Why should my institution be interested in UCD?

Three reasons: because it seems daft, given the ongoing transition to the digital world, to still be part of a system that only hands out qualifications on paper because, done right, UCD will improve education, giving learners a single simple interface with which to (i) interact with multiple parties, both learning providers and fellow students; […]

Is UCD related to the Learning Records Service?

It could be. LRS serves, principally, as a back-office store of qualification data from secondary and Further Education in England. This data is provided by the awarding bodies – such as OCR, and City & Guilds – who serve secondary and FE learning providers. Learners could – using a UCD wallet – set up an […]

Is UCD related to the UKAMF, as used in education?

Probably. UKAMF enables an individual to use a single username and password, provided by their home institution (say a university or college), to gain access to online resources provided by others, typically a publisher. The publisher will grant or deny access based on information – attributes – released by the home institution. More info can […]

Will the whole education sector have to change at the same time?

No. UCD can be piloted within a single secondary school, FE college and university. In each case, the learning provider will invite learners to choose a wallet provider from a managed market (i.e. at least two providers),  and then use their wallet to interact with both the learning provider and with fellow learners. Assuming these […]

Does Jisc support UCD?

Conditionally. UCDx has been set up as a public-interest entity to govern the proposed UCD infrastructure, using funding provided by InnovateUK in response to a grant application submitted by PIB-d Ltd. Jisc is a shareholder in PIB-d Ltd (www.pib-d.net), a commercial company created  – as far back as 2011 – to develop UCD type infrastructure. […]

Will UCAS be affected by UCD?

Eventually. In UCD terms, UCAS is almost a Decision Support Service (see page re organizational model), helping learners choose between, and apply to, universities. If the UCD pilots succeed, setting the infrastructure en route to scale, it will make sense – at some point – for UCAS to consider integration. The task will be complex, […]

Will awarding bodies be required to act as ‘identity providers’ ?

No. At the moment, when an awarding body (such as a university, or an exam board, or a  trade body) issues a paper qualification to an individual, say ABC, they are stating only that the individual known to them as ABC has earned a particular qualification Even though awarding bodies may ask for proof of ABC’s […]