Questions and answers

Yes. Every web module in the ICoBC Academy is free to use, without an account and without advertising. You pay only if you choose to upgrade a certificate to a verifiable credential.

No. You open a course and start. Your progress is saved in your browser on this device. If you use the courses through your organisation’s learning platform, the platform saves your progress instead.

Pass the final check of a web module. You then type your name as it should appear on the certificate and download it as a PDF. Your name stays on your device; it is not sent to ICoBC.

No. The PDF is a self-issued record of completion. It shows the course, the date and your score, but nobody can check it independently. For proof that employers, universities and systems can verify, request the upgrade to an Open Badges 3.0 credential.

€110 plus VAT per certificate (€130.90 including 19% German VAT). The fee covers the identity check, the check of your acquired competences and the issuing of a signed Open Badges 3.0 credential.

The courses are not degrees or regulated qualifications. Each course states its notional workload, an indicative ECTS equivalent and indicative EQF and SFIA levels, so that universities and employers can decide how to recognise it.

A pathway is an ordered sequence of courses for one role, such as Micro-credential Designer or Credential Technologist. Several pathways end in a work-based validation that awards a Competency credential.

The Academy shows only courses that are online as web modules. New courses appear as soon as they are published. The pathways show which courses are planned.

Yes. All courses are open on GitHub in LiaScript, a Markdown format for courses. Create a branch, make your change and open a pull request (on other platforms called a merge request). The ICoBC course team reviews every change.

Yes. The Academy is also available as a SCORM 1.2 package for learning management systems such as Moodle, ILIAS or Cornerstone. Contact us for the current package.

The PDF is created in your browser. ICoBC keeps no record of it, so nobody can confirm that it is genuine or that it belongs to you. A verifiable credential is signed by ICoBC and can be checked by anyone, at any time, without contacting us.

An official photo ID (passport, national identity card or residence permit) and a device with a camera for a short video call. We look at the ID during the call. We do not copy, photograph or keep it.

An ICoBC reviewer compares your certificate with the course record (course, version, date and score) and asks you to complete a short supervised check: questions drawn from the course question bank, or for Ability courses a short review of your work product against the course rubric. This confirms that the competences on the certificate are yours.

Then we do not issue a credential. We tell you which learning outcomes were not confirmed, so you can review the course and book a new check.

Open Badges 3.0 credentials are W3C verifiable credentials. You can keep them in a wallet or backpack that supports Open Badges 3.0, share them by link and add them to professional profiles.

Yes. Give the organisation’s name, invoice address and, for companies in other EU countries, the VAT ID. We then invoice the organisation. For several employees, ask us for a group process.

Knowledge and Ability credentials have no fixed expiry, unless the course states one, for example for regulation topics. Each credential records the course version. ICoBC can revoke a credential that was issued in error; its status is part of the credential.

No. Courses confirm Knowledge or Ability. Competency credentials come only from the V-series work-based validations, which are assessed in your real work.