Digital Credentials Consortium and collaborators launch Gen AI Badge Authoring Tool Project
The Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) is on a mission to change the way education and training institutions design and issue digital credentials, making the process faster, smarter, and more accessible.
With funding support from Walmart, the DCC — an initiative headquartered at MIT Open Learning advancing the use of standards-based, privacy-preserving digital credentials in higher education — has assembled a team of collaborators to develop a generative AI tool that streamlines the creation of Learning and Employment Records (LERs) as data-rich, privacy-preserving W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and aligned standards like Open Badges 3.0 (OBv3). The project brings together Western Governors University (WGU), engineering experts at OneOrigin, and leading educational technology partners Open edX and George Washington University’s (GWU) LAiSER project.
An AI-powered solution to a complex challenge
OBv3 offers advanced security, learner control, and powerful capabilities for embedding rich metadata including detailed achievement criteria, learning objectives, and granular skills into degrees, microcredentials, and certificates. However, considerable time and resources are required in order to thoughtfully design and customize these credentials.
As a solution, the DCC is developing a Generative AI Badge Authoring Tool that will integrate seamlessly with existing curriculum development workflows and course content to generate recommended OBv3-aligned credential templates, including badge images and metadata properties. The tool will be implemented as a Small Learning Model (SLM), ensuring that credentialing organizations of all sizes can install and use the tool regardless of their technical infrastructure. The tool and its user-friendly interface will be released under an MIT open source license, guaranteeing broad accessibility and encouraging community-driven development.
“At the DCC, we believe the greatest impact comes from innovating collaboratively and openly,” DCC Director Kerri Lemoie says. “We are excited to be working with like-minded organizations on this project, which will significantly simplify and quicken the process of authoring data-rich and learner-controlled digital credentials for institutions of all sizes.”
The SLM’s effectiveness will be rooted in comprehensive training data sourced from multiple educational partners, including WGU, Credential Engine, DCC member institutions, and additional invited contributors. This diverse dataset will enable the AI to understand varied credentialing approaches and educational contexts, making its recommendations more nuanced and practically useful.
“This work is exciting because it is leveraging AI to make it more efficient for education and training providers to construct LERs and improve the quality of the rich metadata included in the credentials,” says Sean Murphy, director of the Walmart Foundation. “The result will be more accurate and aligned descriptions of skills and abilities, benefitting learners, job seekers, and employers.”
The DCC will work with experts in the field to develop and test the tool. The engineering team at OneOrigin will develop the core SLM and create an intuitive user interface that makes advanced AI capabilities accessible to credential designers regardless of their technical background.
Open edX, housed within Axim Collaborative, will build and test an extension that interacts with the SLM, making it available to the organizations that leverage their platform for creating and delivering online courses. This community includes DCC member WGU, which will test the tool as part of their badge creation workflow. Additionally, GWU will connect their innovative LAiSER open-source skill extraction and linkage software, which harnesses AI to link skills embedded in course syllabi and descriptions with skills requested by employers.
Looking Ahead
The AI-powered Badge Authoring Tool exemplifies how strategic collaboration and innovative technology can solve complex challenges for education and training organizations. This project will make trustworthy, standards-based credentialing capabilities available to institutions regardless of their size or technical resources.
As the tool undergoes testing and refinement throughout the development cycle, the DCC is committed to working openly and collaboratively to ensure optimal performance and practical utility for credential issuers across diverse educational contexts. Technical development is underway with piloting and testing scheduled for Summer 2026.
In the meantime, the project team is seeking your help with teaching and naming the tool. Check out the DCC blog for information on how your suggestion could earn you some limited edition DCC swag.
The Digital Credentials Consortium is a collaborative initiative headquartered at MIT Open Learning that brings together an international network of postsecondary education institutions to advance the use of standards-based, privacy-preserving digital credentials in higher education.