P1484.2 LER Ecosystems supports a vision of the near future

• in which people's skills become machine-readable data
• that can be held and controlled from a digital wallet app
• and exchanged like currency
• or learning and employment opportunities
• on the open Internet
• the way goods and services are exchanged today

Scope: A Learning and Employment Record (LER) provides information about an individual’s learning experiences, credentials, and qualifications, including employment history and jobs data, that have been issued to the individual such that this LER Holder (or their legal guardian or authorized agent) can control how the information is presented and shared within the LER Ecosystem. An LER is stored in an LER Digital Wallet, or equivalent, having features that allow LER Holders to share all or part of their records with others. LERs can be created by the individual or by a third party known as an LER Awarder. In addition, some LERs can be digitally verified with the LER Transmitter. Participants in this LER Ecosystem Framework include the entities that award and transmit the LER, those that support validation of the LER, the subject or guardian as the LER Holder, as well as the organizations of the LER Talent Marketplaces that can access LERs presented by LER Holders.

LER Standard Definitions:

• Learning and Employment Record (LER): An open standards-based, computationally-actionable, digital record of an individual's formal and informal learning and employment that is constructed as a W3C Verifiable Credential (or equivalent) that can be combined with other digital records useful in supporting an individual’s education, employment, and supportive services.
• LER Awarder: A formal education, informal education or work-based learning provider, or an evaluator or credentialing organization, that asserts one or more claims about a person achieving a competency at a performance level.
• LER Digital Wallet: A software application or other technology used by the LER Holder to subscribe, curate, and control access to achievement assertions and other credentials by creating a presentation that is shared with LER Reviewers.
• LER Holder: The natural person who is the subject of the awarded LER (or their legal guardian or authorized agent) and has rights to curate and control access to the LER data beyond the educational and employment purposes of the issuing entity, the LER Awarder.
• LER Presentation and Consent: The process an LER Holder uses to control access to LERs.
• LER Registry: Shared services that provide trusted governance of, and access to, catalogs of LER Awarders descriptions and LER specifications (e.g., credential type, credential descriptions, and competencies) to verify the LER Awarder and the details of the LER being awarded.
• LER Reviewer: An employer, education provider, training provider, career counselor, service provider, or other organization or person who reviews an LER for the purpose of informing hiring, staffing, admission, placement, financial aid, or similar decisions.
• LER Transmitter: A service provider that serves as a proxy for/or is the LER Awarder that prepares the LER as a Verifiable Credential and provides the LER to the LER Holder.
• LER Trust: The ability of the LER Reviewer to “trust” meaning: (1) the LER has not been altered; (2) the LER was awarded by the entity indicated; (3) the LER meaning maps to semantics the LER Reviewer understands; and (4) a specific LER verifiable credential has not been revoked or expired.
• LER Verification: The evaluation of whether a verifiable credential or verifiable presentation is an authentic and timely statement of the LER Awarder and LER Holder, respectively. This includes checking that: (1) the credential (or presentation) conforms to the specification; (2) the proof method is satisfied; and, if present, (3) the status check succeeds (W3C VC DM).
• LER Talent Marketplace: A skills-based talent marketplace which operates in the LER Ecosystem to match an LER Holder’s presented LER data to LER Reviewer job requirements. A transformation of enterprise human capital management towards an objective measurement of competencies which is transportable as LERs and controlled by the LER Holder. LER Talent Marketplaces are organized around specific industries, professions or occupations having shared competencies, skills, and job requirements.

Supporting Resources

• Open source marked down version of the standard
• LER Resource Registry. A shared library of non-profit resources including standards with mapped to LER ecosystem components, governed by the P1484.2 Work Group
• Open Source Component GitLabs: IEEE SA Open
  • LER Definition Service
    • OpenSALT
    • Credential Engine Registry
  • LER Open Awarding Service
  • LER Transmitter
    • Open Credential Publisher
  • LER Open Wallet Consortium
    • LEF LearnClou
  • LER Communities of Practice
    • Teacher Talent Pipeline LER Wiki

Key dates:

• PAR. ILR was created on May 14, 2020, when IEEE approved a project approval request (PAR) for P1484.2
• Framework. On Feb 11, 2021, a motion passed unanimously to approve a draft framework that organizes the ecosystem into five components
• Draft. Mar 2, 2023 the WG approved the draft. The core team worked to get the approved draft into IEEE template with macros and worked with IEEE SA Open to move the annexes into an editable repository.
• Balloting. Aug 23, 2023 balloting opened. Sep 22, balloting closed. The draft met the threshold for returns ballots 77% (threshold of 75%) and approval rate of 80% (threshold of 75%)
• RevCom. Mar 3, 2024 P1484.2 (C/LT) "IEEE Draft Recommended Practices for Learning and Employment Record (LER) Ecosystems" sent to RevCom for its meeting on 6 May 2024.

Primary Contributors:

• Greg Nadeau, LER WChair, USA
• Irene Mutuzo, Vice Chair, Uganda
• Scott Meyer, , Secretary, USA
• Simone Ravaioli, Founding Chair, Italy
• Colin Reynolds, Founding Secretary, USA
• Eric Shepherd, USA
• Brenda Braitling, USA
• Phil Long, USA
• Marty Reed, USA
• David Ward, Canada
• Jim Goodell, LTSC Chair, USA