Advancing Global Standards in Digital Credentialing
BURLINGTON, Mass., November 7, 2024 — 1EdTech® Consortium (1EdTech) is excited to be the latest signatory of the Groningen Declaration Network (the GDN Network), supporting mutual efforts championing digital credential mobility to support learner and worker success.
The GDN Network aims to build digital capacity across the globe to provide sustainable technology solutions for exchanging digital credentials. 1EdTech’s community of educational institutions, edtech suppliers, and government organizations creates technical standards, frameworks, and resources to enable and simplify those exchanges while also adding value through the metadata provided in the credentials.
“This collaboration underscores 1EdTech’s dedication to providing learners and workers with secure, reliable, and portable credentials,” said Curtiss Barnes, 1EdTech CEO. “By working alongside other signatories of the GDN Network, we can better understand and leverage interoperability standards, including Open Badges, CLR Standard™ and CASE®, to support worldwide efforts empowering global citizens with verifiable records to share their stories, knowledge and skills anywhere they want to go.”
The GDN Network builds on the Groningen Declaration, that citizens worldwide should be able to consult and share their authentic educational data with whomever they want, whenever they want, wherever they are. Signatories cooperate on a voluntary basis, seeking not primarily standardization but rather convergence.
The main goal of the Groningen Declaration is to develop best practices and globally accepted standards for secure, citizen-centered consultation and portability of digital student data. Becoming a signatory of the GDN Network signals a commitment to the GDN’s ethical principles that endorse citizen-focused, privacy-compliant data exchange principles that support mobility, and it demonstrates support for ethical sharing of academic documents and data.
As a new signatory of the GDN Network, 1EdTech joins a community of international education and technology leaders who are helping move the needle to shape a future where credentials are universally recognized and trusted.
“We are delighted to welcome 1EdTech as a new signatory of the GDN Network,” said Melanie Gottlieb, President of the GDN Network and Executive Director of AACRAO. “1EdTech’s expertise and commitment to open standards will be instrumental in advancing our shared vision of globally accessible and equitable digital credentials. Together, we can continue to foster a digital landscape that prioritizes learner data mobility and interoperability.”
“1EdTech has served a longstanding and enduring role in the standards space,” said Joanne Duklas, Executive Director of the GDN Network. “We are very supportive of advancing the collaboration between the various standards bodies that enable innovation and interoperability, and we are excited by the prospect of doing our part to catalyze a network of networks model in partnership with 1EdTech and others. The opportunities for transformational change are many and achievable through these partnerships to advance rapid access to work and learning for mobile citizens using digital credentials and documents.”
About 1EdTech
1EdTech® Consortium is the leading global non-profit developing an open, trusted and innovative edtech ecosystem that ensures seamless interoperability in digital learning and credentialing. Our members represent a diverse community of education and training providers, technology suppliers, and government agencies committed to creating and evolving community-developed technical standards and practices that span the lifelong learning continuum to support learner success. Our organization gives a voice to all stakeholders working to improve educational opportunities and experiences for all ages. 1EdTech hosts the Learning Impact Conference, Digital Credentials Summit, and other engagement opportunities to advance the leadership and ideas that shape the future of learning. Visit our website at 1edtech.org.
About The GDN Network
The GDN Network is an international, non-profit federated trust located in the Netherlands. It represents a voluntary network of like-minded organizations and individuals that seek to make digital student data portability happen. Its network of thought leaders from around the globe are collaborators who seek to support, advise, and offer innovative changes in the ways we share artifacts of academic learning. The GDN Network seeks common ground in best serving the academic and professional mobility needs of citizens worldwide by bringing together stakeholders in the digital student data ecosystem. It seeks to develop and support best practices and globally accepted standards for safe and citizen-oriented convenings and information exchanges. Learn more about the GDN Network at: groningendeclaration.org.