Success Stories
We Wrote the Book on Learning and Employment Records (LER’s). Literally.
AACRAO LER Curriculum
When AACRAO needed a national LER curriculum, they called MCM.
As part of its broader Gates-supported learning mobility work, AACRAO set out to develop curriculum that would help records professionals and institutional administrators move Learning and Employment Records from concept to practice. To do that, the field needed more than principles. It needed an authoritative, well-researched source of truth.
AACRAO commissioned Micro-credential Multiverse to build From Records to Recognition — a complete LER course that turns national strategy into practical guidance for the people who build and steward institutional records.
Curriculum Overview
A national curriculum, built with depth and designed for action.
From Records to Recognition is not a white paper. It is a complete instructional-design product that helps records professionals and administrators understand, evaluate, and build Learning and Employment Records with rigor.
Course architecture
6Modules moving from national context to governance and interoperability.
Research foundation
59Cited references grounding the course in field research, standards, and national practice.
Implementation toolkit
37Key resources learners can return to as they design, evaluate, and steward LER work.
Standards literacy
5Interoperability standards translated into practical institutional decisions.
Built as a course, not a briefing.
The curriculum pairs conceptual grounding with practical learning supports records professionals can use to move from understanding to implementation.Designed for Practice
Built for the professionals responsible for making LERs real.
From Records to Recognition was designed for the people who have to move Learning and Employment Records from concept to credible institutional practice: records professionals, registrars, administrators, and cross-functional teams responsible for policy, systems, data, and learner trust.
Records & registrar professionals
Understand how LERs expand the role of institutional records while preserving accuracy, integrity, and trust.
Institutional administrators
Connect LER work to governance, learner mobility, workforce alignment, and broader institutional strategy.
Implementation teams
Translate standards, systems, and stakeholder needs into practical decisions before pilots begin to scale.
What the curriculum enables
In Their Words
“MCM has been a trusted partner working with us to build this important online course for understanding innovative credentials. Rob’s expertise and extra research took the course from average to excellent!”
Mike Simmons, Ph.D.
Associate Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships
Six Learning Modules
A learning arc from field context to implementation decisions.
The curriculum does not treat LERs as a technology topic alone. It helps participants understand why Learning and Employment Records are emerging, what institutions must decide, and how governance, integrity, and interoperability determine whether learner records can be trusted and used.
01
Why Innovative Credentials Are Emerging
Frames the forces pushing institutions beyond traditional records: skills-based hiring, learner mobility, workforce alignment, and the need for clearer evidence of learning.
02
Institutional Purpose in Issuance
Helps teams clarify why they issue credentials, who they serve, what value the record creates, and how credentials connect to learner, employer, and institutional goals.
03
AACRAO’s History with CSRs, CLRs, and LERs
Places LERs inside the evolution of student records, comprehensive learner records, and the registrar’s role in trusted recognition.
04
Core Definitions, Credential Hierarchy, and Process
Establishes the language institutions need before implementation: credential types, hierarchy, quality expectations, review processes, and decision points.
05
The Four Pillars of Record Integrity
Centers the trust layer: integrity, structure, transparency, and trust — the conditions that make learner records meaningful beyond the issuing institution.
06
From Governance to Interoperability
Connects policy and practice to standards decisions, including Open Badges, CLR, CTDL, Verifiable Credentials, and LER interoperability.
The practical takeaway
The course teaches the decisions behind the record.
It does not simply tell institutions to “launch an LER.” It teaches them how to make the underlying decisions that determine whether an LER can be governed, trusted, issued, interpreted, and used.
Why MCM
The right author for the problems AACRAO needed to solve.
AACRAO did not need a vendor explanation of Learning and Employment Records. It needed a curriculum that could help the field understand the work, make better decisions, and move from national momentum to institutional practice.
Client Priorities
For AACRAO
Turn national LER momentum into teachable curriculum.
The Accelerator needed more than principles and enthusiasm. It needed a rigorous learning experience records professionals could use to understand the why, what, and how of trusted learner records.
For the cohort
Create a shared language before implementation begins.
Participating institutions needed a common foundation for definitions, credential hierarchy, record integrity, governance, and interoperability — so project teams could move with more clarity.
For the field
Separate durable practice from vendor-driven noise.
Colleges and systems needed vendor-neutral guidance that clarified the institutional decisions behind LERs — not a product pitch dressed up as field education.
Field-Building Capacity
A reusable foundation for the next phase of learning mobility.
Developed through AACRAO’s broader Gates-supported learning mobility work, From Records to Recognition gives AACRAO a durable curriculum asset it can use across member education, related learning mobility initiatives, and the LER Accelerator cohort.
What AACRAO can now put into the field
From scattered awareness to shared field capacity.
The curriculum gives institutions a common starting point for understanding what trusted Learning and Employment Records require — not just as a concept, but as institutional infrastructure.
A consistent starting point
Institutions entering the LER conversation can begin with shared language, clear definitions, and a grounded understanding of the work ahead.
A neutral reference point
The curriculum creates a vendor-neutral foundation for decisions about governance, standards, interoperability, data quality, and trust.
A reusable learning asset
AACRAO can use the curriculum across member education, related initiatives, and future learning mobility efforts over time.
The result is more than a course. It is a field-ready foundation AACRAO can use to help institutions move from interest in LERs to informed, standards-aligned action.
Ready to Build What Comes Next?
Start your next chapter with the people who wrote the book on LERs.
MCM helps institutions, systems, and coalitions turn credentialing ambition into governed, standards-aligned implementation.
Start a conversation