The lifetime of skills and particular knowledge is getting shorter and the new skills for new future positions are being currently obtained as part of lifelong learning process. Even if a part of these processes is actually recognized and fixed in a form of degrees, certificates and references, some of these achievements could become obsolete, some of them not useful in current practice and sometimes even weird. Nevertheless, these (learning) goals were reached; the learning process as such could be a fruitful life-lesson and the key factor for the future success. The huge potential of Mozilla Open Badge Infrastructure (MOBI) – and in general any system that provides digital badges as a kind of incentive or reward – is therefore in collaborative setting that allows comparison with other “players” and mapping the progress "against the others". Without the possibility of comparison, building of e-portfolio becomes much more about storytelling, creating diary or blog and adding a context to selected achievements. Any knowledge provider issuing badges should therefore be able to provide additional information about the complexity of learning environment (incl. statistics), not only short description of criteria as requested in MOBI. This paper further describes opportunities and possible practical usage of gamification and digital badges for stimulation of (lifelong) learning

1. 24. 6. 2013
Mgr. Jakub Štogr – Navreme Boheme, s.r.o.
#disco13
"In Our Play We Reveal
What Kind Of People We Are"
Identity Building Through
Gamification And Digital Badges

2. 2
• (fact) Dynamics of Knowledge
• (fact) Decreasing half-life of Knowledge
• (fact) Driver of these changes: Technology
 Technology changes job requirements and profiles.
 Employers tend to look for employees with advanced general
education and skills… …once employed, then, the new workers
receive more specialized on-the-job training.
 People will have to assume responsibility for their qualifications and
take initiative in developing their professional careers.
 Future of work is about engaging workers more than commanding
them (link to larger organizational and social goals)
Knowledge and Labour market

3. 3
• (fact) Dynamics of Knowledge
• (fact) Decreasing half-life of Knowledge
• (fact) Driver of these changes: Technology
 Technology changes job requirements and profiles.
 Employers tend to look for employees with advanced general
education and skills… …once employed, then, the new workers
receive more specialized on-the-job training.
 People will have to assume responsibility for their qualifications and
take initiative in developing their professional careers.
 Future of work is about engaging workers more than commanding
them (link to larger organizational and social goals)
Knowledge and Labor market

4. 4
• (fact) New occupations and job types  not enough specifically
skilled and experienced people.
 Entry Requirements for New occupations and specialties 
flexible, pair basic skills with knowledge or experience in a subject
related to the new occupation
 “learning institutions”  characterized by horizontal
structures, mobilizing networks and flexible scalability. On the
whole, flexibility and diversity will increase
 informal learning strategies will become an integral part of learning
and will also (need to) be embedded in education and training
(networked learners, networked workers, networked Education and
Training (E&T) institutions, forums promoting public debate…)
New occupations

5. 5
• (fact) New occupations and job types  not enough specifically
skilled and experienced people.
• Entry Requirements for New occupations and specialties  flexible,
pair basic skills with knowledge or experience in a subject related to
the new occupation
 “learning institutions”  characterized by horizontal structures,
mobilizing networks and flexible scalability. On the whole, flexibility
and diversity will increase
 informal learning strategies will become an integral part of learning
and will also (need to) be embedded in education and training
(networked learners, networked workers, networked Education and
Training (E&T) institutions, forums promoting public debate…)
New occupations

6. 6
• (fact) to recognition of informal and non-formal learning
• (fact) educational frameworks – labour market transition
• (fact) provide evidence to prove the experience [for future job]
 top-down approach
 bottom-up:
• Mozilla Open Badge Infrastructure (MOBI)
• “digital badge” = picture enhanced by metadata
(title, description, criteria, timestamp, issuer, earner, etc…)
• Anybody able to issue badges
Recognition and badges

7. 7
• (fact) badges, insignia, ranks – already exists
• (fact) but, NOT independent, NOT transferable, proprietary
 tend to be used as a gamification component
 MOBI: community-
driven, credible, distributed, open, interoperable, flexible and
innovative; easily awarded f.e. in learning management
systems, intranet or any online-platform
 no predefined rules or methods how to properly set criteria
 NEEDED: “paradata” = form of metadata that records how, and in
what context, a learning resource (here: digital badge) was used
 CONTEXT
New or not?

8. 8
• (current) attendance-based (was somewhere, no more information)
• (current) completion-based (did what was required, anyhow; no level)
• (current) role-based („admin“; function/position, without details)
• (current) P2P-based (recommendation, mostly subjective)
• (current) quantity-based („100 posts“; created, no quality mentioned)
 limits of awarding these badges (Common or Rare badge?)
 the order of all receivers (First who finished or Follower?)
 IDEA: Leaderboard (database) access
vs. award-moment status (badge ePortfolio as a story(telling))
Criteria (example)

9. 9
Šíření inovací podle Rogerse (1962)

10. 10
• (fact) New occupations and job types  not enough specifically
skilled and experienced people.
• Entry Requirements for New occupations and specialties 
flexible, pair basic skills with knowledge or experience in a subject
related to the new occupation
 “learning institutions”  characterized by horizontal
structures, mobilizing networks and flexible scalability. On the
whole, flexibility and diversity will increase
 informal learning strategies will become an integral part of learning
and will also (need to) be embedded in education and training
(networked learners, networked workers, networked Education and
Training (E&T) institutions, forums promoting public debate…)
New occupations

11. 11
• Any evidence that could lead to future recognition of (learning) goals
we reached could be important indicator of the social status and
labour market position.
• The huge potential of Mozilla Open Badge Infrastructure and digital
badges comes from their ability to provide authorized evidence and
possibly also some comparison with others.
 All knowledge providers issuing badges should therefore carefully
plan what could be relevant for future reviewers and provide as much
evidence as possible.
Still at the beginning? Not at all…
Conclusions

12. 12
 EU
• Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the validation
of non-formal and informal learning
• Conference ePIC 2013 – the 11th ePortfolio and Identity
Conference (8.-10.7.2013, London)
 USA
• Digital Media and Learning Competition – Badges for Lifelong
Learning (2011)
• President Clinton Announces Commitment to Create New
Pathways to College and Career Success Through Open Badges :
Better Futures for 2 Million Americans Through Open Badges
(13.6.2013)
Currently (examples)

13. 13
Thank you – any questions?
Jakub Štogr
e-mail: stogr@navreme.cz
URL: http://www.navreme.cz/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubstogr