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AI & Credentials

Credential Policy

What a certificate records and what it is not, the instructor's signature on it, the number anyone can verify, when one is withdrawn, and what achievements, skills and levels mean.

Last updated on October 25, 2026.

An ACADA certificate records that the person named on it completed a course, and what that took: the lessons, the required quizzes they passed and the required work they handed in. The instructor signed the course's certificate once when they enabled it, and every student who finishes is issued that signed certificate automatically, with a number anyone can check at acada.ac/verify. It is not a qualification, a licence or a grade; nobody assessed what was learned beyond the course's own quizzes, and ACADA is not an accredited institution. It is yours to keep and to show; it is withdrawn only for cheating, and never for what happens to the course. Achievements, skills, XP and levels are records of activity, not credentials.

This summary is for orientation only. The sections below are the operative terms.

1. What this covers

This statement says what a certificate from acada.ac is, and is not, and what the other records on a portfolio mean. ACADA L.L.C., a Tennessee limited liability company (ACADA, we), issues certificates; it is written for the person who earns one, the instructor whose course issues it, and anyone shown one. How a certificate is earned, and when one is withdrawn, is in section 8 of Academic Integrity; this page says what the thing you hold means.

2. What a certificate is

A certificate is our record that the account holder named on it marked every lesson of a course complete, on a course whose instructor enabled certificates. It is issued by ACADA at the moment the last lesson is marked complete, automatically. Nobody reviews it: the instructor does not grade the student, and we do not check what was learned. It records completion, and what completion took.

What it took. When a certificate is issued, we record with it what the holder did: the lessons and modules completed, the instructor's estimate of how long those lessons take, the required quizzes passed and their pass marks, the required assignments handed in and the required discussions answered. We also record the skills listed on the course that we have approved. We take all of it from the course and the holder's work at that moment, and a later change to the course does not change it. Quizzes are marked automatically against the instructor's answers and can be retaken; assignments and discussions are counted when handed in, not graded.

The instructor's signature. When an instructor enables certificates for a course, they sign that course's certificate once, in the Editor, by typing their name. Every certificate the course issues carries that signature, with the instructor's name beneath it. The signature says that the instructor stands behind the course; it does not say that they assessed the student, and it is given before any student finishes. An instructor who leaves the course, or ACADA, does not take the signature off certificates already issued.

3. What a certificate is not

  • Not a qualification. Not a degree, diploma, licence, credit, continuing-education unit or professional certification, and not a substitute for any of them.
  • Not accredited. ACADA is not an educational institution, holds no accreditation, and is not recognised by any accrediting body, licensing board or government. A course on ACADA is not either, whatever its subject.
  • Not an assessment. It does not say what you learned, how well, or whether you can do anything. It says which required quizzes you passed and against what pass mark, not your scores, and that you handed in the required assignments, not what anyone thought of them.
  • Not an endorsement. Not of you by the instructor or by us, and not of the instructor or the course by us. The Educational Disclaimer says what a course is and is not; the Verification Policy says what "verified" means here.
  • Not something an instructor can make more of. Every certificate is titled "Certificate of Completion" and the title cannot be changed. An instructor who describes theirs as anything else is breaking section 4 of the Course Content Policy, and selling a certificate that claims to be more is a scam under Fraud & Scams.

4. What is on it

Your name as it was on your account when the certificate was issued, which may be a pen name under Account & Identity; the title of the course; the instructor's name and signature; the date you completed it; the number of lessons, the instructor's time estimate, the quizzes you passed and up to three of the course's skills; the certificate number; and the address where anyone can verify it.

Your name. Changing the name on your account does not change your certificates. From any one of them you can put your account's current name on every certificate you hold, and the verification page then says that the name was updated, and when. We keep the name each certificate carried before, visible only to our staff, so that a report that a certificate was renamed to someone else can be checked. It is deleted with the certificate.

5. Verifying one

Every certificate has a number, printed on it, and a public page at acada.ac/verify/ followed by that number. Anyone can open it, without an account, and see whether the certificate is valid, who holds it, which course, who created and signed the course, the date of completion, and what it took (section 2). Where the instructor is identity verified under the Verification Policy, the page says so. A certificate you have hidden on your portfolio still verifies: the link is yours to give, and giving it is the point. A course that has since closed still verifies; the completion happened. A withdrawn certificate verifies as withdrawn. We do not confirm certificates by email or by any other route; the page is the answer, and a certificate whose number is not on that page is not ours.

6. Keeping it, losing it

  • Yours to keep. A certificate stays on your account and your portfolio after the course closes and after the instructor leaves, as Purchases, Refunds & Subscriptions says. If your account is closed for breaking a policy, your certificates stay on record for the 30 days you have to appeal, and are then deleted with the account, as Account Enforcement & Appeals says. You can show it or hide it on your portfolio, print it, download it as a PDF or an image, add it to your LinkedIn profile, and share the verification link.
  • Withdrawn only for cheating. A certificate is withdrawn only where you earned it by breaking Academic Integrity, in the clear cases that policy describes, never because of what happened to the course or its instructor. We tell you when we withdraw one, by email and in your Account standing, and the record is kept and marked withdrawn so that a printed copy verifies as withdrawn. A withdrawal can be appealed under Account Enforcement & Appeals; an appeal that succeeds reissues the certificate with the same number. Completing the course again does not.
  • Deleted with your account. If you delete your account, your certificates are deleted with it and their verification links stop working. We keep no copy. Download or print one before you go if you want it.

7. Achievements, skills, XP, levels and streaks

The rest of what a portfolio shows is a record of activity on ACADA, kept by our software from what you did here: lessons completed, days in a row, courses finished, assignments handed in, skills an instructor attached to a course you completed. None of it is a credential. Nobody checks it against you, a skill on your portfolio means you completed a course that lists it and nothing more, and a level is a count of activity. You can hide any of it. Gaming these records is dealt with under the Community Guidelines.

8. What this statement does not do

  • It does not make a certificate mean more in one context than another. An employer, a school or a licensing body decides for themselves what weight to give it; we make no representation to them beyond section 2.
  • It does not permit misuse. Altering a certificate, presenting one you did not earn, or presenting one as a qualification is impersonation or fraud under the Community Guidelines and Fraud & Scams.
  • It does not promise a certificate on every course. Instructors choose whether a course issues one, and the landing page says so before you enroll.

9. Changes to this statement

When we change this statement, we change the date shown at the top. If a change adds a rule or a consequence, we post a notice in the app at least 14 days before it takes effect.

10. Contact

To check a certificate, use acada.ac/verify. A certificate you believe was withdrawn in error is appealed from Settings, under Account standing, within 30 days. For anything else about one, write to support@acada.ac.

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