Use Cases
| Educational and occupational credentials in schema.org |
|---|
| Wiki Navigation |
| Main Page |
| Outline use cases |
| Proposals to meet requirements |
| Example sites |
| Other useful links |
| Community group home page |
| email list for group |
| schema.org Git hub issue |
These very brief outlines of use cases are used to identify what information we need to be able to mark up in schema.org in order to provide meaningful services. These are not full use cases. We are not designing the services, merely enabling them, and so we do not attempt to describe actors, conditions, actions or responses; just sentence or two of context. For each outline one or two requirements have been derived, which being satisfied should allow the use case to be met.
The +1's are people indicating that they consider a use case to be a priority (+n in parenthesis are votes from a separate poll). Note: some use cases were added later, and so have no votes; 'cost' is likely the most significant of these. Within each category, the use cases are arranged approximately in order of priority.
Primary search use cases
The following relate in various ways to searching for educational and occupational credentials or searching for information about educational and occupational credentials.
Identify subtypes of credential
It should be possible to search or review results of a search by specific credential type, e.g. “degree”, “certificate”, “badge”. +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 (+3)
- Requires: ability to identify that an object is a educational occupational credential
- note: this requirement relates incidentally to nearly all use cases.
- Requires: ability to categorise credentials by type.
Name search for credential
It should be possible to search for and find credentials by the name of the credential +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to identify that an object is a educational occupational credential
- note: this requirement relates incidentally to nearly all use cases, and won't be repeated again.
- Requires: ability to identify name of an educational occupational credential
Identify the educational level of a credential
It should be possible to search or review results of a search by specific credential level, e.g. post-graduate, High school, entry, intermediate, advanced. +1 +1 +1 +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to represent the educational level of an educational occupational credential.
Desired/required competencies
Individuals should be able to search for and find credentials that best address competencies they wish to attain. Also employers should able to search for and find credentials that address the competencies required of an employee +1 +1 +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of competencies, e.g. competencies required for credential.
Industry and occupation analysis
Analysts should be able to search for and find credentials that address critical jobs. +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to show link between educational / occupational credential and JobPosting or Occupation
Name search for credentialing organization
It should be possible to search and find credentials by the name of the credentialing organization. +1 +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of credentialling organization
- Note: there may be several different significant types of relationship between credentials and organizations, these include:
Career and education goal
Individuals should be able to search and find credentials that best meet their career and/or education goals +1 (+1)
- Requires: ability to show relationships between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of jobs (i.e. occupations?)
Labor market value
Individuals should be able to search for and find credentials that meet career goals and have employer and industry recognition and/or established labor market value within a geographic area. +1
- Requires: ability to link between educational occupational credential and JobPosting or Occupation
- Requires: ability to show the recognition of the educational / occupational credential by relevant employers and industry bodies.
- Requires: ability to Show the geographic area in which an educational occupational credential is recognised.
Assessment
Individuals should be able to search for and find credentials that best match their preferences for the assessment required to attain the credential. (+1)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential object and descriptions or representations of assessment required to attain it
Job vacancy
Employers should be able to search for and find credentials that address their critical jobs
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of job vacancy
Recognize current competencies
Individuals should be able to search and find credentials that best match competencies that the individual posses and wishes to be recognized
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of competencies, e.g. competencies required for credential.
Transfer value: recognizing current credentials
It should be possible to discover credentials that build on, or otherwise require, credentials the searcher has already earned. (e.g., high school and college course credits, degrees, certificates) and which are relevant along career and education pathways.
- Requires: ability to show relationship between different educational / occupational credential objects
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and careers
- note: these relationships may be complex.
- Show organizations that recognize an educational occupational credential may be relevant.
Language of Credential
An individual should be able to search for and find credentials that can be obtained in their natural language. This seems to be a BCP47 tag.
- Requires: ability to show the language of a credential and related entities.
Refinements to Searches
The following are factors that might be important as refinements or selection criteria for the results from the primary searches.
Coverage
Refine any search by coverage, i.e. geographic area or jurisdiction for which the credential is valid. +1 +1 +1 (+3)
- Requires: ability to show the geographic area in which educational / occupational credential is recognised.
Quality assurance
Refine any search by the ability to identify the quality assurance (QA) organizations accrediting, validating or otherwise monitoring a credential. One reason this can be necessary is for public financing (e.g., military benefits, student grants and loans, funding under a government or other organization’s initiative). +1 +1 +1 (+2)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and organization providing Quality Assurance
- Note: there may be several different significant types of relationship between credentials and organizations
Onward transfer value
Having found a credential it should be possible to identify the transfer value for that credential towards higher credentials along career and education pathways (+1)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between different educational / occupational credential objects
- note: these relationships may be complex.
- note: There is already significant work on "Open Pathways" defining a specification and gaining implementers for the idea of a pathway structure made up of educational objectives like competencies that have links to and from credentials. (See Concentric Sky & IMS). A number of implementers have discovered that attempts to make pathways out of credentials themselves are limiting and problematic.
Eligibility requirements
Refine any search to find those that have credential eligibility requirements that the searcher can meet. This might include requirements such as prescribed work experience, such as a traineeship.
- Requires: ability to show relevant requirements for educational / occupational credential
Renewal/maintenance requirements
Having found a credential it should be possible to identify what is required to renew or maintain the validity of that credential.
- Requires: ability to show relevant requirements for educational / occupational credential
- Requires: ability to show the duration for which an educational occupational credential is valid
Cost
Having found a credential it should be possible to identify the cost of acquiring the credential.
- Requires: ability to show relevant costs for educational / occupational credential
- Note: this implies that a credential is offered
Secondary Searches
These use cases are about finding other things that are related to educational and occupational credentials
Having found an educational or occupational credential, and possibly identified the competencies required to obtain that credential, an individual wants to search for courses or assessments that lead to that credential, or other things that will help them acquire the competencies required.+1 +1 +1 +1 (+1)
- Requires:
- the ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credentials and descriptions or representations of Courses
- the ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credentials and descriptions or representations of Assessments
- the ability to show relationship between competencies required for educational / occupational credentials and descriptions or representations of learning resources, e.g. competencies required for credential.
- Note: the relationship may be via competences that are required for a Credential and outcomes of the Course/learning resource.
Job seeking
A job seeker or current employee should be able to search for and find jobs that match the credentials they posses +1 +1 +1 +1
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of job vacancy
Relate credentials to competencies
It should be possible to identify the competencies required in order to obtain a credential. Note: this must be done in such a way as is compatible with other work on describing competencies. +1 +1 (+1)
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of competencies, e.g. competencies required for credential.
Find credentialing organization
Having identified a credential, it should be possible to find the credentialing organization. +1
- Requires: ability to show relationship between educational / occupational credential objects and descriptions or representations of organization providing Quality Assurance
- Note: there may be several different significant types of relationship between credentials and organizations, these include:
Find a service to verify a credential
Having found a credential, employers should be able identify the verification/authentication services provided by the credentialing organization.
- Requires: ability to show relationship between an educational / occupational credential and a service that validates it
Non-search use cases
The following use cases do not relate directly to search, but may nonetheless be relevant.
Awarding a Credential to a Person
An educator and/or assessor award a credential to a person based on that person meeting the requirements it describes. +1 +1 +1
- Requires: ability to show relationship between a Person and an educational / occupational credential object in such a way that shows that the person holds an instance of that credential
Compare credentials
Having found two or more credentials that meet their search criteria users should be able to compare them on one or more of the following: (1) credentialing and credentialing renewal/maintenance requirements, (2) education and training options to get them, (3) cost of attaining them, (4) recognition by quality assurance organizations (5) availability and cost of providing authentication services, and (6) value of attaining these credentials including transfer, career and education pathways/connections, and labor market value. (+2) [to do: requirements--I think most will already have been addressed]
Build directories
Compile a directory of credentials that can be searched +1 (+1)
- Requires: ability to identify that an object is a educational / occupational credential
- note: this requirement relates incidentally to nearly all use cases.
Personal Self-promotion
Describing awarded/achieved qualifications -- potentially including things such as a Facebook Blue Tick +1
- Requires: ability to show relationship between a Person and an educational / occupational credential object in such a way that shows that the person holds an instance of that credential
Replace and retire credentials
An organization with an existing credential needs to be able to create a new version of the credential. Need to be able to show that a credential is no longer available, and to show that a new credential replaces an old one.
- Requires: ability to show version / status information of educational / occupational credential objects
- Requires: ability to show relationships between new and old versions of educational / occupational credential objects