My second assignment for the Badges MOOC considers how badges could supplement current assessment methods in the K-12 educational system.

1. H O W C A N B A D G E S M A K E A D I F F E R E N C E ?
Learner Competencies and Badges
in the K-12 Alberta Educational
System

2. W H O D E V E L O P S L E A R N E R C O M P E T E N C I E S
A N D E X P E C T A T I O N S I N A L B E R T A ?
Developing Learner
Competencies

3. How are competencies defined in education, and
by whom?
 All learner outcomes (i.e., competencies) in Alberta
come from the Alberta Program of Studies (i.e.,
curriculum)
 All teachers receive a detailed list of learner
outcomes for each subject at each grade level
 Alberta Education arrives at these competencies
through a complex series of consultations involving
education and industry specialists and professionals
in conjunction with the Alberta government

4. The Role of Teachers
 Although the government creates learner
expectations, teachers have freedom to select which
outcomes they will focus on and work with for each
reporting period
 Most report cards ask teachers to choose from a list
of learner outcomes, as including all outcomes would
be prohibitively bulky. Thus, most teachers pick and
choose from the government provided competencies.
 This is particularly true in less stringently
defined subject areas, such as the arts

5. H O W D O S T U D E N T S A T T A I N L E A R N I N G
O B J E C T I V E S ?
Learning Frameworks

6. What are the learning frameworks that guide
learners toward achieving the competencies?
 Within the school system, teachers serve the dual role of
learning providers and assessors
 The government also plays a role in assessment through
standardized testing delivered every three years (in
grades 3, 6, 9, and 12) to all Alberta students
 Teachers are responsible for creating a framework –
often in collaboration with other teachers – that will help
students to attain learner competencies
 Often individual schools or boards provide optional or
mandatory resources, such as textbooks, designed
around these specific learner outcomes

7. The Teacher’s Role
Teachers are responsible for…
 designing a framework that ensures all students
attain the learner competencies specified by Alberta
Education
 ensuring that they provide instruction in all subject
areas and address each leaner outcome over the
course of the term
 providing a variety of methods of
assessment for each student
Image by Rex Pe

8. H O W A R E S T U D E N T S A S S E S S E D , A N D H O W I S
T H A T P R O G R E S S R E C O R D E D ?
How We Assess and Record
Student Progress

9. Who assesses learners’ competencies? What evidence documents learners’
competencies, and who has access to this evidence? Can individuals assert
competence without having undertaken a learning program, e.g., through tests or
prior learning evaluation? How are learners’ competencies recorded?
 Teachers are directly responsible for assessing students’
competencies
 Very few teachers allow students to demonstrate competencies
without undertaking the learning program, due in part to the
difficulty of programming for students who already demonstrate
competency in everything a teacher plans to do throughout the year
 Learner competencies are generally documented and reported
through report cards, which are provided to parents and school
officials on a regular basis
 Parents also receive copies of student work and tests at regular
intervals throughout the year
 The government plays a role in assessment
through standardized tests delivered every
three years (in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12)
Image by KF

10. Formative Assessment Summative Assessment
 Occurs during student
learning
 Often informal – takes
the form of anecdotal
notes, observations,
and student work
(small projects,
worksheets,
assignments, etc.)
 Occurs at the end of
student learning
 Often formal – takes
the form of exams,
large projects, papers,
and other pieces
designed to
demonstrate student
knowledge
How Teachers Assess

11. W H O A R E T H E S T A K E H O L D E R S ?
Who Cares?

12. Who are the consumers of the records of
competence?
 Students
 Parents
 Future educators/instructors
 Post secondary institutions
 Employers
NB: Assessments are cumulative. It’s unlikely an employer
would ask for a prospective employee’s first grade report
card, but they may ask for a college transcript, and
admittance to college may have been based on high school
assessments.

13. D O E S I T W O R K ?
Strengths and Shortcomings

14. Strengths Shortcomings
 Standards remain the
same across the province
 Clear expectations of
teachers and students
 Easy to access learner
outcomes
 Wide berth of
information across
subject areas
 Standards do not fit all
students (too complex
for some, too simple for
others)
 Too many objectives to
report on
 Objectives are often
rushed due to “time
crunch” and the need to
cover all learning
outcomes
Outline the shortcomings and strengths of the
current currency exchange in this ecosystem.

15. H O W C A N B A D G E S W O R K W I T H I N T H I S
E C O S Y S T E M ?
The Role of Badges

16. Trevor: The
Current
System
Trevor is an eleventh grade student at a
local high school. Although he knows a lot
about the areas that interest him –
primarily cars and computers – he doesn’t
do well in traditional school subjects. He
has more or less given up on school, and
attends mainly because he has to (and to
see his friends). Trevor scrapes by with
passing grades, which is all he aspires to.
At home, he spends many hours watching
YouTube videos on how to repair his car,
and he has helped his parents with some
basic mechanical problems. If his grades
are good enough, he plans to go to
vocational school and become a
mechanic, but his real dream is to design
and build his own hot rodder.
Image by Gates Foundation

17. Trevor: An
Alternative
Trevor is an eleventh grade student at a local
high school. Although he knows a lot about
the areas that interest him – primarily cars
and computers – he doesn’t do well in
traditional school subjects. Trevor is actively
pursuing the school’s “automechanic” badge.
This badge requires him to attend all classes
regularly and maintain a passing average in
the traditional assessment system, but also
provides him with “side quests” he must
complete. If Trevor successfully earns this
badge, he will be able to include it with his
applications to vocational school. Post
secondary institutions are familiar with this
school’s badge system and have access to the
criteria students completed in order to earn
each badge. They are confident that the
teachers, as assessors, will only award the
badge if it is well deserved.
Image by Gates Foundation

18. Mount
Clearview’s
Automotive
Badge
Criteria for the automotive badge:
 Attain a passing grade of 50% in all
major core subjects
 Attend all classes on a regular basis
 In a manner of your choosing,
demonstrate the ability to complete
four of the following tasks:
 Identify the parts of an engine
 Perform basic car maintenance, such as
changing oil, tires, and spark plugs
 Explain how an engine operates
 Identify five common problems with cars
and how to fix them
 Explain, in basic terms, the history of the
car and how it has affected society
 Demonstrate the ability to dismantle and
reassemble at least one engine component

19. Similarities Differences
 Students still receive standard
report cards and assessments
 Students are still required to
learn competencies put in
place by Alberta Education
 Students must still
demonstrate knowledge to an
official assessor (ie, a teacher)
to receive credit
 Students must still complete
preset learner competencies
in order to receive credit
 Students have choice in terms
of which learner objectives to
focus on, rather than the
teacher choosing for them
 Students can choose areas to
specialize in
 Students who do not excel in
traditional academic areas
can focus on “getting by” in
those areas while developing
skills in their areas of interest
A Badge Based System: What’s the Difference?

20. S O M E P R A C T I C A L S U G G E S T I O N S
How Can This Work?

21. In order for a badge based system to work within
an educational ecosystem…
1. All institutions must acknowledge the value of
badges
Few students will be interested in pursuing badges for
knowledge’s sake alone. Post secondary institutions must
communicate with schools to acknowledge the value of
badges. Badges should be included in transcripts, along
with lists of criteria for each badge, so that it is easy for a
post secondary institution to access the assessment
information.

22. In order for a badge based system to work within
an educational ecosystem…
2. Teachers must be willing to take on an active role in
creating and assessing badgework.
Badges do not work without competent assessment.
In the preceding example, Trevor would have had to
find a teacher knowledgeable about mechanics, or a
teacher would have to find an outside individual
capable of creating the criteria for the badge and
assessing the learner’s ability to meet that criteria.

23. In order for a badge based system to work within
an educational ecosystem…
3. Everyone must be willing to acknowledge that the
current learner outcomes do not work for everyone.
Students at post secondary institutions are allowed
and encouraged to specialize; students in the K-12
system are expected to be jack-of-all-trades. It’s fine
to expect students to acquire a basic knowledge of
core academic subjects, but we must accept that not
everyone fits the cookie cutter model we have created.

24. In order for a badge based system to work within
an educational ecosystem…
4. Stakeholders must release control
Currently, all learner competencies are assigned by
governments and teachers. For a badge based system
to work, both institutions must accept that students
will want to pursue other, equally valid,
competencies.