Classification of Programs of Study

[philbarker]

Use Case

Initial proposal from Rachel is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XkBZTLnEZflq9Z9TqPzhtnOVSmoyygFnxXi_VaamRAE/edit?usp=sharing (limited access).

In short: functionality similar to that provided by the Occupation and Industry classes is requested but for grouping together Programs that address similar occupational outcomes. This includes:

• ability to browse programs that are classified as addressing the same subject. This is similar to what may be achieved by using CIP or similar Concept Schemes for classifying programs.
• allow states to define a program of study and support delivery at different institutions. This probably goes beyond what one would cover in a Concept Scheme: "bundle a coherent course sequence, industry-based certifications, and work-based learning under a single named program justified against labor-market demand" and link to Learning Programs that deliver that program.

Examples

This is a common way of displaying program searches in Texas career exploration tools

• Texas CREWS, https://txcrews.org/ - Explore majors and degree programs
• Texas Career Check, https://texascareercheck.com/ExploreEducation/ProgramsOfStudy - Explore Education by Programs of Study
• MyTXFuture, https://www.mytexasfuture.org/career-explorer/ - Search by Career Cluster or Relevant Areas of Study

Notes

• In the short term something like a CIP Concept Scheme is the best option, but does not address the second part of the use case as fully as a new class would. This is analogous to Occupation, where ONET may be coded as a Concept Scheme but the Occupation class offers greater functionality in linking to related objects.
• The name "Program of Study" is also used for local specifications of a curriculum by institutions; as such it would be hard to distinguish from it LearningProgram. We discussed ProgramOfStudyClassification / ProgramClassification as an alternative, or even using LearningProgram.

[philbarker]

here is a very tentative sketch of what I have in mind:

Tentative definition for the new class:

"Program of study defined by a central authority specifying requirements to which learning programs provided by others should adhere."

Part of my thinking in choosing certain properties over others is that instances of the new class do not "teach" anything, they specify how they should be taught; they are not offered they specify things that may be offered; they do not themselves lead to a credential, but they are in some way associated with them.

This could be modified to include similar specifications for Courses if I am right in my hunch that the California course identifiers act as classifiers for courses in a similar way.

We could also look to ELM's elm:Specification and its subclasses, though these also map to LearningProgram.