The Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC)
The DCC is a global network of postsecondary education institutions, including MIT, that are working together to develop and implement technology that supports privacy-preserving, portable Verifiable Credentials in higher education. Learn more about our work at digitalcredentials.mit.edu.
Open Badges 3.0
The DCC develops software that supports W3C Verifiable Credentials (W3C VCs), a widely referenced web standard for making claims on the web.The version of this standard used specifically for education, training, and skills is called Open Badges 3.0 (OBv3). This standard can be used for achievements like degrees, microcredentials, certificates, or even granular skills and competencies. Currently, the Learner Credential Wallet (LCW) accepts only credentials that follow the OBv3 standard.
W3C VCs have emerged as the most trustworthy and effective way of creating digital versions of records and documents like ID documents, vaccination records, supply chain provenance, and proof of purchase or ownership. However, in the past digital credentials for education were often issued in separate earlier iteration of Open Badges (specifically, version 2.0) that was not compatible with the W3C VC infrastructure. In practice, this meant that educational credentials would need to be stored, shared and consumed separately from W3C VCs.
In the next phase of standards development, standards architects chose to align credentials for education with W3C VCs. Thus, OBv3 was put forth, offering the same security and portability as W3C VCs but with added features designed to promote the effective sharing of skills and achievements. Some credentialing platforms may still be using earlier versions of Open Badges. These credentials share some of the same attributes as OBv3 but they do not follow the W3C VC standard and therefore will not currently be accepted in the LCW.
One of the goals of the DCC and the standards community more broadly is to promote the wide adoption of OBv3 — including among known wallet providers like Apple and Google — and fortify the technical infrastructure around them. Though this technology is relatively new, we envision an end result of a well-functioning ecosystem where you can store and share your education and training credentials in the same wallet as your drivers license, vaccination card, and other important documents.