Revised 30 November 2016

1. Open Badges
Making Learning Visible
Higher Education Version
November 30, 2016
Presentation support page:
http://bit.ly/openbadges4he

3. “Paper Silos”
Issues with certification today
freedesignfile.com/92259
Transparency issues
 “Dumb” paper often needs other
documents, e.g. syllabus
 Proxy only – not the “whole story”
 Easy to forge
Physical issues
 Difficult to share, easy to lose
Recognition issues
 Lack of granularity
 Lack of context
 no links to supporting evidence
 Experiential learning not valued
 Lack of alignment, transfer,
articulation (“stackability”)

4. Education à la carte
“She’s come undone...”
www.udacity.com/nanodegree

5. www.coursera.org/account/accomplishments/verify/HDDAGRLXE4
verify.edx.org/cert/5d882acb67b64425a3355cd73954dd6c
MOOCs and Credentialing

6. “The Ones That Got Away”
Study: completion stats miss the point!
WestEd Slideshare
Key Findings about non-completion of programs:
1. Many non-completers had significant earnings gains
2. Economic value: content vs. credential
3. Non-completers are “non-traditional” students
4. Unknown factor: value of 3rd party credentials

7. Gaps in preparation, perception
Need for applied learning, soft skills disconnects
Hart Research Associates for the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) January 2015
Applied Learning Soft Skills

8. 70:20:10 Rule
Not all learning takes place in the classroom
deakinprime.com wikipedia.org
Estimated time spent in school and
informal learning environments.
Best available statistics for a whole year basis on
how much time people at different points across the
lifespan spend in formal instructional environments.
(Reproduced with permission of The LIFE Center.)
Continuing Education
learning delivery model at
DeakinPrime (Australia)
“Balances the need for you to
practise and learn in the workplace
while providing you with the
foundational understanding
required to reposition your mind.”

9. Employers want competency credentials
cwf.ca April 2015

11. Example
A transcript for graduate employability
ccr.utoronto.ca

12. Why not the whole story... online?
Academic
Transcript
Co-Curricular
Record
Experienced
Learning
Formal
Learning
ePortfolio
Accredited
Experiential
Learning
Degree
Courses
Thesis /
Capstone Project
Unapproved
Co-Curricular
Activities
Work
Experience
-past
-current
Open
Courses,
PD
Approved
Co-Curricular.
Activities
Personal Life
Experience
-past
-current
PLAR/RPL

14. www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7253
metronews.ca/
History of Recognition with Badges
Authority
Badge Tracking Android App
Since pre-Roman times...
Blue Light
Achievement
Affiliation
Skills
Military
Scouting
Heraldry

15. 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.
What is an Open Badge?
Micro-credential – portable record of learning
Clear progress markers
motivating learners,
supporting advisors
Flexible learning pathways
granular, incremental, multi-
source, laddered, remixable
Visual branding
issuers and earners
Online trust system
demonstrate skills &
capabilities
proof of performance
backed by issuer

16. www.badgealliance.org/why-badges/
A new skills ecosystem
Open Badges, micro-portfolios in social networks
Going digital
helps…
searchingdeconstructingvalidating aligning
sharingcombiningassessing “valorizing”

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

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

20. Some uses of badges
can be combined...
Recognize status
Reputation
Group affiliation
transformingassessment.com/TA_webinar_5_mar_2014_Simon_Cross.pdf
Keep artefacts
Souvenirs of
experience
Motivate
learning
“Game mechanics”
Set goals,
track progress
Personal learning
pathways
Assess &
recognize learning
Formal, non-formal,
informal
Fill recognition gaps

21. Adding value to grades
Purdue University
Open Badges Grades
Learner control over presentation
and “ownership”
A-F grading system focuses on
sorting-based assessment and can
be opaque.
Transparency of learner
attainments and mastery
Not always indicators of actual
capabilities.
(Often) provide specific evidence
for learner attainments from life-
wide contexts
Do not explicitly address informal
learning except via Recognition of
Prior Learning (RPL) processes
Adapted from Bill Watson, PurduePoly 2014 (YouTube )

22. How do
Open Badges support
recognition?

23. Early Trends - Summary
• c. 10 million badges, thousands of issuers
• Early adoption:
• After school, community programs (youth)
• Continuing Education
• Professionalization and PD
• Product training (esp. ICT)
• the “Extended Enterprise”
• Business Soft Skills
• Testing Recognition
• Pre-employment

24. Professionalization & PD
Unregulated:
•AXELOS
•HR Certification Institute
•AACE (total cost management)
•Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM)
•International Board of Credentialing
and Continuing Education
Standards (IBCCES)
•ASIS International
Regulated:
•American Board for Certification in
Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics
•Institute of Management
Accountants
•Association of Clinical Research
Professionals

25. Regulator & Sector Council:
192,000 workers in Scotland
badges.sssc.uk.com/badges
 Work based qualifications:
 enter with little education, achieve
a degree
 Open Badges to recognized informal
learning
 Potential for formalized RPL later

26. Community Learning for Educators
educause
Community Service Communications
Leadership Development
Awards
Subject Matter
Development

27. PD for Educators
“Badging the badger” digitalpromise.org
viflearn.com
pdln.com
educause.edu
viflearn.com/digital-badging

28. Technology product training
Sample issuers:
•IBM
•Adobe
•Oracle
• Autodesk
•Hortonworks

29. Case Study: IBM
bit.ly/IBMbadges

30. Case Study: IBM
bit.ly/IBMbadges

31. Case Study: IBM
bit.ly/IBMbadges

32. “If you add up all the time undergraduate students spend in
their four years at college, only about 8 percent of their time is
on the curricular, and 92 percent is on everything else.
....the light really went on when we saw how well the service
learning students picked up on this opportunity to earn badges
and showcase them in their eportfolios, at the same time truly
highlighting, as never before, their co-curricular experiences.”
G. Alex Ambrose
Professor of Practice, Associate
Ass. Director of ePortfolio Assessment
Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning
University of Notre Dame
Showcasing the Co-Curricular
ePortfolios & Open Badges at Notre Dame
campustechnology.com

33. Recognizing Co-Curricular Learning
University of Michigan

34. Co-Curricular UK
York St John University
bit.ly/OBCC_YSJ

35. Deakin University
Badges for Employability Soft Skills
“Communication is the
fundamental generic
skill needed to attain
employment and to
engage in professional
written, oral and
interpersonal
communication with
colleagues, clients and
the general public.”
deakin.edu.au

36. Deakin University
Displayed on Social Media
t.co/ior8y5pbqe

37. Continuing Education

38. Madison College
Badging non-credited Continuing Education
madisoncollege.edu/badges
Strategic Objective:
Creation and promotion of
innovative, market-based
credentials in credit, non-
credit and customized
programming (i.e. Badges)

39. Colorado State University
Granular learning pathways Community focused
Industry driven
Learner centric
Ecosystem friendly
slideshare.net/secret/xBjQY3Ipdsc06l
bit.ly/1E0TqAM “...an opportunity to facilitate large numbers
of learners from across the world with just-
in-time education from a multitude of
educational providers.”

40. What’s happening in
Canada?

41. Early Adopters in Canada
Education (incl PD) Community
Workplace

42. Leadership Training - BC
http://badges.roygroup.net/cert/?CID=88827
• Issued: 952
• Accepted: 220
• Accepted on LinkedIn: 92%
• Little/no support needed
ENDORSEMENT:

43. Career
Pathways
Humanitarian PLE - across the career lifecycle
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
Google, YouTube
External repositories
Coaching
and
Mentoring
Other External Learning
MOOCs, Open Ed Resources,
Personal Learning Network,
Communities of
Practice
OCBA
OCG
Academic
recognition?
New
Career?
OCB
OCA
OCP
Other
MSF LMSs
such as:
HRIS/ERP
Systems
Performance
Management
System Talent
Management
System
Skills
Marketplace
Demand
Supply
Badge
Passport/
ePortfolio
Digital
Credentials
External
Recognition
Other
Humanitarian
LMSs such as:
Workplace
Assessments
&
Achievements
New
Mission?
New
MSF role?

44. What does
all this mean?

45. Benefits of a new skills currency
Open Badges, ePortfolios &“Badge Passports”
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
Visually efficient and appealing
Engages, builds confidence, provides
continuing feedback
Individual pathways, multiple
sources of learning
Formal non-formal informal learning
Modular, stackable, diverse, re-mixable,
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 and
ePortfolios
Common standard for skills exchange

46. FREE
FOR BADGE EARNERS
Accept Store
Display Share
SUBSCRIPTIONS
FOR BADGE ISSUERS
Create Issue
Manage Track
Flexible
eCredentialing
in Canada

47. SUBSCRIPTIONS
FOR BADGE ISSUERS
Create Issue
Manage Track
eLearning
Platforms
ePortfolio
Platforms
Community
Platforms
WordPress
(CMS)
Issue
remotely
Issue
directly
Manual,
bulk issue
Milestone
Badges
Badge
Applications
Issuer
Networks
Claim
codes
Secure, sustainable, flexible
Mozilla
Backpack
Personal
Websites
Other Badge
Platforms
Display remotely
LinkedIn
Facebook
ePortfolios
Online
Communities
FREE
FOR BADGE EARNERS
Accept Store
Display Share
Display directly
Pages
VideoFiles
Links
Text
Single
Badges
Badges

48. Small pieces...

49. info@cancred.ca

50. Don Presant
don@learningagents.ca
Twitter: donpresant
Skype: dpresant
bit.ly/openbadges4he