Comprehensive Learner Records: Empowering Lifelong Learning in the Digital Age. Postsecondary Perspectives of Preparation for and Implementation of CLRs

The Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR)--defined as a verifiable, portable, interoperable digital asset that recognizes all learning--is currently a topic of interest in the postsecondary and workplace ecosystem. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and The EvoLLLution conducted a survey of CAEL higher education members and The EvoLLLution subscribers to investigate the extent to which their institutions are considering CLR implementation, and whether they are taking steps to reconceptualize their courses and credentials in terms of skills or competencies rather than credit hours. Follow-up conversations with select CAEL members who are taking steps to move towards skill-based credentialing models and an informal information-gathering roundtable at the 2023 CAEL Conference further informed the study. This report summarizes: (1) The extent to which the responding institutions have identified a need to design educational programs around well-defined skills and competencies; (2) The extent to which these institutions have started to define their course and program outcomes in terms of skills and competencies; and (3) Whether the institutions have started to implement (or lay the groundwork for) skills or competency-based transcripts or comprehensive learner records.