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Learner Attribute Matching Index (LAMI)

Building a better learner experience together

In the US alone, there are hundreds of millions of learner records exchanged between Higher Ed. institutions annually. With every exchange, each institution may have to match the attributes of the incoming record to an existing record, without the use of specific identifiable data, such as a Social Security Number.

This process occurs in parallel across 1000’s of institutions and service providers each day. The operation requires the highest level of data integrity and often requires significant and costly manual intervention to prevent the creation of duplicate, or conflated records. An arduous, repetitive act occurring from one institution to another, often for the same record.

Estimated to have an annual cost, per institution, of between $1,000 to $2,000, the Learner Attribute Matching Index (LAMI) service is a common-sense solution that eliminates the need to page rematch the same record in the same way, greatly improving efficiencies, containing costs, while ensuring data quality and integrity.

Additionally, the LAMI service efficiently and automatically digitally links learner records (e.g., credentials), avoiding the use of sensitive PII, while allowing for interoperability across the entire ecosystem of education. It is an integral component in an ecosystem to support student self-sovereignty and CLRs where credentials are stackable, mobile and validated. In a world where lifelong learners will share their credentials on a variety of web-based platforms outside of the institution, the LAMI will be crucial to creating a seamless sharing and storage experience, controlled and managed by the learner.

The LAMI service can play a key role in providing students with true agency over their credentials and thus access to a brighter future. Join us in making this a reality.

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  • Technical Overview
    • Only machine-readable academic index — expedites the record matching process across artifacts
    • Flexible interface allows participants to be transparently and efficiently invoked in real-time or batch
    • Programmatic compliance with regulatory guidelines
    • Immutable record of academic data is preserved even through changing requirements across institution
    • Does not require learner interaction or maintenance
    • Interacts directly with SIS
    • Only serves the learner
  • Benefits
    • Institutions, SIS vendors, and education service providers can reconcile disparate repositories of learner records at significantly reduced administrative cost and reputational risk 
    • Learners’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is kept cryptographically secure
    • LAMI is designed to be interoperable based on open standards
    • Extensibility accommodates the incorporation of new types and sources of learning records in a rapidly evolving educational landscape (e.g. new assessment methodologies, microdegrees, MOOC activities, new institutions, global expansion of access to education)
    • Integrity and fidelity of accurate and comprehensive learner records are preserved during times of increased student mobility, technology-enhanced education, and service offerings
    • FERPA/GDPR compliant

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A credentialing infrastructure for the 21st Century

Jan 26, 2020

A new report on policy needs and important initiatives underway.

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AACRAO & National Student Clearinghouse Forum on the Learner Record Index

Apr 29, 2019

A shared service for the higher educational community. Participants needed to shape governance, tech, and communications.

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Join the national conversation: The Learner Record Index

Mar 18, 2019

A conversation on why a national LRI is critical for supporting higher education today and in the future.

left quoteThe American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) is in support of efforts to establish a Learner Attribute Matching Index (LAMI). LAMI has the potential to digitally connect learner records and credentials to enable efficient, secure, and convenient educational data management and exchange across the entire higher education ecosystem. We believe that the higher education community would benefit from reduced cost, improved trust and security, and improved student mobility. The potential to extend LAMI to the needs of the workforce such as human resources systems, training and lifelong earning, and the exchange of other types of certified credentials on behalf of learners and workers presents a tremendous opportunity.right quote
- Michael Reilly, Executive Director, AACRAO

LAMI Supporters

“The Learner Record Matching Index represents a key component in an ecosystem that will not only lower barriers for students to transfer between our institutions, but also could enable them to combine and control the disclosure of their educational records and credentials to whomever they wish. The potential of such a shared but trusted service to reduce the cost and enable confidence in electronic exchange of all educational records and credentials is vast.”

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Mark McConahay
Associate Vice Provost and Registrar
Indiana University

“Oracle is supportive of the LRMI concept and we are eager to see the plans evolve to  determine how we can support it becoming a reality.”

Geof Corb
Vice President, Customer Success
Oracle
Oracle

“This concept is long overdue for education. There is an explosion of new types of educational artifacts being produced in tandem with a demographic that will increasingly seek lifelong learning opportunities. The LRMI has the ability to transform the administrative support process, from assuring prior learning artifact accuracy to focusing on assessing and enabling learner progression.”

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Rick Torres
President & CEO
National Student Clearinghouse

“Workday supports efforts that increase institutional effectiveness and reduce barriers for  students, allowing both to focus on the most important goal: learning. Today, Workday delivers a “Universal ID” capability that supports the Learner Record Matching Index model.”

Liz Dietz
Vice President, Student Strategy and
Product Management
Workday
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