«European Digital Credentials for Learning in the support of lifelong learning and labour mobility»

Abstract

The European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC) initiative was formally launched by the European Commission in October 2021. It offers a suite of standards, tools and services that support the building, issuing, and sharing of tamper-evident electronic documents. EDCs – e.g. degrees, Diploma Supplements, transcripts of records, certificates of participation, etc. – can describe their owners’ skills, activities, and learning outcomes achieved through formal, non-formal or informal learning. They are multilingual and signed with an electronic seal (that is the digital equivalent of the awarding institution’s rubber stamp). This allows education and training institutions, as well as prospective employers, to easily verify, and understand the content of, credentials, independently from their size, shape or form.

The session will begin with a presentation introducing the objectives and benefits of European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC), including interoperability and synergies with other existing European and global standards and initiatives. A subsequent practical demonstration will illustrate, via showcasing sample credentials, how EDCs support data transparency and portability, and how, using the EDC Infrastructure and the underlining European Learning Model, can facilitate credential validation and recognition and, in the future, micro-credential stacking.

Bio

During her 25 years of professional practice in the field of open education and e-learning Ildiko has closely observed and engaged in policy dialogues, professional academic collaborations, and practice exchange, actively contributing to the modernisation of European Higher Education and education technology in general. She managed, and/or took part in the implementation of, 50+ 50K-15M€ EU funded projects, organised 30+ international conferences and over 100 smaller scale thematic workshops and seminars. As edtech projects and e-learning practices were attracting and engaging an increasingly widening range of stakeholders, by tapping into her experience and expertise, and utilising her collaboration and interpersonal skills, in recent years she focussed mostly on supporting the development and uptake of innovative solutions in the fields of competence development and (micro-)credentials. Since 2019 she has been a core team member of the team supporting the European Commission in deploying the Europass Digital Credentials (EDC) for learning.