Higher Learning Commission

To address the growing alternative credential landscape, last fall HLC launched its Credential Lab to create an approach for the quality assurance of providers offering short-term credential content and to develop resources and training on effective credentialing practices for colleges and universities and other providers.   

HLC was recently awarded a three-year, $500,000 grant from ECMC Foundation to extend this innovation-focused initiative.  

The grant will help jumpstart HLC’s Credential Lab Innovation Center, which will offer educational providers from within and outside of higher education a model for ensuring high quality credentials. Like many of HLC’s elective services, participation in this initiative will be separate from an institution’s accreditation relationship.  

“HLC’s work reflects the changing marketplace, which increasingly includes short-term certificates and alternative credentials for learners,” says HLC President Dr. Barbara Gellman-Danley. “The rapid growth of such credentials is not always accompanied by transparent quality assurance, which is needed to help consumers navigate the wide range of providers and opportunities for lifelong learning.” 

HLC has convened a Leadership Advisory Board comprised of several expert stakeholders to support the development of the Credential Lab offerings. In addition, HLC would like to introduce you to the initial design team that is creating standards and processes for assuring the quality of credential content providers: 

Laurie Dodge, Vice President of Quality Assurance and Accreditation, Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN)

Jon Furr, Senior Vice President and Chief Data Ecosystem Officer, Strada Education Foundation 

Kelly Hoyland, Director of Higher Education Programs, 1EdTech  

Lee Johnson, HLC Board Member and Innovation and Planning Strategist, Mount Marty University 

Dave McCool, President and Chief Executive Officer, Muzzy Lane Software 

Lana Whitehead, Assistant Vice President for Lifelong Learning, Kent State University 

Kristi Wold-McCormick, President-Elect of the AACRAO Board of Directors; Assistant Vice Provost and University Registrar of the University of Colorado Boulder 

HLC’s Credential Lab will reinforce effective partnerships throughout the credentialing ecosystem, including collaborations among and between sectors, colleges and universities, employers and industries, other credential-focused organizations, states, and workforce development organizations.  

The resources will serve to enhance and promote learners’ credit mobility, transferability, and learning recognition. This initiative will also help demonstrate the real and perceived value of lifelong learning for learners, employers and industries, and communities. 

President Gellman-Danley concludes, “We have always believed in the power of education to change lives. As colleges and universities adapt to demands as well as new learner populations, and as more kinds of providers enter the postsecondary market, there has never been a greater need for responsible innovation, agility and quality.”