed for success, aimed at creating fair and just educational results.

Concurrent or dual enrollment means taking college courses while still in high school. Dual-enrollment courses are taught by college-approved high school teachers in a secondary education environment. Students earn transcripted college credit when they pass the course, based on multiple and varied assessments throughout the course.

Course articulation is the process of comparing the content of courses that are transferred between postsecondary institutions; i.e., . In course articulation, one institution matches its courses or requirements to coursework completed at another institution. Course articulation is distinct from the process of acceptance by one institution of earned credit from another institution, as applicable towards its degree requirements in transferring credit.

A credential is a documented award by a responsible and authorized body that attests that an individual has achieved specific learning outcomes or attained a defined level of knowledge or skill relative to a given standard. Credential is often viewed as an umbrella term that includes degrees, diplomas, licenses, certificates, badges, and professional and industry certifications. Some do not include degrees within the term, credentials, creating confusion as to whether degrees are credentials.

Title of a national initiative working toward a nationally recognized transferrable incremental credential system that increases the number of high-quality, post-high school credentials that lead to further education and employment. The system captures and verifies learning that is currently uncounted, enabling individuals to be recognized for what they know and can do as they acquire it; provides pathways for learners to continue their education, increasing their ability to gain higher credentials and better employment.

The Credential Registry (Registry), operated by Credential Engine, is a public, cloud-based system available to anyone seeking information about a variety of credentials and skills in an easily-accessible format. Users can explore competencies, learning outcomes, up-to-date market values, and career pathways and reference data on credential attainment and quality assurance at schools, professional associations, certification organizations, and the military, to name a few. The Registry updates when a credential is no longer offered or an institution offering that credential closes, but the historical data still remains in the Registry.

Credential Engine developed the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) to ensure that data related to credentials and skills speak a common language. The CTDL is a schema (a type of mini-language that people and systems can use to understand each other even if their data comes from different sources and that anyone can use to share information about credentialing data. The CTDL provides a common and unified way of describing information in the Credential Registry, and also an open language that can be used on the Web.

Prior learning assessment (aka recognition of prior learning) is a term used for various methods of valuing college-level learning that has taken place outside of formal educational institutions, that can be assessed to count toward degrees or other credentials. Common assessment methods: (1) Standardized examination such as students earning credit by successfully completing exams such as Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Excelsior exams (UExcel), DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSST).(2) Faculty-developed challenge exam in which students take a comprehensive examination developed by campus faculty. (3) Portfolio-based and other individualized assessment in which students prepare a portfolio or demonstration of their learning from a variety of experiences and non-credit activities and faculty evaluate the portfolio and award credit as appropriate. (4) Evaluation of non-college programs in which students earn credit based on recommendations provided by the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) and the American Council on Education (ACE) that conduct evaluations of training offered by employers or the military. Institutions also conduct their own review of programs, including coordinating with workforce development agencies and other training providers to develop crosswalks that map between external training/credentials and existing degree programs.

A degree is a title given by an institution (usually a college or university) that has been granted the authority by a state, recognized Native American tribe, or the federal government to confer such degrees. Generally, degrees are provided for accomplishment in academic, vocationally related, or religious studies, and the degree requirements differ within each of these three realms but are presumed to be comparable in accomplishment. A degree is granted by an institution to individuals who are presumed or who have been attested to have satisfactorily completed a course of study from which the individual can demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and ability commensurate with the degree requirements within the specific field of study. Degrees vary in the level of knowledge and skills that holders of the degree are presumed to have.

A digital badge (aka e-badge) is a digital representations of individuals’ achievements, consisting of an image and metadata uniquely linked to the individual’s skills. Digital badges have an issuer (institution that testifies), an earner (learner), and a displayer (site that houses the badge) .Badges can be displayed, accessed, and verified online.

A digital platform is a technology-enabled software solution, an interactive online service that allows exchanges of information, tools, and resources. Three main types of platforms serve components of the learn-and-work ecosystem: (1) learning platforms, (2) business and workforce development platforms, and (3) career navigation platforms.

Eligible training provider lists (ETPLs) are lists of pre-approved programs established by each state and territory under United States workforce development law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). WIOA funds vouchers for unemployed or underemployed workers to enroll in job training services included on the lists. These are typically short-term, non-four-year-degree programs.

Eligible Training Provider programs are job training programs eligible for funding under United States workforce development law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Under the law, each state and territory must maintain a list of pre-approved programs from which eligible individuals may select. Programs are pre=-approved on lists known as Eligible Training Provider lists.

Equity means that no matter what a student’s background, language, race, economic profile, gender, learning capability, disability or family history, each student has the opportunity to get the support and resources they need to achieve their educational goals. While the terms equity and equality are often used interchangeably, there are differences between the two. Equality focuses on ensuring students are presented with the same educational opportunities throughout their scholastic career; however, this approach doesn’t take into consideration that even with those opportunities, different students will have different needs in order to succeed. Equity focuses on taking those opportunities presented to students and infusing them with support and resources to turn the education system into a level playing field. This means that disadvantaged students will get the support they need to become equal to students who are not disadvantaged.

Good jobs are defined as those that provide family-sustaining pay, adequate benefits, and equal access to opportunity.

Guided Pathways is a movement that seeks to streamline a student’s journey through college by providing structured choice, revamped support, and clear learning outcomes—ultimately helping more students achieve their college completion goals. The reform recognizes that the current self-service model of community colleges leads many students to unintended dead ends or unforeseen detours in the form of excess or out-of-sequence credit. There are 4 pillars of guided pathways: (1) clarify pathways to end goals, (2) help students choose and enter pathways, (3) help students stay on path, and (4) ensure students are learning.

Incremental credentials capture learning as it is acquired along the learning pathway and formally recognizes and connects that learning to a larger context. Incremental credentials can be non-credit or credit-bearing; undergraduate or graduate level; of any size, from small units of learning up through degrees. The purpose of incremental credentials is to ensure learners are recognized for what they know and can do as they acquire the learning and not leave learners without formal documentation of that learning.

Incremental credentialing is the overall design and process used to develop and connect credentials to further learning and employment.

The Incremental Credential Framework was developed through a 2019-2021 planning, research, and testing project in a Lumina Foundation grant to SUNY Empire State College (Credential As You Go, Phase I). The Framework was developed from an environmental scan, prototyping, and feedback from national leaders. The Framework includes six approaches of credentialing that can be used to design incremental credentials and auto-awarding of credentials to reduce the additional step students typically go through to apply for a credential or graduation, plus a focus on prior learning assessment.

Intermediary organizations are often viewed as a distinct class of third-party entities. They tend to support the provision of services by another organization rather than providing direct services. They tend to be technical assistance providers or capacity-building organizations. They include nonprofit and for-profit entities, governmental and quasi-governmental entities, and membership organizations. Some are global in focus; others focus within nations, states, or cities. Some focus on the research and policy arena while others are subject- or discipline-specific. An intermediary organization can function in one or many capacities: It can be both a think tank and advocacy organization or both a technology company and consultancy. Intermediaries can also be networks or coalitions of organizations working toward a similar goal.

Interoperability is the ability of different information systems, devices or applications to connect, in a coordinated manner, within and across organizational boundaries to access, exchange and cooperatively use data amongst stakeholders.

The learn-and-work ecosystem is a connected system of formal and informal learning (education and training) and work. The ecosystem is composed of many building blocks. When all the building blocks are working together, individuals are able to move more seamlessly through the marketplace using a variety of credentials to communicate the skills and knowledge acquired in multiple settings (e.g., school, work, service, self-study). Employers have more detailed and externally-validated information during their hiring and upskilling processes. Schools are better able to count learning obtained outside of academic settings toward a degree or other credential. And the public is informed about our learn and work ecosystem. For the ecosystem to function effectively, all parts of the system must be connected and coordinated.

Learning frameworks are tools that specify learning outcomes and/or competencies that define, classify, and recognize educational, learner, and industry expectations of knowledge, skills, and abilities at increasing levels of complexity and difficulty. They are not standards, and they are not limited to academia, but they do allow for alignment, translation, and mapping of learning through various spaces in order to capture learning that can be valued and recognized by education, industry, and the military. These frameworks can support quality assurance mechanisms for reviewing aligned curriculum and training, provide guideposts for awarding credentials, and serve as end points from which learning experiences can be backward-designed. In addition, learning frameworks enable consistency; provide a common language within their user group(s); and assist in transferability within and across education providers, alternative learning pathways, military learning, and industries (including employer-developed industry expectations and career readiness skills).

A license is a credential awarded by a government agency that constitutes legal authority to do a specific job. Licenses are based on some combination of degree or certificate attainment, certifications, assessments, or work experience; are time-limited, and must be renewed periodically.

A micro-pathway is two or more stackable credentials that can be packaged as a validated market signal connecting learners to employment in high-growth careers.

Microcredentials are a record of focused learning achievement verifying what the learner knows, understands, or can do. They include an assessment based on clearly defined standards and are awarded by a trusted provider. They have stand-alone value and may also contribute to or complement other micro-credentials or macro-credentials, including through recognition of prior learning. They meet the standards required by relevant quality assurance.

Modular learning unbundles the traditional learning “packages”—Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees—into more manageable learning chunks that are also tied to real career and life outcomes. Modular learning enables working professionals to learn new skills in shorter amounts of time, even while they work, and those seeking a degree are able to do so in a much more attainable way. They also earn credentials for the smaller modules of learning, thereby garnering value and positive feedback early in the process of advancing towards full degrees.

Non-degree credentials include certificates, industry certifications, apprenticeships, educational certificates, occupational licenses, and digital badges.

Non-credit education includes any course or program that did not go through the process to be for-credit at a community college or university. They typically include personal enrichment classes, customized training for employers, English as a second language classes, and adult basic education. Many higher education institutions develop noncredit to credit bridge pathways to enable learners to earn credit for learning acquired through noncredit courses and programs.

Noncredit courses are designed for students who wish to advance their educational and career goals. There are a variety of bridge tools institutions can use to strengthen how noncredit courses translate to academic credits. Some schools will create formalized articulation agreements or internal equivalency agreements to illustrate how a noncredit course, industry certification, and credited course articulate. Another method is to cross-list courses within a learning management system and standardize learning outcomes, performance expectations, and faculty qualifications between credit and noncredit courses. Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is also a common method for providing credit to students who can demonstrate competency based on work or noncredit course experience and education.

Opportunity populations refer to people in America who have had limited access to educational and professional opportunities and who face barriers to employment and career advancement. They may include: opportunity youth: young adults age 17–24 who are out of school or out of work; members of the LGBTQ community; members of the immigrant or refugee populations; formerly incarcerated individuals; members of Indigenous communities; people with disabilities (physical and/or cognitive); people without a high school diploma; people with limited English proficiency; people who are (or who have been) homeless. Not all members of these groups experience barriers to employment; individual circumstances including family background, race, geography, and other factors play a significant role in one’s access to opportunity.

Some private and public sector employers are adopting internal Pay for Skills programs. A key element of these programs is to incentivize skill development among employees through internal training. Such systems typically provide pay raises for mastering new skills which are determined based on the needs of the company.  Employees are often required to pass a series of written and hands-on tests that cover a set of skills and training related to quality, safety, company policy, and technical aspects of their job. If an employee scores above a specified level established by the company, they may earn a designated pay raise and move to the next level. Many companies develop their internal training and promotion systems and partner with local educational institutions.

Policy encompasses laws, regulations, procedures, administrative rules and actions, incentives, and voluntary practices of governments and other institutions. Many entities issue policies germane to the learn-and-work ecosystem: governments—federal, state, regional/local; state systems of higher education, state coordinating boards; accrediting organizations; higher education boards of regents; employer program policies affecting tuition assistance programs; apprenticeships, internships, and work-and-learn programs; requirements related to upskilling and reskilling; Union program policies, particularly those governing company-led and union-guided apprenticeship programs; community-based such as libraries and local initiatives that support immigrant centers, Goodwill centers, and others.

In traditional higher education institutions, quality has been viewed broadly, involving all institutional functions and activities to include teaching and academic programs, research and scholarship, staffing, students, building, facilities, equipment, services to the community and the academic environment. Quality assurance (QA) focuses on the process to achieve quality. It seeks to convince internal and external constituents that a credential provider has processes that consistently produce high-quality outcomes. QA also makes accountability for quality explicit at various points within an institution since quality is the responsibility of everyone in the organization. QA is a continuous, active, and responsive process which includes strong evaluation and feedback loops. At its core, QA asks the question, “How does an institution know that it is achieving the desired results? “The characteristics of quality are primarily expressed in the language of the employers who hire institutions’ graduates: (1) Technical knowledge or competence in a major field; (2) Literacy (communication and computational skills, technological skills); (3) “Just-in-time” learning ability that enables graduates to learn and apply new knowledge and skills as needed—often referred to as lifelong learning skills; (4) Ability to make informed judgments and decisions (correctly define problems, gather and analyze relevant information, and develop and implement appropriate solutions);(5) Ability to function in a global community, including knowledge of different cultures and contexts as well as foreign language skills; (6) A range of characteristics and attitudes needed for success in the workplace (flexibility and adaptability; ease with diversity; motivation and persistence; high ethical standards; creativity and resourcefulness; ability to work with others, especially in groups; and demonstrated ability to apply these skills to complex problems in real-world settings). Key institutional characteristics and behaviors to increase the likelihood that the above outcomes will be realized include: (1) Clear statement of intended learning outcomes that provides explicit direction for assessment; (2) Satisfactory performance in graduate education and on relevant licensing and certification examinations; (3) Direct assessments of exiting students’ abilities that are consistent with institutional goals and demonstrate the “value added” by the institution, given students’ starting points; and (4) Students’ satisfaction with the institution’s contribution to the attainment of their goals, relative to the costs incurred.

Remedial education (aka developmental education) is required instruction and support for students who are assessed by their institution of choice as being academically underprepared for postsecondary education. The intent of is to educate students in the skills required to complete gateway courses, and enter and complete a program of study. Remediation at the postsecondary level is delivered at both community college and university campuses although some states have established policy to limit public university provision of remedial education. The bulk of remedial courses focus on advancing underprepared students’ literacy (English and reading) skills or math skills. Students are often placed into remedial courses through placement tests such as the ACT, ACCUPLACER, or COMPASS assessments. Typically, each college or university sets its own score thresholds for determining whether a student must enroll in remedial courses. Some states are moving toward a uniform standard for remedial placement cut scores.

Reverse transfer is the process by which a student is awarded an associate degree after transferring and completing degree requirements at a four-year institution. Through reverse transfer, students can combine the credits they earn at their four-year school with those they had previously earned at community college and retroactively be awarded an associate degree.

Short-term credential programs typically run from 8-15 weeks at a postsecondary education institution. Short-term credentials may include licenses issued by state or federal governments, certificates awarded by postsecondary institutions, and certifications awarded by industry organizations.

Skills define specific learned activities, and they range widely in terms of complexity. Knowing which skills a person possesses helps to determine whether their training and experience has prepared them for a specific type of workplace activity. Competencies identify the observable behaviors that successful performers demonstrate on the job. Those behaviors are the result of various abilities, skills, knowledge, motivations, and traits an employee may possess. Competencies take “skills” and incorporate them into on-the-job behaviors. Those behaviors demonstrate the ability to perform the job requirements competently.

The skills ecosystem is a term popularized with the advent of skills-based hiring. Skills-based hiring is hiring for skills required for a particular job role. Employers are trying to match their existing employee talent to new job positions and fill them with new employees. In the past, many employers used the college degree as a proxy for the ability to do the job—for perceived skills that have been achieved. Increasingly, the degree is not a very precise way of hiring so the skills ecosystem has been gaining attention as a new currency for hiring.

Skills-based hiring focuses on skills, not degrees. Skills-based hiring emphasizes practical, working knowledge; it prioritizes what an applicant can do, rather than the education they have.To succeed at a job, an employee needs the skills to perform their role and duties; this is the foundation of skills-based hiring. The prevailing hiring mode is for companies to prioritize degrees and academic achievements over practical skills in looking at job applicants’ qualifications. The recent global pandemic has forced companies to re-evaluate their hiring methods and shift to skills-based hiring.

As the workplace changes, some private and public sector employers are turning to skills-based promotion.  A skills- or merit-based promotion is based on an analysis of the employee’s performance. Skills-based promotion systems take into account ability, behaviors, experience, strengths, and technical skills. These systems are a strategy to keep high-achieving, high-quality employees engaged and motivated. This approach contrasts with traditional tenure-based systems that promote or reward workers based on seniority and service within the organization.

Stacking credentials is part of a sequence of credentials that can be accumulated over time to build up an individual’s qualifications and help them to move along a career pathway or up a career ladder to different and potentially higher-paying jobs. Stackable credentials can be viewed as building blocks where each short-term credential that a person earns builds into a higher-level credential. There are 4 types of stackable credentials: (1) Traditional or progressive stackable credentials follow a linear path where a student earns a short-term credential (e.g., certificate) and continues their education by pursuing a higher-level credential (e.g., associate’s and/or bachelor’s degree). (2) Supplemental or value-add stackable credentials do not follow a linear path, but still allow a student to enter and exit the higher education system as needed. A ‘supplemental’ stackable credential is when an individual may have already earned a bachelor’s degree, then attends a bootcamp to learn additional skills to supplement their degree. (3) Independent stackable credential is when an individual accumulates multiple credentials but does not pursue a degree. In this case, an individual’s certifications build on one another and the individual acquires skills that craft a path forward in their career, but they do not ‘ladder’ into a singular degree pathway. (4) Work-based learning, apprenticeships, and employer-sponsored training combine on-the-job training with formal educational instruction. For example, stacked apprenticeships are shorter-term programs where individuals pursue a series of related apprenticeships to build on their skill set. An individual participating in an industrial manufacturing technician apprenticeship program could learn how to operate production equipment, and then pursue additional manufacturing opportunities to learn more related skills.

Unbundling is the process of disaggregating educational provision into its component parts, very often with external actors. Rebundling is the reaggregation of those parts into new components and models. Both are happening in different parts of college and university education, and in different parts of the degree path, in every dimension and aspect—creating an extraordinarily complicated environment in an educational sector that is already in a state of disequilibrium.

Verifying learning and recording that learning on a portable record is the main way learners communicate their readiness for further education and work. Most job seekers rely on resumés, job applications, and credentials to communicate their skills and work experience to prospective employers. These traditional methods do not capture the full range of a job seeker’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. These documents cannot be combined easily into a single profile that represents the entirety of an individual’s abilities. They have other drawbacks as well: they typically fail to represent skills in a manner that is universally understood, do not allow for easy verification that a specific skill was demonstrated by the learner, and do not indicate if and when the skill becomes outdated or needs to be renewed. While most institutions continue to use the traditional college and university transcript, many reforms are underway related to student learning records: (1) Comprehensive Learning Records; (2) Learning and Employment Records; (3) Comprehensive Navigator; (4) Digital Wallets; 5) Blockchain.

Work-based learning refers to education and training carried out by students or employees while working. This approach contrasts with traditional methods of learning, which tend to take place in a classroom, laboratory setting. or even in the home via remote learning methods. Work-based learning includes: apprenticeships, internships, cooperative education, service learning, and career and technical education. Three components typically occur in work-based learning: (1) alignment of classroom and workplace learning; (2) application of academic, technical, and employability skills in a work setting; and (3) support from classroom or workplace mentors.

Workforce development refers to the broad range of initiatives offered by government offices and agencies to help create, sustain, and retain a viable workforce. The objective of workforce development is to create economic prosperity for individuals, businesses, and communities. Workforce development focuses on an individual’s ability to grow his/her skills and develop the tools needed for career success. Workforce development typically includes education, training, and career navigation and employability services.