Educational and Occupational Credentials in schema.org

Hello all, one important aspect of education that is not represented 
well in schema.org is educational and occupational credentials, i.e. 
diplomas, academic degrees, certifications, etc [Terms 
<http://connectingcredentials.org/common-language-work-group-glossary/>]. 
These act as an important link between outcomes of educational courses, 
people, and occupations / job roles. I have raised an issue on github 
with the aim of addressing this gap in schema.org [issue#1779 
<https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1779>]

There has been a fair amount of work outside of schema.org on describing 
these, notably by the CredentialEngine.org 
<http://credentialengine.org/> [CTDL <http://credreg.net/ctdl/schema>], 
ConnectingCredentials.org <http://connectingcredentials.org/> and the 
Open Badges [BadgeAlliance <https://www.badgealliance.org/>]. There is 
also work ongoing about how to deal with wider Verifiable Claims [VCWG 
<https://www.w3.org/2017/vc/WG/>] such as the claim by and individual to 
have an academic degree. Also, there are many frameworks which describe 
credentials in terms of the level and extent of the knowledge and 
competencies they accredit.

What that work has made clear is that there is some complexity in 
describing educational and occupational credentials. While I don't 
expect doing so in schema.org would require more than a few additional 
terms, the relationship between these terms and things like verifiable 
claims, competencies, course objectives etc, needs to be clear. I 
suspect we will need a group such as a W3C Community Group to sort these 
out.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this...

Regards, Phil.


[issue#1779] https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1779

[Terms] 
http://connectingcredentials.org/common-language-work-group-glossary/

[CTDL] http://credreg.net/ctdl/schema

[BadgeAlliance] https://www.badgealliance.org/
     see also 
https://www.imsglobal.org/sites/default/files/Badges/OBv2p0/index.html

[VCWG] https://www.w3.org/2017/vc/WG/

-- 

Phil Barker <http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil
PJJK Limited: technology to enhance learning; information systems for 
education.

PJJK Limited is registered in the UK as a private limited company, 
number SC569282.