A shorter version of my living deck for Higher Education. Prepared for the Educational Developers Caucus, held in Winnipeg in 2015. This version emphasizes educator PD at the expense of student employability.

1. Open Badges
...more than
Gamification or Gold Stars
Educational Developers Caucus
February 13, 2014
Don Presant
LONGER PRESENTATION PAGE:
http://bit.ly/openbadges4he

2. 70:20:10 Rule
Not all learning takes place in the classroom
deakinprime.com
wikipedia.org

3. Personal Learning Networks
Learning about learning never stops
Alec Couros 2010

4. “Paper Silos”
Issues with certification today
• Transparency issues
– “Dumb” paper often needs other
documents, e.g. syllabus
– Proxy only – not the “whole story”
– Easy to forge
• Recognition issues
– Lack of granularity
– Lack of context
• links to supporting evidence
– Experiential learning not valued
– Lack of alignment, transfer,
articulation (“stackability”)
• Physical issues
– Difficult to share, easy to lose
freedesignfile.com/92259

5. Open Badges
“micro-portfolios”

6. What are Open Badges?
Brief introduction
bit.ly/openbadges4tpd

7. Origins of Badges
• Since pre-Roman
times
• Heraldry, Military,
Blue Light, Boy Scouts
• Public recognition:
achievement,
affiliation, authority
www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7253
metronews.ca/
Badge Tracking Android App

8. A digital representation of an accomplishment,
interest or affiliation that is visual, available
online, and contains metadata including
trusted links that help explain the context,
meaning, process and result of an activity.
As an open artefact, the earner can present the
badge in different contexts from which it was
earned.
• Clear progress markers
– Motivating learners, supporting advisors
• Flexible learning pathways
– Granular, incremental, multi-source,
laddered, remixable
• Visual branding
– Issuers and learners
• Online trust system
– Demonstrate skills & capabilities
– Proof of performance
– Backed by issuer
What is an Open Badge?
Micro credentials - modular record of learning

9. www.badgealliance.org/why-badges/
A modular skills ecosystem
Open Badges and “Micro-portfolios”
“Going Digital” helps:
• Sharing, searching
• Validating, “valorizing”
– Assessing, aligning, combining, separating

10. Open Badges & Social Media
Curated in ePortfolio…
Interactive criteria…
LinkedIn Profile…
Facebook timeline…
Pulled from Backpack…

11. What is an Open Badge?
Different perspectives…
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
• A portable graphic with an embedded description and links to
supporting information
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
• A reward for positive (prescribed) behaviour
• A marker on a development path
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
• A micro-credential
• A discrete record in a modular transcript
…a simple digital standard for recognizing and sharing
achievements, skills and performance

12. How do Open Badges
support learning?

13. Emerging public policy: US
Secretary of Education
Badges can help speed the shift from credentials that
simply measure seat time, to ones that more
accurately measure competency. We must
accelerate that transition. And badges can help
account for formal and informal learning in a variety
of settings.
Today's technology-enabled, information-rich, deeply
interconnected world means learning not only can –
but should – happen anywhere, anytime. We need to
recognize these experiences, whether the
environments are physical or online, and whether
learning takes place in schools, colleges or adult
education centers, or in afterschool, workplace,
military or community settings.
Arne Duncan
Sep 2011
www.ed.gov/news/speeches/digital-badges-learning

14. Emerging public policy: UK
Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise
“In broad terms, the conferring of an Open Badge
on a learner is similar to the award of a
qualification certificate, and the same quality
standards must be ensured.
The emerging opportunities offered by Open
Badges in the areas of peer assessment,
employer partnership, learning analytics and
the engagement of learners means that it should
be considered in learning technology at various
levels.
We will encourage Awarding Organisations, Ofqual
and Ofsted to be aware of the potential of this
technology.”
Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG) recommendations: government response
Matthew Hancock, June 2014

15. Some uses of badges
Can be combined...
• Motivate learning
– “Game mechanics”:
• Set goals (missions), evaluate, track progress
• Provide learning pathways
• Recognize status, reputation, group affiliation
• Keep souvenir of experience
• Assess, recognize learning
– Formal, non-formal, informal
– Fill recognition gaps not currently well-served
transformingassessment.com/TA_webinar_5_mar_2014_Simon_Cross.pdf

16. Badge Pathways
Mozilla “Discover” (Gates funding)
http://discover.openbadges.org/

17. MATURE
ADULT
YOUTH
Open Badges: Lifelong, Lifewide Learning
LOW
STAKES
HIGH
STAKES
Volunteer
Experience
Work
Placements
After
School
Programs
Classroom
Engagement
Workplace
Engagement
Personal
Learning
MOOCs
Co-Curricular
Record
Workshops
P/T &
Summer
Jobs
Admission to
Higher Ed
Admission to
Post Grad
Schools
Job Hire
Conferences
Recognition
of Prior
Learning
Employability
Portfolio
Career
Transition
Promotion
Communities
of
Practice
Memberships,
Affiliations
Awards,
Achievements
Team
Building “Hard”
Credentials
“Soft”
Credentials
Red Cross,
Cadets,
Scouts,
etc.
E-learning
Courses
Formative
Feedback
Awards,
Achievements
Continuing
Education

18. Open University, UK
Student engagement and retention
http://www.olds.ac.uk/badges
See analysis: MOOC Badging and the Learning Arc
Open Learning Design Studio (OLDS) MOOC

19. Purdue University
Balancing Badges with Grades
Video playlist:
http://www.savvyfolio.net/user/don/open-badges-and-higher-education

20. Digital Badges vs. Grades
Purdue University
Open Badges Grades
Learner control over
presentation and
“ownership”
A-F grading system focuses
on extrinsic, opaque and
sorting-based assessment
Transparency of learner
attainments and mastery
Grades are not reliable
indicators of actual
skills/knowledge
(Often) provide specific
evidence for learner
attainments from lifewide
contexts
Do not address formal
learning
Adapted from Bill Watson, PurduePoly 2014 (YouTube )

21. Badges and OER at BYU
David Wiley makes you work…
https://learn.canvas.net/courses/4

22. OPENedX
Open Badges and MOOCs
figshare.com

23. Deakin University
Badges for Employability Soft Skills
t.co/ior8y5pbqe

24. Recognizing Co-Curricular Learning
University of Michigan

25. “Badging the Badger”
Open Badges for Teacher Development
The California School-Age Consortium:
Europe - Adult Education Made Accessible:
PROJECT UNDERWAY
• Accessibility Quality Badges for Adult Education
Providers
• Accessibility Competency Badges for Experts

26. Community Educator PD
• Community Service
• Communications
• Leadership Development
• Awards
• Subject Matter Development
educause
Inspiration
for EDC?
Educause

27. Emerging in Canada
Early Adopters (#badgeCAN)

28. MSF Canada -> International
PLEs for Humanitarian Workers
Other
Humanitarian LMSs
OCBA
OCG
New MSF role?
HRIS/ERP
Systems
Performance
Management
System
Talent
Management
System
Document
Repository
Project
Management
System
Talent
Pipeline
Recruitment
Induction
Formative Assessment
Gap Training
Team Building
Performance Management
Talent Management
Experience
Achievements
Professional Development
Career Development
Leadership
Development
SME Specialization
Career Change
Outplacement
External Performance Support
Just Ask Google, Ask YouTube
External repositories
PLN/Communities of Practice
social media
Coaching and Mentoring
OCB
Other External Learning
MOOCs, self-directed OER,
PLN/Communities of Practice
formal->informal, online / F2F
experiential, etc.
New mission?
New career?
Academic
recognition?
Badge
Passport
/ ePortfolio

29. A new skills currency
Open Badges, ePortfolios &“Badge Passports”
• Visually efficient and appealing
– Engages, builds confidence, provides continuing feedback
• Individual pathways, multiple sources of learning
– Formal <---> non-formal <---> informal learning
– Modular, stackable, diverse, remixable, portable, shareable
• Programs not completed can be partially recognized and recombined
• Add evidence, reflection as appropriate
• Drill down to specifics, or roll up into larger outcomes
• Combined in badge passports & ePortfolios
• Common standard for skills exchange
• Trustable, easy to understand
– Transparent criteria, evidence, issue/expiry date
– Flexible alignment to frameworks, requirements, training plans
– Issuing organization is validated and branded by the badges it issues;
maintains ongoing connection to earners
– Learner centred, employer friendly

30. How do I get started?

31. Are Open Badges for You?
Some questions to ask
• Behavioural goals?
– Engagement, feedback, recognition, development...?
– Skills frameworks?
• Value add?
– Worth the effort? Filling a void?
• Redeemable worth?
– What would your badges “buy”?
– Have you talked to employers?
• Champions?
– Internal leadership? Employers in the community?
• Sustainability?
– Cost structure? Who will maintain & improve it over time?

32. Open Badges and EDC?
Inspired by Action Groups...for validation
• Evidence for portfolios
• Flexible recognition of Centre Programs &
Courses for ED professional development?
– SEDA accredited, plus other public/internal
programs & courses
->transparent outcomes, options for embedded
evidence, emerging potential for alignment
• Support for Rewards and Recognition?
• An element of Community of Practice?
– Expertise/interest, mentor/mentee, peer
recognition, online activity...

33. Getting started
DIY versus Supported
• Do It Yourself
– Explore: earn a badge, display a badge
– Experiment: design a badge, design a small badge system
– Pilot, build internal support, implement
• Supported
– Workshops: “Open Badges 101”, “201”...
– Train the trainer
– Design and implementation support
– Technology support
• Technology choices
– Make your own (open source)
– Software as a Service
Badge Canvas
Design Principles Card Deck

34. don@learningagents.ca
Twitter: donpresant
ePortfolio: donpresant.ca
Savvyfolio.net
PRESENTATION SUPPORT PAGE:
bit.ly/openbadges4he