Strada announced as new host for Digital Credentials Consortium
Strada Education Foundation announced today that it has become the new host for Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC), a program founded in 2018 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Open Learning by leading universities in North America and Europe.
DCC was founded to build a trusted, shared infrastructure for issuing, storing, displaying, and verifying digital credentials. As it developed this infrastructure, it has continued to advance the understanding and use of privacy-enhanced, portable, verifiable digital credentials through open-source technology development and leadership, research, and advocacy. Today, DCC's open-source tools and standards have become a foundation of the digital credentialing and Learning and Employment Record ecosystem. MIT Open Learning formally transferred the DCC program to Strada this summer.
As part of the transition, DCC has been renamed the Digital Credentials Commons, which will build upon the infrastructure incubated at MIT Open Learning to scale an open-source and open standards-based ecosystem in which learners fully own, control, and can use verifiable digital records of their skills and achievements. The name change reflects DCC’s commitment to scaling open standards and technologies in close collaboration with a broad network of partners contributing to the Commons.
“One of Strada's goals is to strengthen education-to-employment data systems so that all learners can use their own data to navigate lifelong learning and employment pathways,” said Strada President and CEO Stephen Moret. “DCC is a crucial part of the infrastructure needed to bring digital credentialing to life and support our broad learning mobility strategy.”
As a neutral and trusted source of expertise on the standards and tools of digital credentialing, DCC reduces costs for widespread adoption and provides support for implementation and integration. Alongside CredLens — a nonprofit Strada affiliate that provides high-quality outcomes data for nondegree credentials — DCC will help ensure digital credentials are trustworthy and lead to economic opportunity.
Dr. Stephen Harmon, professor and executive director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Institute of Technology, said, “Georgia Tech is proud to have been a founding and core member of the Digital Credentials Consortium, and we're excited to see it evolve into the Digital Credentials Commons under Strada Education Foundation. This move sets the initiative up for long-term sustainability and impact, which is exactly what the open credentialing ecosystem needs to keep moving forward.”
In addition to a broad set of partnerships and engagements that DCC can leverage to advance its activities, Strada brings significant experience supporting strategy-aligned affiliated organizations and initiatives that maintain distinct missions and governance. Walmart recently provided DCC with a $2 million grant to support growth and scaling over the next two years as part of its broader investments to support digital credentialing and data interoperability.
Executive Director Dr. Kerri Lemoie will continue to lead DCC, providing both technical credibility and strategic vision for the organization's direction. Lemoie brings decades of experience in technology development and adoption, and is a widely respected authority in open standards communities. “Our next phase builds on the consortium's research, open standards, and open-source work, connecting the platforms and organizations issuing digital credentials to make issuance more efficient and credentials more useful," said Lemoie. "We're excited to work with Strada to pursue this next phase of our growth and impact."
Strada will provide DCC with organizational infrastructure and overhead support, while DCC retains its own mission, leadership, and governance. Strada’s operating support will enable DCC to direct future philanthropic funding and membership revenue toward advancing and scaling its mission.
Hosting DCC also directly advances Strada’s efforts to connect education with opportunity. Verifiable digital credentials are most valuable to learners who have been historically underserved by traditional credentialing systems by giving them access and control of their records. An infrastructure that is open, interoperable, and learner- controlled will help ensure that the benefits of the skills-based economy are available to all learners, and not held exclusively by well-resourced institutions or siloed platforms that limit learner control over their credentials.
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