Digitizing records has changed how students transmit information, giving schools the ability to simply email a transcript. But recent technology advances that enable students to verify their information is also helping to give prospective employers and schools a clear picture of an applicant’s background.
In the past, when a college student applied for a job or a graduate program, he or she typically needed to contact all current and previous education institutions to request a paper transcript. The student’s resume listed all prior jobs, relevant extracurricular activities and achievements that would make him or her stand out from other applicants. But requesting multiple transcripts and ensuring they reach the potential employer or school can be arduous, and employers generally don’t know whether or not information on a C.V. is accurate or tells the whole story.
Similar to how Electronic Health Records (EHRs) digitize patient records to give practitioners a comprehensive view of a patient’s health and medical treatments in order to provide the best care, comprehensive learner records (CLRs) securely digitize verifiable learning and workplace records. With CLRs, students can gather transcripts, employment information, achievements that may include certifications, awards, course completion and other milestones, so that they can provide a comprehensive picture of their education and background to potential employers or academic institutions.
Traditional college transcripts are very limited because they don’t indicate competency and skills beyond scores, according to Jonell Sanchez, Chief Growth Officer of Territorium. “Transcripts are still the most official form of verification for learning in an academic setting,” he said. “In many ways, CLRs are attempting to replace these.”
Colleges and universities that work with CLR solution providers and can offer students – and even alumni, if they choose – a way to self-assemble and aggregate a collection of digital records that represent their skills, competencies and educational background. While these solutions vary, all aim to equip students with a way to show employers and institutions what they’ve achieved and what they can do.
1EdTech, a member-based non-profit community partnership of educational providers, government organizations and technology suppliers, designed the open data standard to share and describe an individual’s achievements, skills and milestones. Territorium’s offerings are 1EdTech certified.
While the company has been active in 15 countries and has more than 11 million active users, it is now expanding into the U.S. Its LifeJourney AI-powered skills and competencies toolkit, which includes TerritoriumCLR, which creates a CLR ecosystem and captures all aspects of learning into a complete collection. TerritoriumCLR uses AI to map and analyze every on- and off-campus learning experience into granular competencies and skills, to give students course recommendations and job pathways. Different from a typical transcript, TerritoriumCLR creates evidence-based records that are verified by faculty, staff and industry standards.
LifeJourney also includes CareerBit, a career tracker that helps learners seeking job opportunities by connecting higher education learning outcomes to job market requirements. Like a career version of the FitBit fitness tracker, CareerBit helps job seekers show how their competencies align with job requirements.
Students own the data and have complete control over their records. “Students can determine who sees their information,” Sanchez points out. “And we never charge students for their data.”