Re: EOCred: cost of a credential

Phil, I'm a bit uneasy about the scoping and (slightly about) the
definition.  In scoping you state:

*Cost*
*Having found a credential it should be possible to identify the cost of
acquiring the credential.*


           Constraint

*This is the cost of the credential itself, not the cost of courses,
training or other things required in order to earn the credential (these
costs can be shown when describing those other things).*


People looking for the cost of a credential are seldom interested in costs
pertaining to the mechanics of the award and very interested in direct
costs of attaining the credential. I think those "other things" you mention
boil down to cost of verification of competencies attained by: (1) some
form of independent assessment (e.g., my California State Bar exam to earn
a license to practice law), or a learning opportunity (course (of study),
apprenticeship or other form of verified experience), e.g., my law degrees.
So, wouldn't people looking for a credential they can afford want some
estimated direct costs stemming from any necessary assessment or learning
opportunity. In many/most cases, the only direct cost of a credential are
the costs of independent assessment and/or learning opportunity.

I appreciate wanting to slice and dice this so that the costs attached to a
required schema.org/Course (of study) are expressed there (and should be),
and the costs of any independent assessment (no current schema.org entity)
are expressed there (and should be), but someone searching for a credential
they can afford would want to see the direct costs rolled up.

Phil, what's meant by "objects" in "Requires: ability to show relevant cost
for educational / occupational credential objects"?



On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 2:40 AM, Phil Barker <phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk> wrote:

> I want to try and keep some momentum by doing some of the quick and easy
> use cases while we discuss the more difficult ones. I think this is one:
>
> Cost
> Having found a credential it should be possible to identify the cost of
> acquiring the credential.
>
> Requires: ability to show relevant cost for educational / occupational
> credential objects
> Note: this implies that a credential is offered
>
> This is the cost of the credential itself, not the cost of courses,
> training or other things required in order to earn the credential (these
> costs can be shown when describing those other things).
>
> schema.org has means for specifying the cost of things with the offers
> <http://schema.org/offers> property which we could use. If
> EducationalOccupationalCredential is a CreativeWork, then we already have
> the offers property (if it is not, we may need change the domain of the
> existing offers property)
>
> A simple example
>
> {
>   "@context": "http://schema.org/" <http://schema.org/>,
>   "@type": "EducationalOccupationalCredential",
>   "url" : "https://www.alt.ac.uk/certified-membership"
> <https://www.alt.ac.uk/certified-membership>,
>   "name": "CMALT",
>   "description": "Certified Membership of the Association for Learning
> Technology",
>   "offers": {
>     "@type": "Offer",
>     "name": "Registration fee (UK)",
>     "price": "150",
>     "priceCurrency": "GBP"
>   }
> }
>
> Offers <http://schema.org/Offer> can get quite complex, allowing
> different currencies, different offers for different regions, add on offers
> etc.  I think it would cover our needs adequately; the only potential
> problem I can see is that eligibleCustomerType as defined is too
> restrictive to provide information like "special price for military
> veterans". My approach to this would be to 1) raise this as an issue with
> schema.org. 2) provide text values anyway (schema.org allows this)
>
> Any objections? Have I missed anything?
>
> 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