Progress so far, and the beginning of the end.
Over the past few months we have been working systematically through the 30-or-so outline use cases for describing Educational and Occupational Credentials in schema.org, suggesting how they can be met with existing schema.org terms, or failing that working on proposals for new terms to add. Here I want to summarize the progress against these use cases, inviting review of our solutions and closure of any outstanding issues.
Use cases enabled
The list below summarizes information from the community group wiki for those use cases that we have addressed, with links to the outline use case description, the wiki page showing how we met the requirements arising from that use case, and proposed new terms on a test instance of schema.org (may be slow to load). I tried to be inclusive / exhaustive in what I have called out as an issue.
1.1 Identify subtypes of credential
- Identify that an object is a educational occupational credential with new schema.org type: EducationalOccupationalCredential.
Issue 1: whether EducationalOccupationalCredential is a subtype of CreativeWork or Intangible. - Categorize credential by type with new schema.org property credentialCategory.
1.2 Name search for credential
- Identify the name of an educational occupational credential using the existing schema.org name property.
1.3 Identify the educational level of a credential
- Represent the educational level of an educational occupational credential with a new property called educationalLevel.
1.4 Desired/required competencies
- Show the relationship between educational occupational credentials and competencies with a new property called competencyRequired.
Issue 2: only addresses the simplest case of individual required competencies.
1.6 Name search for credentialing organization
- Show that an organization offers an educational occupational credential using the existing offer property / Offer type and the offeredBy property of Offer.
1.8 Labor market value
- Link between educational occupational credential and JobPosting or Occupation by extending the range of the existing qualifications and educationRequirements properties to include EducationalOccupationalCredential.
- Show organizations that recognize an educational occupational credential with a new property recognizedBy.
Issue 3: whether accreditation is a form of recognition. - Show the geographic area in which an educational occupational credential is recognised by extending the domain of the existing validIn property.
1.11 Recognize current competencies
- Find credentials that best match [require] competencies that the individual posses and wishes to be recognized with a new property called competencyRequired.
1.13 Language of Credential
- show the language of a credential and related entities using the existing inLanguage property. (See #3.1 below for the related entities)
2.1 Coverage
- show the geographic area in which educational occupational credential is recognised by extending the domain of the existing validIn property.
2.2 Quality assurance
- Show organizations that recognize an educational occupational credential with a new property recognizedBy.
Issue 3: whether accreditation is a form of recognition.
2.5 Renewal/maintenance requirements
- show the duration for which an educational occupational credential is valid by extending the domain of the existing validFor property.
Issue 4: the actual renewal / maintenance requirements aren’t specified.
2.6 Cost
- Show costs of educational occupational credential and related entities by using the the existing offers property, and the price property of the Offer type. (See #3.1 below for the related entities)
3.1 Find related courses, assessments or learning materials
- show relationship between educational occupational credentials and descriptions or representations of Courses by extending the range of the existing educationalCredentialAwarded.
Issue 5: there is no way represent Assessments in schema.org
Issue 6: there is no explicit guidance on how to show required learning materials for a Course in schema.org.
3.3 Relate credentials to competencies
- Show competencies required for a credential with a new property called competencyRequired.
Issue 2: only addresses the simplest case of individual required competencies.
3.4 Find credentialing organization
- Show the organization that offers the educational occupational credential using the existing offers/Offer property and the offeredBy property of Offer.
4.2 Compare credentials
- Credentials can be compared in terms of any of the factors above, notably cost, compentencies required, recognition and validity.
4.3 Build directories
- Can identify that an object is a educational occupational credential with new schema.org type: EducationalOccupationalCredential, and then display name, provenance, cost or any of the other properties mentioned above.
1.5 Industry and occupation analysis
- Show the link between educational occupational credential and JobPosting or Occupation by extending the range of the existing qualifications and educationRequirements properties to include EducationalOccupationalCredential.
1.7 Career and education goal
- Show the link between educational occupational credential and Occupation by extending the range of the existing qualifications and educationRequirements properties to include EducationalOccupationalCredential.
1.10 Job vacancy
- Show the link between educational occupational credential and JobPosting by extending the range of the existing qualifications and educationRequirements properties to include EducationalOccupationalCredential.
3.2 Job seeking
- Show the link between educational occupational credential and JobPosting by extending the range of the existing qualifications and educationRequirements properties to include EducationalOccupationalCredential.
Use cases that have been ‘parked’
The following use cases have not been addressed; either they were identified as low priority or there was insufficient consensus as to how to enable them:
1.9 Assessment (see issue 5, no way to represent assessments in schema.org)
1.12 Transfer value: recognizing current credentials (a complex issue, relating to “stackable” credentials, recognition, and learning pathways)
2.3 Onward transfer value (as previous)
2.4 Eligibility requirements (discussed, but no consensus)
3.5 Find a service to verify a credential (not discussed, low priority)
4.1 Awarding a Credential to a Person (not discussed, solution may be related to personal self-promotion)
4.4 Personal Self-promotion (pending discussion)
4.5 Replace and retire credentials (not discussed, low priority)
Summary of issues
As well as the unaddressed use cases above, there are some caveats about the way other use cases have been addressed. I have tried to be inclusive / exhaustive in what I have called out as an issue,–I hope many of them can be acknowledged and left for future contributions to schema.org, we just need to clarify that they have been.
- Issue 1: whether EducationalOccupationalCredential is a subtype of CreativeWork or Intangible.
- Issue 2: competenceRequired only addresses the simplest case of individual required competencies.
- Issue 3: whether accreditation is a form of recognition.
- Issue 4: the actual renewal / maintenance requirements aren’t specified.
- Issue 5: there is no way represent Assessments in schema.org
- Issue 6: there is no explicit guidance on how to show required learning materials for a Course in schema.org.
There is an issues page on the wiki for tracking progress in disposing of these issues.
Summary of proposed changes to schema.org
Many of the use cases were addressed using terms that already exist in schema.org. The changes we currently propose are
Addition of a new type EducationalOccupationalCredential
Addition of four properties with domain EducationalOccupationalCredential:
Addition of EducationalOccupationalCredential to the domain of two existing properties (with changes to their definition to reflect this):
Addition of EducationalOccupationalCredential to the range of three existing properties: