Learning Impact Blogs

Colleges and universities can help learners take their next steps by making it easier to understand how their courses and skills count toward a credential, further study, or a career. 1EdTech’s Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE) standard helps institutions compare learning across K–12 CTE and college courses to evaluate credit and transfer opportunities.

Representatives from Blackboard, D2L, and Instructure came together to discuss their transition to more secure learning tool connections and the broader work needed to protect learners and educators during a recent 1EdTech Labs Live session.

Schools invest significant time and resources in education technology. Each investment also creates an opportunity to learn more about how technology can best support educators and students.

For years, the digital credentials community has focused on how to recognize learning, make records portable, and give learners greater control over their information. Now the question is: What happens when that information reaches the employer? That was the focus of a recent 1EdTech conversation, “What Do Employers Need from Digital Credentials and LERs?”

1EdTech® and a coalition of collaborators across education, workforce, credentialing, and technology have submitted a joint response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Request for Information on modernizing CareerOneStop.org and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) Program.

As the deadline for new accessibility requirements approaches, many education leaders are asking the same question: Where do we even begin? The answer, according to institutions that have been working through the process together, is reassuring: you don't have to start from scratch, and you don't have to do it alone.

1EdTech CEO Curtiss Barnes describes the work 1EdTech is doing regarding data privacy and cybersecurity, and what the community can do with us, to raise the sector's security posture.

LTI 1.3 does more than replace LTI 1.1; it modernizes security, simplifies interoperability, and gives educational technology providers the tools to build safer, better-connected learning experiences.

We just wrapped up an empowering week at the 2026 Learning Impact Conference in San Francisco, where one thing was clear: education technology is entering a new era, and the infrastructure behind it must evolve just as quickly. Read 1EdTech CEO Curtiss Barnes' key takeaways from this year's conference.

1EdTech and the Ed-Fi Alliance are enabling states, districts, and providers to connect student data across systems by delivering a single, standards-based integration through the Ed-Fi ODS/API.

A statement from 1EdTech CEO Curtiss Barnes on Edtech Security: From Shared Responsibility to Shared Practice

Screen time in education is often framed as a question of limits, but what if the real issue isn’t how much time students spend on screens, but how that time is used? As technology continues to play a central role in learning, schools are challenged to strike the right balance between access and impact. Interoperability can help shift the conversation by enabling more purposeful, efficient, and secure digital learning experiences so that, when students are on screens, their time is truly spent on learning.

When done right, interoperability lets students and educators move effortlessly between tools, so they can focus on teaching and learning, instead of making the technology work. Learner data follows the individual, giving educators a clear, complete picture of progress. Systems become flexible, so IT teams can save time and money when tools need to be added or removed to support outcomes. 

Student safety, privacy, and security in education technology are deeply interconnected challenges that require collaboration across the entire ecosystem. 1EdTech’s Student Security Task Force brings together educators, technology providers, and policymakers to develop practical, standards-based solutions that protect students while maintaining trust, balancing real-world constraints, and embedding safeguarding into system design.

Policymakers increasingly see integrated systems as key to aligning workforce development, education, and industry needs. Interoperability and shared data standards enable this by reducing fragmentation, improving quality and accountability, and supporting flexible pathways for learners while helping employers access skilled talent.

The 2026 Digital Credentials Summit made clear that digital credentials have moved beyond pilots and into a moment of real global momentum. With mature standards, growing policy and employer demand, and new initiatives like the CASE Global ecosystem, the community is poised to scale trusted, interoperable credentials that support learner mobility and workforce alignment worldwide.

States are investing in Talent Marketplaces to better connect education to workforce opportunity, but without interoperability by design, these systems risk remaining fragmented and difficult to scale. The Ed-Fi Data Standard provides the trusted system-of-record foundation for education data, while 1EdTech standards create the bridges that make learning, skills, and credentials portable, verifiable, and usable across sectors.

As technology and institutional needs evolve, education organizations must rethink how they select and manage digital tools to ensure they remain effective and aligned over time. 1EdTech’s TrustEd Apps Management Suite (TAMS) can act as a “matchmaking” solution by streamlining tool evaluation, improving transparency, and enabling innovation with less risk.

As we look ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics, we explores how digital credentials support learner success, just like a well-trained Olympic team. Using the roles of CASE, Open Badges, and Comprehensive Learner Records, we see how clear standards, recognized achievements, and trusted records work together to help learners confidently share what they know and can do.

Few issues in edtech carry higher stakes than security and privacy. Educators, edtech providers, and policymakers must walk a very fine line as they work to shape edtech practices that protect students without sacrificing their privacy or trust.

By prioritizing interoperability standards and using tools like TAMS, institutions can evaluate edtech more transparently, reduce risk and vendor lock-in, and create a sustainable environment where innovation can scale.

2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for education technology. Rather than chasing the newest tool or trend, education leaders are increasingly focused on building resilient, interoperable ecosystems that balance innovation with trust, scale, and sustainability to create meaningful impact for learners. Here’s what we’re watching most closely in 2026.