Open Badges for Recognition of Learning

1
OPEN BADGES FOR RECOGNITION OF
LEARNING AND ONLINE REPUTATION
Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem
Professor in Residence for Digital Media and Diversity
Dept. Economics and Social Sciences
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
eMadrid: Badges for the Recognition of Learning in the Digital Age
27th January 2015-01-27
Tuesday, January 27, 15

BEUTH UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES BERLIN
12.500 students * 285 professors * 72 study programs * 8 departments
15 minutes from airport Tegel in north-east part of Berlin called Wedding

BEUTH BADGES
12.500 students * 285 professors * 72 study programs * 8 departmentsBeuthBadges: http://beuthbadges.wordpress.com/
Issuer
Backpack
Displayer

UNIFIED 3D BADGE DESIGN
1. Logo (program)
3. Skill (type)
2. Title (skill)
• Description/document
• Issuer’s details
• Link to e-portfolio
• Metadata, e.g. time stamp
4. Color (module)
ILONA BUCHEM / eMadrid Seminar on "Badges for the Recognition of Learning in the Digital Age" (2015-01-27), CC BY-NC-SA

OPEN BADGE INFRASTRUCTURE (OBI)
OPEN BADGES METADATA

OPEN BADGES AS A CREDENTIALING SYSTEM
THE RATIONALE
?? ?

DIFFERENT ROUTES TO LEARNING
Poster by Jay Cross
“ The most prominent forms of
recognition arise through certification of
formal learning programmes (...).
While this approach is prominent in
terms of formal recognition of learning,
it is possibly not as signiﬁcant when it
comes to the proportion of learning
that it recognises.”

OPEN
EDUCATION
OPEN
COURSES,
e.g. MOOCS
OPEN
RESOURCES,
e.g. OER
OPEN
ACCESS,
e.g. CC
OPEN
CREDENTIALS,
e.g. OBI
OPEN EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM

MEASURING MORE THAN SEAT TIME
“Badges can help speed the shift from credentials that
simply measure seat time, to ones that more accurately
measure competency. (...) badges can help account for formal
and informal learning in a variety of settings.” (Duncan, 2011)

COURSE-CENTERED APPROACH
“(ECTS) is a tool that helps to design, describe, and deliver study
programmes and award higher education qualifications. (...)
Course descriptions contain ‘learning outcomes’ (i.e. what
students are expected to know, understand and be able to do)
and workload (i.e. the time students typically need to achieve
these outcomes).” ec.europa.eu

SOCIOLOGY OF CREDENTIALISM
“Credentials are (a) monopolized by competing occupational
status groups as exclusionary status, cultural entry barriers to
positions and (b) used by hiring parties as measure of candidates’
trustworthiness in positions that embody discretionary powers.”
Brown (2001)

CREDENTIAL INFLATION
Number of degrees
social and occupational value
“As educational attainment has
expanded, the social distinctiveness
of that degree and its value on the
occupational marketplace has
declined; this in turn has expanded
demand for still higher levels of
education.” (Collins, 2011)

RETHINKING CREDENTIALS
“ Mozilla Open Badges is an initiative exploring alternative ways
for learners to receive recognition for skills and achievements
gained outside of the school environment, such as open
credentialing and accreditation for all types of learning, including
informal and interest driven.” Knight & Casilli (2012).

OPEN BADGES FOR ONLINE REPUTATION
VALUE ADDED

LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH
“(Badges) have the potential for greater, extended use for
individuals in multiple learning environments to create skill and
knowledge portraits more comprehensive than a single letter
grade or certificate can capture. Digital badges can represent
very finely-grained skills (...) to more comprehensive knowledge
domains (...).” Sullivan (2013)

OCCUPATIONAL MARKETPLACE
“In addition to the assessment of concrete content knowledge,
post-industrial societies are increasingly demanding that their
members demonstrate their abilities in abstract and soft skills
areas such as teamwork, critical thinking and analysis,
communication, and personal management of time and
resources” (Sullivan, 2013)

THE FUTURE OF PAPER-BASED JOB APPLICATION?
Paper-based job application Digital job application
Research study “Recruiting Trends 2014”: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/fileadmin/uni/fakultaeten/wiai_lehrstuehle/isdl/RecruitingTrends_2014.pdf

DISPLAYING BADGES

BADGE-DRIVEN REPUTATION
skillsmemberships
lifestyle knowledge
endorsements
Open Badges can help piece together formal and informal learning, work-
skills, individual knowledge and experience, allowing to document and
display competencies and accomplishments in a more holistic manner.
achievements

BADGE-DRIVEN EVIDENCE
digital products
peer-generated
testimonials
data
Open Badges help to demonstrate skills to a wider audience, beyond the
limits of a context in which they were originally earned.

EXAMPLES
Picture: http://pixabay.com

• Approach 1 “Mastery”
Identify learning goals to be mastered and describe criteria for getting
a badge prior to learning.
>>> pre-defined, predictable
• Approach 2 “Exploratory”
Observe the process and ask stakeholders (teachers, learners, peers)
to identify unique achievements of an individual.
>>> emergent, potential
APPROACHES TO ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING (1)

• Approach A “Formative”
Aim at providing feedback to the learning process or learning path.
>>> during the learning process
• Approach B “Summative”
Aim at recognition and formalisation of learning outcomes.
>>> at the end of a learning process
APPROACHES TO VALIDATION OF LEARNING (2)

OPEN BADGES FOR RECOGNITION OF LEARNING
ASSESSMENT VALIDATION FOCUS
mastery formative individual
exploratory summative standardised

In an online course “E-Business Management” badges are part of the formative
assessment and are used as markers of learning to signal the learning pathway.
EXAMPLE 1
MASTERY - FORMATIVE - STANDARDISED APPROACH

• Recognise unique skills and achievements
of migrant academics beyond formal
course description and tests.
• Enable learners to communicate skills and
achievements across digital contexts.
• Help learners exploit their digital
credentials for occupational purposes.
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Career
Education
Identity
Engineering
Research
Language
In the qualification program “Credit Points”
Open Badges were used to:
EXAMPLE 2
EXPLORATORY - SUMMATIVE - INDIVIDUAL APPROACH

Media literacy:
• Social media in use
• Online identity
• Online reputation
Digital research skills:
• Digital media in research
• Research in teams and networks
• Open science and publishing
Career-building skills:
• Job application skills
• Strengths and resources
• Application preparation
FOCUSING ON 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

ONLINE REPUTATION
CREDIT POINTS:
(1) ECTS for completed modules
(2) Badges representing micro-skills
(3) Achievement records in ePortfolios
E-PORTFOLIO AS DIGITAL CV

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
PARTICIPANTS MIGRANT GRADUATES WITH
TECHNICAL DEGREES
Number of participants n = 25 (12 female, 13 male)
Academic background 20 different technical degrees
Age 75% 30 - 49 years old
Country 25% Russia, 16% Poland, 16% Spain

PROJECT OUTCOMES
BEFORE AFTER
Employment 8% 72%
Digital CV 0% 72%
Online profile 8% 40%
Social network small and narrow larger and broader
Self-esteem lower higher

NEXT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GOALS
http://www.badgealliance.org/open-badges-research/

POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES
New and Alternative Assessments, Digital Badges, and Civics:
An Overview of Emerging Themes and Promising Directions
By Felicia M. Sullivan, CIRCLE
S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
AIM 1: Research on positive / negative
effects of open badges as credentials

COMMUNITY APPROACH
“A “digital badge” is an online record of achievements, tracking
the recipient’s communities of interaction that issued the
badge and the work completed to get it.” (Badge Alliance)
AIM 2: Designing Open Badges as
community-enhanced credentials

BADGE EUROPE - STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Creation of a European Open Badges professional network
Open Badges initiatives to support learning regions and cities
Development of the Open Badges Infrastructure
Integration of Open Badges at policy level, e.g. Europass
JOIN US as Associate Partner!
PARTICIPATE IN Open Badges MOOC in 2015!
AIM 3: Initiating common
activities and initiatives in Europe

Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
E-mail: buchem@beuth-hochschule.de
Twitter: @mediendidaktik
Thank you!
Picture credentials: Wikimedia, Pixabay, Devianart, JISC

Open Badges for Recognition of Learning

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