Re: The world of credential engine

On 12/01/2022 08:39, Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin wrote:
> Thanks alot for this feedback guys! Helps alot!
>
> Im well versed in the VC and DID space, its just when it comes to a 
> valid structure of the education credential I have no one to discuss 
> with :D
> Its worth mentioning that im working on the African continent and we 
> need to provide learning as well as insight on how things can work.

I saw I great presentation by your colleague Irene Mutuzo about your 
work at the T3 Annual Conference last month.

One of the problems of being leaders in a field is that you go beyond 
the limits of what is standard, which I think is where you are. So when 
you say you want to provide a record of all the modules taken by a 
student you are in transcript territory, and W3C VC hasn't quite got 
there yet. You may recall Mark Leuba of IMS presenting at the T3 
conference on their Comprehensive Learner Records and their Wellspring 
project. That may well be the way forward.

CTDL has terms for describing Courses (what you call Modules) and 
Programs (what you call Courses) and the requirements (in terms of 
Courses, Assessments, work experience and other things) that must be 
satisfied for someone to complete a Program and earn a Credential. CTDL 
also has Pathways that show how Courses and other learning experiences, 
pre-existing credentials and assessments can be strung together to meet 
credential requirements. Where the credential requirements are flexible 
there can be many possible pathways that lead to them -- indeed each 
student may take a different pathway.

Modelling the programs and pathways isn't always easy, but the handbook 
<https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook> should help. Working out the details 
of how to model a specific case is probably not best done on a public 
email list -- you may have noticed the there's a need to clarify 
language which isn't always easy on email, and we would probably try the 
patience of other people on the list. Perhaps we could organise a call 
sometime.

Since the Credential Engine does not itself deal with any individual's 
data, CTDL doesn't have many terms for relating and individual to a 
pathway, course or program they took or credential they earned, but it 
is designed to work with other vocabularies (such as schema.org, VC, or 
transcript standards like CLR) that do (or could) provide these terms. 
Then there is the question of how much of the detail goes in to a VC -- 
as you say the examples so far are all quite simple atomistic claims. 
Which is why we need this community group.

Hope this helps, Phil.
>
> All these works with standardization, Im trying to find examples of 
> how people have used the data models, in complex ways but all I find 
> is this: https://w3c-ccg.github.io/vc-ed-models/ 
> <https://w3c-ccg.github.io/vc-ed-models/>. Which dont hold that 
> complex models that I potentially want. Because examples explains how 
> certain combos have been used to build up the credentials.
>
> F.ex right now, im trying to represent a simple course accreditation. 
> What that holds is some course info which is straight forward, but it 
> also holds certain modules that they have gone through.
> These modules are not standardized as of now, but is something the 
> issuers have control over and I want to represent as flexible building 
> blocks.
> But from https://credreg.net/ <https://credreg.net/>, I cannot deduct 
> clearly how this can be built up.
> I have looked at: 
> https://credreg.net/ctdlasn/terms/#CompetencyFramework 
> <https://credreg.net/ctdlasn/terms/#CompetencyFramework>, with modules 
> as https://credreg.net/ctdlasn/terms/#Competency 
> <https://credreg.net/ctdlasn/terms/#Competency>.
> But it was not clear to me how one build this up into a valid structure.
> Also, what types of classes: https://credreg.net/ctdl/terms#classes 
> <https://credreg.net/ctdl/terms#classes> that can contain this framework.
>
> If anyone has an example using https://json-ld.org/playground/ 
> <https://json-ld.org/playground/> that would be great!
>
> Will the guidebooks help out increasing my learning around this? 
> https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook <https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook>
>
> On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 5:59 PM Phillip D. Long 
> <phil@rhzconsulting.com <mailto:phil@rhzconsulting.com>> wrote:
>
>     Dear Snorre: these are great questions, and you can see from the
>     responses there are really knowledgeable people on this list who
>     can help! I have one comment to offer in reference to your
>     question about what constitutes a verifiable credential and who
>     defines them. There is the technical structure of a VC in JSON-LD
>     format that the data model for VCs describes from the work done by
>     W3C VC community (VC Data Model v1.1
>     <https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/>). It describes what you can
>     do, not necessarily what should do, for an educational VC.
>
>     The data standards organizations like IMSGLOBAL (in the US
>     primarily) or W3C VC-EDU, are working to apply the VC data model
>     to the representation of credentials for the education community.
>     IMSGLOBAL is currently working to represent the single assertion
>     badge, OBv2.x, as a verifiable credential through their OBv3
>     Workgroup, of which Kerri and I on this thread are members. 
>     Similarly they are working to move the Comprehensive Learner
>     Record (CLR) that is intended to replace the structure of a
>     transcript for a degree program, and extend it to enable it to
>     carry information about single assertion accomplishments (aka
>     badges), along with competency framework descriptors, into a
>     structure that follows the W3C VC data model v1.1 rules. That
>     effort is underway in the CLRv2 workgroup, and it leverages the
>     single assertion OBv3 as an atomic building block for the CLRv2
>     transcript, as well.
>
>     These standards bodies are providing a template for the more
>     traditional expressions of credentials they issue, e.g.,  a
>     degree, a certificate, or license, in interoperable
>     representations that can be cryptographically signed to make them
>     tamper evident. But as you noted, if you follow the general
>     guidelines for the VC data model, you can create a VC of your own
>     design, if there isn’t already a suitable existing domain-based
>     standard to use.
>
>     The VC-EDU task force of the W3C VC CCG is where this work is
>     underway for education related credentials. IMSGLOBAL wants to be
>     the standard for educational credentials and has filled that niche
>     in the US prior to the emerge of VCs.  The ability to contribute
>     to their standards development or even see the work in progress
>     they do in their development requires that you pay to become a
>     member of their organization. VC-EDU, on the other hand,  is open
>     to anyone with an interest and their work is freely accessible and
>     available during the development process, as well as thereafter.
>     As Kerri Lemoie is the chair of that task force, and doing a great
>     job the chief technical “cat herder”, I’m sure she along with all
>     of us sharing thes interests would welcome you’re joining the
>     effort underway there (https://w3c-ccg.github.io/vc-ed/
>     <https://w3c-ccg.github.io/vc-ed/>)
>
>     Cheers,
>       Phil
>
>     *Phillip Long, Ph.D*.,
>     T3 Innovation Network, LER Network Facilitator
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>     —
>     *Senior Scholar, Georgetown University*
>     Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship (CNDLS)
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>
>>     On Jan 11, 2022, at 7:38 AM, Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin
>>     <snorre@diwala.io <mailto:snorre@diwala.io>> wrote:
>>
>>     This is fantastic feedback! Thanks.
>>     What is the best fora for similar questions to be discussed?
>>     Does it exist github foras or any discussion foras for VC edu
>>     space? Or just credential engine?
>>
>>     I have some follow up questions on this now, if that is alright!
>>
>>     On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 1:07 PM Phil Barker
>>     <phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk <mailto:phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk>> wrote:
>>
>>         Yes, it should. One factor to be aware of is that there is a
>>         difference in what is covered by Credential in Credential
>>         Engine compared to Verifiable Credentials. Credential Engine
>>         describes the credentials (and related things like learning
>>         opportunities, skills...) offered by educational
>>         institutions, training organizations etc, whereas Verifiable
>>         Credentials are about the credentials that an individual has.
>>         They are closely related, and totally complementary, like
>>         different sides of the same coin. You can think of VCs as
>>         equivalent to the piece of paper that says someone has a
>>         degree, lots of people can have such a piece of paper for the
>>         same degree; Credential Engine will provide a description of
>>         that degree, of which there is only one. If you know the Open
>>         Badge standard, Credential Engine aligns with the Badge
>>         Class, not the assertion that someone has been awarded to badge.
>>
>>
>>     Thanks for sharing, yeah that was why I was asking that they
>>     might go together as hand in a glow. But thanks for detailing.
>>
>>
>>>         I have an example micro credential here in JSON playground:
>>>         https://tinyurl.com/3czurwnm <https://tinyurl.com/3czurwnm>
>>>
>>>         Is this technically valid or who decides that?
>>
>>         No, that's not valid. You have used ceterms:MicroCredential
>>         as a property when it is defined as a class (so it must be
>>         used as a value for type).
>>
>>         You need something more like:
>>
>>         "credentialSubject": {
>>             "id": "did:web:matthew's_did",
>>             schema:hasCredential: {
>>               "type": "ceterms:MicroCredential";
>>               "ceterms:name": "Test micro",
>>               "ceterms:description": "This will describe the credential"
>>             }
>>
>>           }
>>
>>         (NB: the merits of using of schema:hasCredential in a VC is
>>         the sort of thing we need to discuss in this group)
>>
>>
>>     Yeah I have seen that and was hoping it might be a fluke that it
>>     was used. To me it does not make much sence that a VC contains
>>     another container for a credential they have.
>>     The VC itself is a credential of a credential I have, I believe.
>>     So from my JSON-LD understanding, i can type something inside the
>>     credentialSubject, and it will understand what is the type, plus
>>     the parent type, credentialSubject fields.
>>     But since alot of these other data points have ID, we have a
>>     conflict, and need to wrap them into a container.
>>
>>     But this example dont have a conflict and could technically be
>>     type defined at the root level of this credentialSubject, just as
>>     this example: https://tinyurl.com/2p9cydzp
>>     <https://tinyurl.com/2p9cydzp>
>>
>>     Or what is the history of hasCredential?
>>
>>
>>>         Why do I have to use ceterms:name, infront of name when it
>>>         is wrapped in a micro credential type?
>>>
>>>         Is that becaus the JSON-ld of https://credreg.net/
>>>         <https://credreg.net/>, might not follow same format when
>>>         doing schema.org <http://schema.org/>?
>>>
>>>
>>         I am not quite sure I understand your question properly. Do
>>         you mean why do you need the "ceterms:" prefix? That
>>         identifies the namespace, so that we know you mean the CTDL
>>         version of name not the schema.org <http://schema.org/> or
>>         FOAF version of name (not that there any real difference in
>>         this case). It's a common requirement when JSON-LD builds on
>>         more than one vocabulary, see section 4.1.5 of the JSON-LD
>>         spec, https://w3c.github.io/json-ld-syntax/#compact-iris
>>         <https://w3c.github.io/json-ld-syntax/#compact-iris> Often
>>         this is hidden in the JSON-LD context file.
>>
>>
>>     Yeah my questions might come from my lack of JSON-LD knowledge.
>>     So this is more JSON-LD question
>>     Again this example: https://tinyurl.com/2p9cydzp
>>     <https://tinyurl.com/2p9cydzp>
>>     I thought by typing the credentialSubject, it would be possible
>>     to use the "childrens" types directly, like email and identifier.
>>     But that might be a flat hiearchy, and since email and identifier
>>     is directly available on schema.org <http://schema.org/>, it has
>>     no relation to its type?
>>     And that everything comes from context, and if I want to have
>>     flatter attributes, I would have to explicitly define them like
>>     this example:
>>     https://w3c.github.io/json-ld-syntax/#example-using-vocabularies
>>     <https://w3c.github.io/json-ld-syntax/#example-using-vocabularies>?
>>
>>
>>     -- 
>>     *Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin
>>     *
>>     Co-Founder & CTO, Diwala
>>     +47 411 611 94
>>     www.diwala.io <http://www.diwala.io/>
>>     <http://www.diwala.io/>/
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>
>
>
> -- 
> *Snorre Lothar von Gohren Edwin
> *
> Co-Founder & CTO, Diwala
> +47 411 611 94
> www.diwala.io <http://www.diwala.io/>
> <http://www.diwala.io/>/
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-- 

Phil Barker <http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil
CETIS LLP <https://www.cetis.org.uk>: a cooperative consultancy for 
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Received on Wednesday, 12 January 2022 10:20:25 UTC