How States Can Leverage Tech for Learning, Skills Mobility

At the beginning of the transfer process, students encounter a hidden barrier that initially strikes most as tedious: migrating their academic records from one institution to another. However, this part of the transfer process forms a crucial bottleneck in the higher education system -- one that could heavily influence whether a student completes their credential. Sharing these data requires a student’s permission and established communication channels between colleges and universities. What’s more, administrators must decipher student records -- which are often presented in differing formats -- to decide if the student’s courses are equivalent to those offered at their institution. Combined, these barriers increase the amount of time an already lengthy process takes for students and add to administrative burden. At the end of this frustrating process, students may find out they lose a substantial number of credits -- which ultimately decreases their chances of credential attainment.

Through our landscape scan of national transfer reform efforts, Education Commission of the States and Sova have identified smart use of technology as an essential piece of the transfer puzzle. Data migration is one area in which systems and institutions can leverage technological innovation to facilitate an easier transfer process for students.

We’ve seen states make great strides to better track and understand student information over time through the implementation of statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS). Since 2005, the federal government has awarded competitive, cooperative agreement grants to states to build their own SLDS. These comprehensive data systems enable state policy makers to make informed, data-driven decisions and monitor progress of reform efforts. Our 50-state comparison found that at least 39 states have created an SLDS that links postsecondary student information with one or more of the P-20W spectrum: early learning, K-12 and workforce.

Beyond states merely tracking student data, information technology can be used to help students compile and seamlessly convey their learning experiences gained from postsecondary education or the workforce. An emerging innovation, digitally distributed ledgers, has made this type of learning and skills mobility increasingly possible through blockchain technology. Blockchain technology creates an immutable shared database of time-stamped information (in this context, think credits, courses, credentials and skills). These databases, often called ledgers, duplicate an individual’s information and distribute it across an entire network connected to the blockchain. Ledgers are inherently decentralized, meaning that institutions and employers only have access to the information -- not control over it. The promise of blockchain technology has led folks in the higher education and workforce communities to pursue digital learning and employment records (LERs) in hopes to enable true learning and skills mobility.

Although complicated from a technological standpoint, LER technology affords straightforward practical uses to those in higher education focusing on the transfer process. Institutions and systems share access to a single information platform, granting direct access to a student’s record without ever requesting a transcript. LERs also ensure transparency for students as to which courses or credits automatically transfer between institutions based on institution or system agreements built into the platform.

While researchers are developing frameworks to apply LERs at scale, some institutions and states are moving ahead and creating their own for transfer students. One example involves the University of Arizona’s and Maricopa Community Colleges’ ability to share academic records in their reverse transfer process via blockchain technology. Leaders at ASU see the technology as a way to streamline the reverse transfer process and advance transfer students quicker -- hopefully enabling higher rates of graduation and less administrative burden. Another example involves the C-Lab partnership between the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the C-Lab. This partnership provides a community for Colorado educators and state policy makers to explore possible innovations, pilots, research and collaboration opportunities, all in pursuit of an LER specific to the state’s academic context.

In addition to transferring and tracking a student’s academic records, those in the workforce community have begun to explore LERs containing detailed, verified and secure records of skills, education and work histories. A partnership between JFF and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is currently developing the requisite infrastructure to implement broad-based LER technology. Advocates argue LERs provide several advantages to people who have developed skills over a wide range of experiences instead of traditional methods.

Even though most LERs are, by and large, still in design, they demonstrate how data transmission and transferability continue to gain increased salience among the higher education and workforce communities. To support these innovations, states, systems and institutions can leverage current policies including data sharing, funding and transfer to increase efficiencies in the student mobility process.