Re: EOCred: Identifying subtypes of credential

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