IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global/IMS), the world-leading non-profit collaborative advancing edtech and learning impact, announced today the first technology suppliers to certify products for its Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) standard, which enables individuals to curate and own their learning and employment records.

A comprehensive learner record is a verifiable official digital credential issued by educational institutions and employers to learners and workers, allowing them to organize and maintain their academic achievements, co-curricular competencies, milestones, and skills. Individuals can use a CLR to highlight and share their lifelong learning profile at any stage in their academic or professional journey.

The CLR standard by IMS describes how the learner's information is structured and shared. It is the key to unlocking the interoperability, security, and verifiability of all learning and achievement data. It's easily shared among the various stakeholders and departments along the way, providing the transparency and standardization they've come to expect in our digital world.

The information contained within a CLR can be any learning achievement, including microcredentials or digital badges. CLR captures achievements published using the popular IMS Open Badges standard and enables their alignment to competency frameworks and learning standards.

Using an IMS CLR-certified tool, learners can share their verifiable achievement records and skills with potential employers or other educational institutions, opening doors to new opportunities. The first leading edtech suppliers to certify products for the CLR standard include AEFIS, ELocker, RANDA Solutions, and SmartResume by iDatafy.

The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) recommends the IMS CLR standard to its over 11,000 members as "the only comprehensive data standard in place today that meets the objectives of an official institutional learning-focused and comprehensive learner record." IMS and AACRAO are working together to develop an implementation guide to support institutions adopting CLR.

"Learners of today and tomorrow have a story to tell—their own. The Comprehensive Learner Record empowers them to create and share their story from K-12 to higher education to career," said Rob Abel, Ed.D., chief executive officer, IMS Global Learning Consortium. "Thanks to the leadership of IMS members enabling a foundation for the digital credentials ecosystem, the groundbreaking CLR standard is now available for widespread adoption."

"We wanted to develop technology to make more informed decisions, and create more robust, open-minded discussions with students and their mentors," said Mustafa Sualp, AEFIS CEO and founder. "We are thrilled to announce our IMS Global CLR certification, which allows students to leverage their learning achievements through our technology and accelerate our efforts to meet heightened interest in providing CLR to our higher education partners to improve student discourse, engagement, and even corporate education efforts."

"We are proud to announce that ELocker, an IMS Contributing Member, is one of the first organizations to receive IMS certification for the CLR standard," said Nick Hathaway, ELocker CEO. "Our joint development effort with the University of Central Oklahoma and Olivedon Gradintelligence showcases how CLR enables the easy exchange of data between credentials services internationally so individuals can use their credentials to verify their achievements and match opportunities for employment and personal development."

“The CLR has the potential to be more than a record of an individual’s learning,” said Marty Reed, RANDA Solutions CEO. “In our implementations, we are leveraging it as a comprehensive data transport, extending the record from learning to healthcare, and ultimately a foundation of the digital identity portfolio.”

“The future is clear. Job seekers that have educational, workplace and skills based achievements certified by trusted third parties on SmartResumes, or other IMS certified CLR products, will have a distinct advantage over fellow job seekers lacking these credentials,” said Dave Wengel, iDatafy® Founder and CEO. “We are proud that our SmartResume® product is successfully vetted and certified by the IMS Global team for meeting their CLR and Data Privacy standards.”

To aid in implementing CLR, IMS makes CLR Reference Implementations and Prototype Applications available to its members, including a viewer and a wallet app to manage CLRs and a builder app to create and edit CLR data.

For more information on CLR in education and the workplace, go to imsglobal.org/about/clr.

To access the CLR 1.0 specification documents, go to imsglobal.org/clr.

About IMS Global Learning Consortium
IMS Global Learning Consortium is a non-profit organization that advances technology to scale and improve educational participation and attainment affordably. IMS members are leading suppliers, higher education institutions, K-12 districts and schools, and government organizations that enable better teaching and learning by collaborating on interoperability and adoption initiatives. IMS sponsors the annual Learning Impact program to recognize the impact of innovative technology on educational access, affordability, and quality while developing the leadership and ideas to help shape the future of educational technology.

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