Open Badges: Supporting Learning and Employability by Recognising Skills Development

1. Dr. Ian Glover, Technology Enhanced Learning team, Student and Learning Services Open Badges: Supporting Learning and Employability by Recognising Skills Development

2. What is a 'Badge'? Visual representation of achievement, experience, affiliation and/or interest - ideally distinctive and understood within a community. • Some examples:

3. 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

4. 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

5. Anatomy of an Open Badge Open Badges Anatomy (Updated) by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA.

6. 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

7. 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?

8. Swiss Army Badge by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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?

12. Indiana Jones and the lost badge by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

13. Share your thoughts

14. 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

15. Carpet Badging by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

16. 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)

17. Contact: Dr. Ian Glover i.glover@shu.ac.uk Questions