What is the Credential Builder?
The Credential Builder is an AI-powered tool that automatically designs stackable credentials—micro-credentials, certificates, and badges—by analyzing job requirements and finding the optimal combination of course sections to meet those needs. Instead of manually reviewing dozens of syllabi and trying to figure out which courses best prepare students for specific careers, the Credential Builder uses a genetic algorithm to do this work for you in minutes. It analyzes the skills required by target jobs, evaluates your available course sections, and recommends the best curriculum to maximize job readiness while minimizing redundancy.The Credential Builder focuses on course sections rather than entire courses, allowing for more precise alignment with job requirements. Different sections of the same course may teach different skills based on instructor approach, so section-level optimization provides better results.
What Problem Does It Solve?
Designing effective credentials manually is challenging:- Time-Consuming: Reviewing multiple course syllabi and comparing them to job requirements takes days or weeks
- Error-Prone: It’s easy to miss skill gaps or create unintended redundancy across courses
- Difficult to Optimize: Balancing skill coverage, avoiding overlap, and keeping the credential achievable requires complex tradeoffs
- Not Data-Driven: Manual design relies on intuition rather than objective analysis of job market data
- Automating Analysis: Reviews all course sections and job requirements in seconds
- Optimizing Coverage: Finds combinations that maximize skill coverage while minimizing redundancy
- Using Real Data: Bases recommendations on actual job skill requirements from your target careers
- Providing Transparency: Shows you exactly why each course section was recommended and the impact of including or excluding it
When to Use It
The Credential Builder is ideal for creating:Micro-Credentials
Short-form credentials targeting specific skills or competencies that students can complete quickly. Perfect for workforce development and continuing education programs.Industry Certificates
Multi-course certificates aligned to specific career pathways. Use this to create programs that prepare students for industry-recognized certifications or specific job roles.Digital Badges
Skill-based digital badges that recognize specific competencies. Design badge programs that stack toward larger credentials or degrees.Stackable Credentials
Educational building blocks that can be combined and stacked toward associate or bachelor’s degrees. Create clear pathways that let students progress from certificates to degrees.The Credential Builder works best when you have a clear understanding of your target jobs and have already processed your course section syllabi through the skills extraction system.
Key Benefits
AI-Powered Optimization
The genetic algorithm explores thousands of possible course combinations to find solutions that humans might miss. It can identify non-obvious course pairings that provide excellent skill coverage with minimal redundancy.Data-Driven Decisions
Every recommendation is based on concrete data: the skills extracted from your syllabi and the skills required by your target jobs. No guesswork—just objective analysis.Optimized Balance
The system simultaneously optimizes for three competing goals:- Maximize Skill Coverage: Ensure students learn the skills they need
- Minimize Redundancy: Avoid teaching the same skills multiple times
- Control Course Count: Keep credentials achievable by limiting the number of sections
Interactive Refinement
After the AI provides recommendations, you can refine them with real-time feedback. Toggle course sections on and off to see exactly how each change affects job readiness across all your target careers.Fast Results
What would take days of manual analysis happens in 30-300 seconds. You can experiment with different configurations and quickly iterate to find the best solution.Interface Overview
The Credential Builder interface has two main areas that work together:Sidebar: Configuration Summary and Actions
The sidebar on the left shows your current configuration and provides quick access to key actions: Selected Jobs - View all target jobs you’ve selected for analysis. Each job appears as a badge that you can remove individually. Course Filters - See which courses (if any) you’ve limited the optimization to use. Leave empty to allow the AI to consider all available course sections. Optimization Weights - Summary of how the algorithm balances skill coverage, redundancy reduction, and course count. Action Buttons:- Run Optimization: Start the AI analysis with your current configuration
- Cancel: Stop an optimization that’s currently running
- Reset: Clear all settings and start over
The sidebar stays visible at all times, making it easy to track your configuration and take action without scrolling through long pages.
Main Pane: Configuration and Results
The main content area switches between two modes based on your workflow stage: Configuration Mode (Before Running Optimization) Three tabs let you set up your optimization:- Jobs Tab: Select the target jobs you want the credential to prepare students for
- Course Filter Tab: Optionally limit which courses the AI can use (leave empty to use all)
- Settings Tab: Adjust optimization weights to control how the algorithm balances competing goals
- Summary Tab: Overview of optimization results with key metrics and a visual skills coverage analysis
- Curriculum Tab: Interactive list of recommended course sections with real-time impact analysis
Real-Time Optimization Progress
When you run an optimization, you’ll see live updates showing the AI’s progress:- Current Generation: Which iteration of the genetic algorithm is running (e.g., “Generation 45/100”)
- Best Fitness Score: How well the current best solution meets your goals (higher is better)
- Elapsed Time: How long the optimization has been running
- Progress Bar: Visual indicator of completion percentage
Optimization typically takes 30-300 seconds depending on the complexity of your configuration. More jobs and more available course sections take longer to optimize.
How It Works (High-Level)
Here’s what happens when you use the Credential Builder:1. You Select Target Jobs
Choose the careers you want your credential to prepare students for. You can select jobs from the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system or custom jobs you’ve added to your organization.2. AI Analyzes Requirements
The system reviews the skills required by each job, noting which skills are “core” requirements versus “relevant” skills, and what proficiency levels students need to achieve.3. Algorithm Finds Optimal Combinations
A genetic algorithm explores thousands of possible course section combinations, evaluating each one on:- How well it covers required skills
- How much redundancy it creates
- How many course sections it requires
4. You Review and Refine Results
The system shows you the recommended curriculum with detailed coverage analysis. You can then:- Toggle course sections on and off to see the impact
- View which jobs would be affected by each change
- See which specific skills would drop below or meet thresholds
- Adjust your curriculum while maintaining strong job alignment
5. Create the Credential
Once you’re satisfied with the optimized curriculum, create a stackable credential that students can work toward. The credential will include all active course sections and inherit their combined skills.The entire process—from selecting jobs to creating the credential—can be completed in just a few minutes, compared to days or weeks of manual curriculum analysis.
What Success Looks Like
After using the Credential Builder, you’ll have:- Optimized Curriculum: A data-driven selection of course sections that maximizes job readiness
- Clear Understanding: Detailed insights into how each course section contributes to job preparation
- Skills Coverage Analysis: Visual reports showing which skills are covered and to what proficiency levels
- Stackable Credential: A credential students can pursue, complete with all required course sections
- Confidence: Certainty that your credential design is based on real job market requirements, not guesswork
Next Steps
Building Your First Credential
Step-by-step guide to using the Credential Builder to design your first optimized credential.
Understanding Optimization Settings
Learn how to fine-tune the optimization algorithm to match your institution’s priorities and constraints.
Interpreting Results
Deep dive into understanding the optimization results and making informed refinement decisions.
Managing Stackable Credentials
Learn how to manage the credentials you create, add or remove sections, and track student progress.
Important Prerequisites
Before using the Credential Builder, make sure you have:1
Processed Course Section Syllabi
Upload syllabi for your course sections and run the skills extraction process. The Credential Builder needs skills data to make recommendations.
2
Added Target Jobs
Either select jobs from the SOC database or add custom jobs with processed job descriptions. The AI needs to know what skills employers are looking for.
3
Reviewed Skills Data
Ensure your course sections and jobs have complete skills data. Incomplete data leads to suboptimal recommendations.
The Credential Builder can only optimize based on the data it has. If your course sections haven’t been processed for skills, or if your target jobs lack skill requirements, the optimization won’t be able to make good recommendations.