Re: EOCred: Identify the level of a credential

On 16/02/18 01:15, Nate Otto wrote:
> Unless we can find consensus on what sense of the word "level" we're 
> trying to model, maybe we should just leave it out. There are many 
> cans of springs that could be opened.
>
> Phil, your draft phrase "Indicates the required level of educational 
> attainment, accomplishment, knowledge or experience" doesn't clearly 
> match any of the senses of level we've been talking about here. You 
> mentioned you had been thinking about the second sense I suggested 
> (the credential recognizes achievement of a particular level) and then 
> this draft text more closely represents the first (the credential 
> requires a certain level of experience or skill in order to 
> participate in or be likely to pass assessment).
>
My wording isn't great.

I think there is some consensus that there are three distinct aspects as 
Fritz outlined: level of accomplishment, extent (amount of credit), ways 
of indicating how well an individual did.

Sorry, I found it hard to distinguish the two senses you mentioned 
earlier: they seem like two different ways of using the same level of 
accomplishment, one to indicate what a course of study aims for, one to 
indicate what is expected before a credential is awarded. So perhaps I 
didn't understand your original question. While the focus of this group 
is on credentials, with a wider view I think that a property 
representing level could have Course, CreativeWorks (learning materials) 
and EducationalOccupationalCredential in its domain. Perhaps that didn't 
help clarity either.

Talking about Associate Degree / Bachellors degrees etc as equating to 
levels is only half the story. It does make sense colloquially to talk 
about something as "degree level" or "PhD Level", but the actual 
credential category name comprises an indication of both this level and 
the scope or extent or breadth of coverage (roughly, the length of the 
course needed to cover the material / concepts / skills that need to be 
demonstrated).

To formallize this, in Europe we have a well established, widely used 
(required by regulatory authorities) European Qualifications Framework 
defining levels, [EQF 
<https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/content/descriptors-page>, wikipedia 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Qualifications_Framework>] and 
European Credit Transfer System [ECTS 
<https://ec.europa.eu/education/resources/european-credit-transfer-accumulation-system_en>, 
wikipedia 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Credit_Transfer_and_Accumulation_System>] 
defining the extent of coverage. These are implemented as national 
frameworks that map to the EQF and ECTS, and I am most familiar with the 
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, SCQF 
<http://scqf.org.uk/>.  So a Scottish Bachellors degree programme is 480 
SCQF credits reaching SCQF level 10 (which maps to 240 ECTS credits 
reaching EQF level 6), the credential awarded is thus at EQF level 6. I 
cannot overemphasise how pervasive these concepts of level and credit 
are in formal education and training in Scotland, and the rest of Europe.

In the US, I see the Connecting Credentials Framework 
<http://connectingcredentials.org/framework-detail/> (CCF) is defined in 
terms of levels which look very similar to the EQF levels.

The problem I have, is that I don't see in CCF or EQF any short 
definition of what they mean by 'level' that would be useful for a 
schema.org property name and description.

I would really welcome a focus on level as exemplified in EQF, SCQF, CCF:
- do we have consensus that it is a useful distinct property?
- is there a better name than educationalLevel?
- how do we define it in one or two sentences?

Phil

-- 

Phil Barker <http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil
PJJK Limited <https://www.pjjk.co.uk>: technology to enhance learning; 
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