Re: EOCred: Identifying subtypes of credential

Not to ask a stupid question but, Stuart, in the example you provided I
don't see any URI or place to put a unique identifier in.   Can you point
to how that would be handled?

I probably just missed something!

Alexander Jackl
CEO & President, Bardic Systems, Inc.
alex@bardicsystems.com
M: 508.395.2836
O: 401.384.0566
F: 617.812.6020
http://bardicsystems.com

On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 9:04 AM, Stuart Sutton <stuartasutton@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Phil, I agree that a credentialType property is needed. I think that
> having the range include both Text *and* URL to allow identification by
> URI where available and text where not is appropriate. You are right that
> CTDL defines subclasses of it's Credential class
> <http://purl.org/ctdl/terms/Credential> and that no single enumeration
> will handle the breadth of the range (and internationalization issues);
> but, where such enumeration(s) exist, my sense is that they should be used.
> The CTDL defines a credentialType
> <http://purl.org/ctdl/terms/credentialType> property that is intended to
> be used wherever reference to a member of the Credential class is needed.
> It's range now enumerates the CTDL subclasses; but should likely reference
> more inclusively the Credential class.
>
> As for use of TermDefinition to identify/define members of such
> enumerations, I hope that it gets approved in a timely manner and that we
> are not forced to even contemplate use of AlignmentObject (ugh...don't get
> me started).
>
> Stuart
>
> On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 3:20 AM, Phil Barker <phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello again, moving on to the next requirement for describing Educational
>> and Occupational Credentials in schema.org: I suggest we look at how to
>> identify the subtypes of these credentials.
>>
>> The use case for this
>> <https://www.w3.org/community/eocred-schema/wiki/Use_Cases#Identify_subtypes_of_credential>
>> gives examples of "degree" "certificate" "badge". I know there are about 20
>> others from the Credential Engines' CTDL
>> <http://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook#creds>. Most countries will have their
>> own types of EO Credential, for example in Scotland we have  National
>> Qualifications, HNDs, HNCs, SVQs, IVAs, PDAs, DipHEs, CertHEs and many
>> more. Other countries will be similar. Furthermore, the types of
>> qualification on offer changes over time.
>>
>> In short, the number of types is we need to consider is vast and varied.
>> So, while CTDL has subclasses of its Credential class for each of its
>> distinct types, that is not a practical solution for wider use. Even if we
>> could reduce the number and variety of types, I think it would add too many
>> subclasses to the schema.org hierarchy, given that most of the subtypes
>> would have no unique properties.
>>
>> The alternative is for EducationalOccupationalCredential to have a
>> property which records the type of credential. With a nod to Richard's
>> point that much of what we do is applicable to generic credentials, I
>> propose we call this credentialType.
>>
>> The basic range for credentialType would be text, and I think we should
>> explicitly allow this. We could stop here.
>>
>> In an ideal world there would be controlled vocabulary for naming the
>> credentialTypes. However, I a single controlled vocabulary of all the
>> precise types is not feasible, and I think that producing a vocabulary that
>> classifies these types into categories like "certificate" would be very
>> difficult and the results would be very imprecise. We should, however try
>> to facilitate the use of local controlled vocabularies. This is where we
>> reach the edge of what currently possible in schema.org.
>>
>> Options for facilitating the use of local controlled vocabularies of
>> credential type:
>>
>> 1, allow a URL to link to a controlled value / external enumeration.
>>
>> 2, allow alignmentObjects to provide information about the credentialType
>> as if credential types were educational frameworks
>>
>> 3, use the developing schema.org type that is currently called
>> CategoryCode <http://pending.schema.org/CategoryCode>, but which is
>> proposed to be changed to TermDefinition
>> <https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1775>
>>
>> In my view: 1 is too vague (who knows what will be at the end of the
>> URL), 2 stretches the alignmentObject somewhat, and 3 is the best option
>> for the long run. An example using option 3 would look something like:
>> {
>>   "@type": "EducationalOccupationalCredential",
>>   "name" : "HNC Facilities Management",
>>   "credentialType": {
>>     "@type" : "TermDefinition",
>>     "name" : "Higher National Certificate",
>>     "termCode" : "HNC",
>>     "inDefinedTermSet" : "SQA Qualifications" //should be a URL or
>> DefinedTermSet object
>>   }
>> }
>>
>> What do you think? Too complicated, maybe? Am I overthinking the problem?
>> Are there enough well-constructed sets of terms describing credential types
>> for it to be worth trying to accommodate anything other than text values?
>>
>> Phil
>>
>> --
>>
>> Phil Barker <http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil
>> PJJK Limited <https://www.pjjk.co.uk>: technology to enhance learning;
>> information systems for education.
>> CETIS LLP: a cooperative consultancy for innovation in education
>> technology.
>>
>> PJJK Limited is registered in Scotland as a private limited company,
>> number SC569282.
>> CETIS is a co-operative limited liability partnership, registered in
>> England number OC399090
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Stuart A. Sutton, Metadata Consultant
> Associate Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
>    Information School
> Email: stuartasutton@gmail.com
> Skype: sasutton
>
>
>