Slides for a 1-day workshop on "Future Technologies and Their Applications" facilitated by Brian Kelly and Tony Hirst at the ILI 2013 conference on Monday 14 October 2013. See http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/ili-2013-workshop/ See http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/ili-2013-workshop/

1. Future Technologies and
Their Applications
A one-day workshop
at ILI 2013 facilitated
by Brian Kelly and
Tony Hirst
Twitter hashtag:
#ili2013fut
Available under a
Creative Commons
(CC-BY licence)
1
C2: Technology Trends:
Digital Badges

2. What Are (Digital) Badges?
Digital badges:
• A validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or
interest that can be earned in various learning
environments.
They aim to provide:
• Motivation to Participate: they offer a new pathway of
lifelong learning separate from traditional, formalised
academic pathways.
• Motivation to Collaborate: they promote active, engaged
involvement.
• Recognition and Assessment: badges can recognize
quality or demonstrate community approval
• Alternative Credentials: may be a potential challenger to
the dominant paradigm of diplomas in higher education
2 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_badges

3. Evidence of their Significance
We are now seeing:
• Events on badges e.g. Online Conference
2013 on MOOCs, badges and OER
• MOOCS on badges e.g. Badges as New
Currency for Credentials
• Global organisations overseeing
developments of badges infrastructure
i.e. Openbadges.org
3

4. A Sceptical Perspective
After initial participation in the Hyperlinked Library
MOOC I had received badges for:
• Asking someone to be a friend
• Accepting a friendship request
• Deleting a private message
• Writing 5 blog posts
• Comments on 5 blog posts
(“I agree”)
• Receiving 5 badges
4
Some concerns:
• Are badges trivial
• Are they just for kids?
• Will kids care?
My GetGlue badge – a
social sharing TV app
(motivates watching TV!)
See “Initial Reflections on The Hyperlinked Library MOOC & the Badges I Have Acquired”

5. Thoughts
If you wish to convince others of the
importance of new technologies:
• Be prepared to hear criticisms and concerns
(both legitimate and unlikely concerns)
• Try to address the concerns
5
For example see post on “Assignment 2: Emerging
Technology Planning” on Hyperlinked Library MOOC
blog which illustrates how I intend to evaluate the
potential of badges whilst addressing concerns I’ve
raised through use of a risk assessment approach.

6. Questions
Any questions?
6