Open Badges: Supporting Learning and Employability by Recognising Skills Development Dr. Ian Glover, Technology Enhanced Learning team, Student and Learning Services
Dr. Ian Glover, Technology Enhanced Learning team, Student and Learning Services.
Dec 29, 2015
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Open Badges: Supporting Learning and Employability by Recognising Skills Development
Dr. Ian Glover,Technology Enhanced Learning team,
Student and Learning Services
What is a 'Badge'?
Visual representation of achievement, experience, affiliation and/or interest - ideally distinctive and understood within a community.
Some examples:
On (scout) Badges
“Badges mean nothing in themselves, but they mark a certain achievement and they are a link between the rich and the poor. For when one girl sees a badge on a sister Scout’s arm, if that girl has won the same badge, it at once awakens an interest and sympathy between them.”
- Juliette G. Low, Founder of Girl Scouts of the USA
What are Open Badges?
Link to criteria and evidence for award
Add security and verification can check whether a person was actually awarded a
specific badge
Have the credibility of the awarding body
Allow sharing of 'badge clusters' from different sources with others on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Essentially, an image + embedded information
Anatomy of an Open Badge
Open Badges Anatomy (Updated) by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA.
Why is there interest in them?
Growing recognition that significant amounts of learning happens outside the classroom
Grade transcripts hide the truth about learning
Strong links with current trends such as MOOCs, Gamification, Mobile Learning but can be used independently of these
What's the use in HE?
Surface the learning 'hidden' in a transcript
Encourage students to undertake co- and extra-curricular activities
Helps recognise informal learning
Enables students to differentiate themselves from classmates
The rise of the Informal University? (MOOCs + Badges) * Awareness = Degree-equivalent?
Potential uses
Showing competency in a skill, e.g. nursing students taking blood samples
Recognising extra-curricular activity e.g. a music student participating in an
orchestra
Representing co-curricular development e.g. participation in Students' Union
activities, such as chairing society meetings
More potential uses
Identifying common themes in a programme e.g. showing all modules that develop debating skills
Getting businesses and professional bodies involved e.g. co-creating badges that meet workplace skills, or
professional attributes
Build toward specialism badges e.g. students get badges that relate to their learning
journey, by reflecting their optional modules
Think about Badges in your context
Are there skills that students use and develop?
Do you have extra-curricular activities to encourage?
Do you want to draw links between learning and skills demanded by employers/professional bodies?
Indiana Jones and the lost badge by Kyle Bowen.
CC-BY-SA
Share your thoughts
Points to consider when using Open Badges
For greatest effect: Make them as professional-looking as
possible Issue cross-module badges Badges should push students to go
beyond the minimum Tell businesses/professional bodies about
them Link badges to 'real-world', desirable
skills Each badge must represent a substantial
and meaningful skill or experience
Getting Started
Image creation OpenBadges.me (http://openbadges.me)
Online Badge Maker (http://www.onlinebadgemaker.com/)
Badge creation and issuing badg.us (http://badg.us)
All-in-one system Credly (http://credly.com)
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