Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange

Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE)

Public Documents  |  Contributing Member Resources  |  CASE Network

Summary

The IMS Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange^® (CASE^®) standard facilitates the exchange of information about learning and education competencies and skills. CASE also transmits information about rubrics, criteria for performance tasks, which may or may not align to competencies. By implementing CASE, it is possible to electronically exchange competency definitions so that applications, systems, and tools can readily access and manage this data. Having universal identifiers for education competencies makes it possible for any tool or application to share information between systems easily. This includes learning management systems, assessment tools, curriculum management apps, certificate and competency-based evaluation systems, and any other tool, process, or content that aligns to or references a competency or framework. This framework makes it possible to define relationships within a competency framework or between two separate frameworks.

CASE provides a framework for provisioning and transmitting all of the following:

	Competency Framework Documents - original competencies or academic standards documents
	Competency Framework Items - statements of what the learner will know and be able to do
	Competency Framework Associations - relationships between entire standard sets or individual standards and courses
	Competency Framework Rubrics - instruments used to delineate performance expectations around a task, product or performance which may or may not be aligned to standards

Breaking Down CASE

CASE is the IMS standard that enables the consistent format and exchange of information about learning and education competencies, skills or academic standards in an open, machine-readable format. Technical documentation and other resources are found on this page.

CASE Network is a single, verifiable, trusted source of learning standards and workforce competencies in digital format. It is supported by a collaboration of leading states, districts, and edtech suppliers working to make the alignment of digital resources and edtech products dramatically faster, easier, and less expensive to support aligned instruction across the digital learning ecosystem. See the CASE Network FAQ for more information.

Multiple IMS-certified products can display and manage CASE-formatted standards. Be sure to check the IMS Product Directory to see the official listing of products that have passed IMS Global interoperability certification. Using these products will enable your institution to achieve the benefits associated with IMS. 

Public Documents

• Introduction to Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE)
• Real-World Scenarios
• What is Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE)? (Presentation) 
• Achieving Interoperability with IMS Global CASE and Extended Transcript (Presentation by IMS members at 2017 CBExchange)
• Student Learning Data Model

CASE in Action

• Search Learning Resources using CASE
• Creating Standards or Competencies
• Importing and Exporting Standards
• Aligning Content

Procurement Guidance

• A Brief Primer on Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange Conformance for End-User and Buyers of Educational Content and Learning Platforms
• Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange Checklist and RFP Language: An explanation of language to include in a procurement document and questions to ask suppliers.

Specification Documents 

• CASE 1.0 Specification (Information Model)
• CASE 1.0 Specification (REST API)
• CASE 1.0 Best Practices and Implementation Guide
• CASE 1.0 Conformance Guide
• CASE 1.0 Context Description Notes
• CASE 1.0 Context File
• CASE Service (Version 1.0) OpenAPI Definition
• CASE 1.0 JSON-LD Binding 1.0 Public Candidate Final (Optional binding for CASE, allowing linked data to be findable online.)

Student Learning Data Model

• The IMS Student Learning Data Model visualizes a digital ecosystem interconnected with real-time data. Log in with your IMS member credentials to access specification-level Mapping and Discovery in the tool.

Contributing Member Resources (Login Required)

Remember to log into the site first to see a complete list of the resources available to you. Some resources are only available to IMS Global members. If you are an IMS Global member but do not have a login, you can create one here. 

Suppliers/Developers

• How to Get Your Product IMS Conformance Certified

Institutions

• A Brief Primer on Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange Conformance for End-User and Buyers of Educational Content and Learning Platforms
• Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange Checklist and RFP Language: An explanation of language to include in a procurement document and questions to ask suppliers.

Developers' Github Community

• Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange Github Community

Are Your Products IMS Global Certified?

IMS Global has testing programs that enable products to be certified compliant with specific standards and features of the standards. For technology suppliers, participation in the IMS certification process is the fastest and most cost-effective way to achieve product integrations. For institutions, ensuring that your educational technology tools are IMS certified is the best way to establish a plug-and-play ecosystem, allowing your tools and content to work together seamlessly, giving you more choice, and reducing your total cost of ownership. IMS members have access to expert support to implement the standards prior to completing conformance certification. Learn more to begin taking advantage of the benefits of certification.