1. Open Badges Belgium
A NEW OPEN KNOWLEDGE WORKING GROUP TO GIVE VALUE TO BADGES
YOU RECEIVE

2. Agenda
1. Introduction to Open Badges by Bert Jehoul (@jeborsel)
2. Use case of Badges at the City of Ghent by Vincent Van Malderen (@vincentvm)
3. Hands-on session : How to create and issue an Open Badge
4. Q&A + Discussion: Future of Open Badges

3. What is an Open
Badge ?
?
s

4. What is an Open
Badge ?
An Open Badge is ...
s

5. What is an Open
Badge ?
… a pretty (or ugly) picture ...
s

6. What is an Open
Badge ?
… with data embedded …
s
(by Kyle Bowen, licensed CC-BY-SA)

7. What is an Open
Badge ?
… following an Open Standard
expressed in JSON-LD .
s
(by BIll Schwappacher & W3C,
licensed CC0)

8. What is an Open
Badge ?
What are they for ?
s

9. What is an Open
Badge ?
An OPEN BADGE is an online
representation of a skill, interest
or achievement which can give
RECOGNITION for the things
you do or learn.

10. What is an Open
Badge ?
An OPEN BADGE is a tool to
achieve OPEN RECOGNITION.
s

11. Open Recognition - Open Badges

12. Open Recognition - Open Badges
Towards an Open Architecture for the
recognition of lifelong and lifewide (learning)
achievements. (Bologna Open Recognition Declaration, 2016)

13. Open Recognition - Open Badges - Why ?
Formal education is only a small fraction of the
learning that takes place across an individual’s
lifespan. (Bologna Open Recognition Declaration, 2016)

14. Open Recognition - Open Badges - Why ?
Promotion of social inclusion, employability and
mobility. (Bologna Open Recognition Declaration, 2016)

15. Open Recognition - Examples

16. Open Recognition - Examples
Refugees have high expectations in terms of
jobs, as they are often qualified – but their
qualifications are not necessarily recognised
when they arrive to Europe. It is also often very
difficult for them to show proofs of their
certificates, after their long journey to Europe.
(European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), 2015)

17. Open Recognition - Examples
(https://www.lrng.org/)

18. Open Recognition - Examples
The core idea is that a city mobilises behind a
culture of learning supported by schools,
colleges, libraries, museums, workplaces, and
youth/community/civic organisations. The aim
of Cities of Learning is to engage all in learning,
most particularly those for whom traditional
forms of learning are proving to be disengaging.
(Anthony Painter, https://www.thersa.org)

19. Open Recognition - Examples
(https://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/lo/en/low14298usen/LOW14298USEN.PDF)

20. Where can I get
recognition (and an
Open Badge) for ?
● Hard skills
● Soft skills
● Participation
● Official certification
● Authorization
● Achievement
● Community Involvement
● Informal learning
● ...

21. The Open Badges Ecosystem
(by Erik Knutson, Concentric Sky, licensed CC-BY)

22. The Open Badges Ecosystem

23. The Open Badges
Ecosystem

24. Digital badges
vs
Open Badges
● Free to use
● an Open technical Standard
● Portable (transferable)
● Stackable (showing learning pathways)
● Earner-centric (in control of sharing his data)
● Evidence-based (information-rich with metadata)
● Granular Digital credentials (W3C
Credentials Community Group )
● Verifiable (W3C Verifiable Claims Task Force )
Open Badges are ...
s

25. Open Badges Work Like the Web
(by Doug Belshaw, @dajbelshaw,
http://dmlcentral.net/3-ways-open-badges-work-like-web)
● Open Badges are Open Like the Web
● Open Badges are Decentralised Like the Web
● Open Badges use Hyperlinks Like the Web

26. Where does this
Open Badges
standard come
from?
s
A brief history …
s

27. A brief history on
Open Badges
(<2011)

28. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2011)
https://openbadges.org

29. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2012)
https://openbadges.org

30. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2013)
https://openbadges.org

31. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2014)
https://openbadges.org

32. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2015)
https://openbadges.org

33. A brief history on
Open Badges
(2016 - 2017)
https://openbadges.org

34. A brief history on
Open Badges (2016
- 2017)
http://www.openrecognition.org

35. And in Belgium ?
(2015)

36. Open Badges Belgium: the birth of BE BADGES (2016)

37. Open Badges Belgium: http://www.bebadges.be

38. Open Badges Belgium: Moment of Recognition ;-)

39. Selor as an issuer

40. Open Badges
Belgium
Use Case

41. Agenda
1. Introduction to Open Badges by Bert Jehoul (@jeborsel)
2. Use case of Badges at the City of Ghent by Vincent Van Malderen (@vincentvm)
3. Hands-on session : How to create and issue an Open Badge
4. Q&A + Discussion: Future of Open Badges

42. Hands-on session : How to create
and issue an Open Badge

43. Badge System
1. Set some general goals for your badge system: what would you like to
accomplish ?
2. Badge design template
3. Design the badge and define the badge metadata
4. Publish the badge and start assessing and issuing
5. Earners receive the badge (via email or claim code)
6. Earners can collect, store, display & share their badges
7. Displayers & Consumers can verify and query badges that are public

44. Design your badge
● Images should be PNGs (or SVGs)
● Images should be square and not exceed
256kb for maximum compatibility. They
should have dimensions not smaller than
90 x 90px. View badge images at small
sizes to ensure that the content remains
legible when scaled.
Designer tool: https://www.openbadges.me/

45. Core badge
elements

46. JSON metadata
https://openbadgespec.org/

47. JSON metadata
https://openbadgespec.org/
Things you can verify and explore in a badge:
● Details about the organization issuing the badge
● What the individual has done to earn the badge
● The criteria that the badge has been assessed against
● That the badge was issued to the expected recipient
● The badge earner’s unique evidence (optionally included)
● When the badge was issued and whether it has expired
● Possible framework or classification it is linked to (e.g.
ESCO)
● ...

48. “Bake your Badge”
● Insert iTXt chunk with keyword openbadges into
the PNG
● Add an xmlns:openbadges attribute to the SVG
Badge Baking is the process of taking an Assertion and
embedding it into the badge image.
This allows Open Badges to be portable so that when a user
displays a badge on a page, software that is OpenBadges-aware
can automatically extract Assertion data and perform the checks
necessary to see if a person legitimately earned the badge.

49. Or use an existing issuing service
https://www.youracclaim.com/
http://badgeos.org/
https://www.badgecraft.eu/en
http://badgr.io/
https://bestr.it/
https://factory.cancred.ca/
https://credly.com/
https://docs.moodle.org/31/en/Badges
https://openbadgefactory.com/
https://www.makewav.es/
https://www.openbadgeacademy.com/

50. Existing Backpack Services
http://badgr.io/
https://backpack.openbadges.org/
https://openbadgepassport.com/
https://passport.cancred.ca/

51. Belgian Open Badges Platform
http://www.bebadges.be

52. Discussion: Future of Open
Badges

53. What brings 2017 ?
s ->

54. Birth of a new
Open Knowledge
Working Group
Open Badges Belgium - Be Badges
s

55. Birth of a new
Open Knowledge
Working Group
Mission
s
● Spread the use of Open Badges in Belgium,
build a bigger ecosystem !
● Support Open Recognition initiatives (take
away technical complexity, promote
organisations & individuals)
● Help build an international Open Recognition
Community (25 October 2017: Open
Recognition Day !)
● Think international, implement local !
● Earner focused

56. ● As an issuer, earner, displayer, consumer or just supporter to help with a
widespread promotion & adoption of this Open Standard
● Or with your technical expertise as a designer, developer, Linked Data
enthusiast to help us create tools and applications that take away
technical difficulties for others to start using Open Badges
Feel Free to Join our community !

57. Contact us via :
● twitter @be_badges,
● mail info@bebadges.be
● or community@bebadges.be (mailinglist) and introduce yourself to
the community.
Feel Free to Join our community !

58. Via :
● http://www.bebadges.be
● Twitter @be_badges
● Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bebadges
● Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/bebadges
● Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Belgian-Open-Badges-Meetup
Or start following us !

59. Discussion: Some Questions for
the Audience

60. What gives a badge value ?

61. Can anyone issue a badge for
anything ?

62. What is the difference between
Open Badge endorsements and
Linkedin endorsements?

64. Q&A

65. Thanks!
Bert Jehoul
@jeborsel
Vincent Van Malderen
@vincentvm