Open Educational Practices at Tallinn University

Open Educational
Practices at Tallinn
University
Hans Põldoja

Hans Põldoja
Head of Studies, Associate Professor of Educational Technology
Tallinn University, School of Digital Technologies
Education:
Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture (2016)
Tallinn Pedagogical University (2003)
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
http://www.hanspoldoja.net

How to make learning more
open and personal?

Understanding the background: the
Open Education movement

https://oercourse.wordpress.com

https://viitamiskursus.wordpress.com

https://beta.wikiversity.org/wiki/Vikiülikooli_koolituspakkumised

https://opikeskkonnad.wordpress.com

https://iﬁ7313.wordpress.com

Course blog
Learner blogs
Blog-based open online courses

Course format
• Course blog + learner blogs
• Additional Web 2.0 and social media tools (Twitter, SlideShare,
YouTube, …)
• Open enrollment
• Open educational resources
• Assignments through blog posts
• Feedback and discussion in comments

Beneﬁts of using blogs
• Supporting learners to develop and express their ideas
• Supporting collaboration and group work
• Getting feedback from others
• Enriching the learning environment
• Promoting new educational practices
• Motivating learners
(Goktas & Demirel, 2012)

Väljataga, T., Põldoja, H., Laanpere, M. (2011).
Open Online Courses: Responding to Design
Challenges. In H. Ruokamo, M. Eriksson, L. Pekkala,
& H. Vuojärvi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th
International Network-Based Education 2011
Conference The Social Media in the Middle of
Nowhere (pp. 68-75). Rovaniemi: University of
Lapland.
Proceedings of the NBE 2011
68
Open Online Courses: Responding to Design Challenges
Terje Väljataga
terje.valjataga@tlu.ee
http://terjevaljataga.eu
Hans Põldoja
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
Mart Laanpere
mart.laanpere@tlu.ee
Tallinn University
Centre for Educational Technology
Narva road 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
Tel: +372 6409 355, Fax: +372 6409 355
Open education and open educational resources movement as a recent trend in higher education focuses on providing free access to a
wide range of educational resources and online courses. However, such a narrow approach fails to acknowledge the transformative and
innovative opportunities openness can offer in higher education. The authors of the paper take a wider perspective to the concept of
openness in formal higher education. In addition to open technology, content and knowledge sharing openness in course design is an
important dimension to consider. Although open online course design solves many educational problems and challenges, at the same
time it also creates new ones. This paper discusses about the re-occurring course design challenges that facilitators face while designing
and running open courses. Through a multiple case study a variety of design responses to the design challenges is analyzed and
demonstrated.
Keywords: open online course model, open educational resources, pedagogical design, multiple
case study
1 Introduction
The concept of openness has multiple interpretations and dimensions in the context of higher education. Among
others, it has been used by proponents of open classroom approach in 1970-ties and by distance education
enthusiasts while establishing open universities”. The purpose was to solve a number of educational problems
and challenges, for instance, to improve access to existing study programmes and attract more (or better)
students following Huijser, Bedford, and Bull’s (2008) claim that everyone has the right to education. In
general, openness in education is attributed to a barrier-free access to education in terms of time, affordability
and admission requirements being freely available through the Internet.
A recent trend is the open educational resources (OER) movement (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007), which
provides free access to a wide range of educational resources and online courses. OER and its importance has
been widely documented and demonstrated (Downes, 2007). The key tenet of open education is that “education
can be improved by making educational assets visible and accessible and by harnessing the collective wisdom
of a community of practice and reflection” (p. 2) (Iiyoshi & Kumar, 2008).
The notion of openness in education is clearly triggered by the opportunities technological development offers.
In addition to growing access to Internet, the latest evolution of digital technology and Web has fostered a new
culture of creating and sharing open content in online communities. It has been possible due to the blurred line
between producers and consumers of content allowing shifted attention from access to information toward
access to other people (Iiyoshi & Kumar, 2008). In the light of ongoing technological development, there are
educators who are exploring ways to expand the notion of openness in education beyond public sharing of
educational content. Iiyoshi & Kumar (2008) point out that with the concept of openness we might tend to grow
our collections of educational tools and resources and miss the transformative and innovative opportunities
“openness” can offer. One of the emerging practices in this direction is the open online course model.

Challenges in blog-based courses
• Coordinating and following the course activities
• Creating and sustaining the learning community
• Designing content and activities
• Feedback and assessment

Põldoja, H., Duval, E., & Leinonen, T. (2016). Design
and evaluation of an online tool for open learning
with blogs. Australasian Journal of Educational
Technology, 32(2), 64–81. http://dx.doi.org/
10.14742/ajet.2450
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2016, 32(2).
64
ascilite
Design and evaluation of an online tool for open learning
with blogs
Hans Põldoja
Tallinn University, Estonia
Erik Duval
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Teemu Leinonen
Aalto University, Finland
Blogs are used in higher education to support face-to-face courses, to organise online
courses, and to open up courses for a wider group of participants. However the open and
distributed nature of blogs creates problems that are not common in other learning contexts.
Four key challenges related to the use of blogs in learning were identified from earlier
research: fragmented discussions, a lack of coordination structures, weak support for
awareness, and a danger of over-scripting. The EduFeedr system has been designed to
address these issues. In this paper, the authors present their evaluation of its design and
effectiveness in a total of 10 courses. The results indicate that learners find the EduFeedr
system useful in following discussions and in comparing their progress with other learners.
The coordination and awareness issues are seen as more important than the fragmentation
of discussions and a danger of over-scripting.
Introduction
Blogs are used in higher education to provide a space for reflection, a forum for discussions, a portfolio of
completed assignments, and for opening up courses for a wider group of participants. While some recent
research has focused on the pedagogical aspects of using blogs in higher education, Sim and Hew (2010)
suggest that one focus of future research should be the development of web technologies that will
enhance the conversational and interactive aspects of blogging. Our study focuses on designing and
evaluating an online tool that aims to address some of the issues that impede the use of blogs in online
and blended learning courses.
A blog is a website where the content is comprised of posts that are displayed in reverse chronological
order. A typical blog is a personal website that is written by a single person; however it is also possible to
have several authors. Readers can become engaged by writing comments on blog posts. Syndication
technologies such as really simple syndication (RSS) and Atom enable readers to receive new posts and
comments automatically. All blogs and their interconnections are often referred to as the blogosphere.
The blogosphere can be seen both as a social network and as an ecosystem.
The possibilities for using blogs in learning became evident soon after blogs emerged (Oravec, 2003;
Williams & Jacobs, 2004). Sim and Hew (2010) identified six major applications for blogs in education:
(a) maintaining a learning journal, (b) recording personal life, (c) expressing emotions, (d)
communicating with others, (e) assessment, and (f) managing tasks.
Kim (2008) suggests that the use of blogs may help to overcome various limitations of other computer-
mediated communication systems, such as difficulties in managing communication, passiveness of
students, lack of ownership, instructor-centeredness, and limited archives of communication. Previous
studies show that reading other blogs and receiving feedback on one’s own blog posts were the more
effective aspects of using blogs in learning (Churchill, 2009; Ellison & Wu, 2008). Blogs are useful in
disciplines that require students to discuss, write, reflect, and make comments about content or ideas
(Cakir, 2013). Blogging has been found particularly beneficial in teacher education because it can
motivate learners, foster collaboration and cooperation, promote different instructional practices, and
enrich the learning environment (Goktas & Demirel, 2012). Teachers who acquire these competences
during the blogging assignments can later apply these methods in their own teaching.

Personal introductions / About pages

Learning contract template
• Topic: What is the topic I wish to learn about?
• Purpose: What is the purpose of my task? Why do I wish to learn about or learn to do a
particular task?
• Resources: What kind of technological, material and human resources do I need? How can I
get access to these?
• Strategy: How do I intend to go about learning this particular topic/task? What action may be
involved and in what order will these be carried out?
• Outcome evaluation: How will I know when I have completed the task/topic successfully?
How shall I judge success?
• Reﬂection: How well did I do? What has worked? What has not worked? Why? What remains
to be learnt? What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses? What shall I do next?

Publishing course content
• WordPress pages for lecture notes
• SlideShare for presentations
• YouTube for videos and screencasts
• Mendeley for research publications
• Dropbox for resources that cannot be shared in public web
(scanned book chapters, etc.)

Designing assignments
• Assignments combine practical and theoretical learning goals
• Assignments encourage reﬂection
• Assignments allow each learner to come up with an original
solution

Different learning paths
Basic knowledge badges
Basic
knowledge on
learning
objects and
repositories
Basic
knowledge on
authoring tools
Basic
knowledge on
computer-
based
assessment
Basic
knowledge on
new
technologies
Basic
knowledge on
copyright of
digital
learning
resources
Basic
knowledge on
quality of
digital
learning
resources
Content
package author
Assessment test
author
e-Textbook
author
Advanced
knowledge on
learning objects
and repositories
Advanced
knowledge on
authoring tools
Advanced
knowledge on
computer-based
assessment
Advanced
knowledge on
new
technologies
Advanced
knowledge on
copyright of
digital learning
resources
Advanced
knowledge on
quality of digital
learning
resources
Blogging assignment 1 Blogging assignment 2 Blogging assignment 3 Blogging assignment 4 Blogging assignment 5
Group assignment on
developing a digital
learning resource
Blogging assignment 6 Literature review
Describing the
advantages and
disadvantages of learning
objects approach
Searching for learning
objects from learning
object repositories by
metadata and licenses
Creating simple content
packages, tests and e-
textbooks, and describing
these with metadata
Following copyright
principles for digital
learning resources
Evaluating the quality of a
learning resources using
an evaluation framework
Using one authoring tool
to create a more
comprehensive digital
learning resource
Analyzing the current
issues, research studies
and trends in one sub-
topic related to digital
learning resources
Learning outcomes
Assignments
Advanced knowledge badges
Skills badges

Example data from a course
• 15 weeks
• 15 learners + 1 facilitator
• 162 blog posts (incl. 22 from the facilitator)
• 239 comments (incl. 44 from the facilitator)
• 81 trackback links between the blogs

https://oppematerjalid.wordpress.com

The ﬁrst iteration:
outcome-based badges

Basic knowledge badges
Basic
knowledge on
learning
objects and
repositories
Basic
knowledge on
authoring tools
Basic
knowledge on
computer-
based
assessment
Basic
knowledge on
new
technologies
Basic
knowledge on
copyright of
digital
learning
resources
Basic
knowledge on
quality of
digital
learning
resources
Content
package author
Assessment test
author
e-Textbook
author
Advanced
knowledge on
learning objects
and repositories
Advanced
knowledge on
authoring tools
Advanced
knowledge on
computer-based
assessment
Advanced
knowledge on
new
technologies
Advanced
knowledge on
copyright of
digital learning
resources
Advanced
knowledge on
quality of digital
learning
resources
Blogging assignment 1 Blogging assignment 2 Blogging assignment 3 Blogging assignment 4 Blogging assignment 5
Group assignment on
developing a digital
learning resource
Blogging assignment 6 Literature review
Describing the
advantages and
disadvantages of learning
objects approach
Searching for learning
objects from learning
object repositories by
metadata and licenses
Creating simple content
packages, tests and e-
textbooks, and describing
these with metadata
Following copyright
principles for digital
learning resources
Evaluating the quality of a
learning resources using
an evaluation framework
Using one authoring tool
to create a more
comprehensive digital
learning resource
Analyzing the current
issues, research studies
and trends in one sub-
topic related to digital
learning resources
Learning outcomes
Assignments
Advanced knowledge badges
Skills badges

Arvutipõhine
testimine
Sisupaketi
koostaja
Uued
tehnoloogiad
Õpiobjektid Autorvahendid
Testiküsimuste
koostaja
e-Õpiku
koostaja
Autoriõigus Kvaliteet
Õpiobjektid Autorvahendid Arvutipõhine
testimine
Uued
tehnoloogiad
Autoriõigus Kvaliteet
Süvendatud
teadmised ühel
õppematerjalidega
seotud teemal

Badge points
• Basic knowledge badges — 10 points (6 badges)
• Skills badges — 20 points (one of 3 badges)
• Advanced knowledge badges — 20 points (one of 6 badges)

Põldoja, H., & Laanpere, M. (2014). Exploring the
Potential of Open Badges in Blog-Based University
Courses. In Y. Cao, T. Väljataga, J. K. T. Tang, H.
Leung, & M. Laanpere (Eds.), New Horizons in Web
Based Learning (Vol. 8699, pp. 172–178). Cham:
Springer. http://doi.org/
10.1007/978-3-319-13296-9_19
Exploring the Potential of Open Badges
in Blog-Based University Courses
Hans Põldoja(&)
and Mart Laanpere
Institute of Informatics, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
{hans.poldoja,mart.laanpere}@tlu.ee
Abstract. Recent developments with personal learning environments and open
online courses have led educators to experiment with opening up their formal
higher education courses. In these courses, the online learning activities take
place in open learning environments based on various Web 2.0 tools such as
blogs. Although this type of courses have a number of pedagogical benefits, they
also raise issues related to private grading of students’ works and recognizing
the learning of informal participants. This paper presents our exploratory study
on addressing these issues by introducing open badges to master’s level course
that takes place in a blog-based learning environment. Students’ perspectives on
using open badges were evaluated through focus group interviews. The results
of the study indicate, that badges could have a potential in formal higher edu-
cation, if they are used more widely and provide an explicit choice of personal
learning paths for learners.
Keywords: Open badges Á Assessment Á Blog-based courses
1 Introduction
One of the recent trends in education is the blending of formal and informal learning.
This is supported by introducing social media, personal learning environments and
various open educational practices to formal higher education [1, 2]. Students can
enrich their learning experience by using open educational resources from other uni-
versities and taking part in Massive Open Online Courses.
In many cases, such developments have led university lecturers and professors to
increase the degree of openness in their courses. One approach is to move online
learning activities to open learning environments that are based on social media and
Web 2.0 tools such as blogs. The use of blogs in online courses provides a number of
pedagogical benefits such as motivating learners, enhancing the development and
expression of ideas, fostering interaction, collaboration and group work, inviting
feedback from other learners, and enriching the learning environment [3]. The use of
blog-based learning environments also allows educators to open up their course for
informal participants or members of professional communities who are not officially
enrolled to the course.
Open blog-based courses in formal higher education raise also a number of issues
that are not present in traditional courses. For example, blog-based learning environ-
ments typically lack special features that support private feedback and grading of
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Y. Cao et al. (Eds.): ICWL 2014 Workshops, LNCS 8699, pp. 172–178, 2014.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-13296-9_19

The second iteration:
multiple levels of badges

Badge points
• Basic knowledge badges — 10 points (6 badges)
• Skills badges — 20 points (one of 3 badges)
• Advanced knowledge badge — 20 points
• Golden badges — 15 and 30 points

The third iteration:
multiple learning pathways

Põldoja, H., Jürgens, P., & Laanpere, M. (2016).
Design Patterns for Badge Systems in Higher
Education. In M. Spaniol, M. Temperini, D.K.W.
Chiu, I. Marenzi, & U. Nanni (eds.), Advances in
Web-Based Learning — ICWL 2016 (Vol. 10013, lk
40– 49). Cham: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1007/978-3-319-47440-3_5
Design Patterns for Badge Systems in Higher Education
Hans Põldoja
(✉)
, Pirje Jürgens, and Mart Laanpere
Tallinn University, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
{hans.poldoja,pirje.jurgens,mart.laanpere}@tlu.ee
Abstract. Open Badges as a method for assessment and recognition of learning
originates from the context of informal learning. Thus, it cannot be introduced
into formal higher education without reconsidering the existing assessment
processes.This paper presentsexperiencesfrom three years of using Open Badges
in a master level course. In each iteration, the badge system was revised based on
learners’ feedback. Special attention was given to supporting learners with
different learning styles. To summarize our findings, this paper proposes a set of
design patterns for developing badge systems in higher education. While the
learning styles proved to be useful as generic design guidelines for separating two
alternative learning pathways for the course, more research is needed on advanced
learning-style-based learning pathways.
Keywords: Open Badges · Assessment · Higher education
1 Introduction
Open Badges (OB’s) is a web technology for recognizing and verifying knowledge,
competencies or involvements gained in online or offline settings. In a basic sense,
badges are digital images that contain embedded information about the accomplish‐
ments. The development of the Open Badges technology started in 2010, when a group
of open education activists came up with the initial concept during the Mozilla Drumbeat
Festival. Inspired by the use of digital badges in gaming and various social apps, they
proposed that badges could be used for verifying learning. The technical specification
of the Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) was developed together with the Mozilla
Foundation and released in 2012. While digital badges are typically used within a single
environment, OBI was developed as an open standard that allows people to collect
badges from different issuers. The initial scenarios about using open badges focused on
informal learning contexts [1]. However, in recent years there have been a number of
studies about using badges in schools [2, 3] and in higher education [4–6].
Introducing open badges to formal higher education courses provides an opportunity
to reconsider the existing assessment procedures. Recent research on open badges has
proposed a number of reasons for adopting badges. Ahn, Pellicone, and Butler [7] see
badges as motivators for behavior, pedagogical tools for promoting particular learning
activities, and credentials for recognizing learning achievements. While Jovanovic and
Devedzic [8] identify similar roles for open badges, they discuss additional benefits such
as supporting alternative forms of assessment (e.g. peer-assessment), providing learners
© Springer International Publishing AG 2016
D.K.W. Chiu et al. (Eds.): ICWL 2016, LNCS 10013, pp. 40–49, 2016.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47440-3_5

Badge points
• Basic knowledge badges — 10 points
• Golden badges for basic knowledge — 15 points
• Broken badge for basic knowledge — 5 points
• Learning resource author — 24 points (36 points for a golden badge)
• Researcher — 36 points
• Enlightener — 10 points
• Wikipedist — 12 points

“Researcher”
• 6 blogging assingments on basic knowledge — 60 points
• Writing a literature review — 36 points
• Total 96 points (grade A)
• Workload 78 hours

“Practitioner”
• 6 blogging assingments on basic knowledge — 60 points
• Developing a learning resource — 24 points
• Total 84 points (grade B)

“Non-blogger”
• Writing a literature review — 36 points
• Developing a learning resource — 24 points
• Presentation in the seminar — 10 points
• Writing a Wikipedia article — 12 points
• Total 82 points (grade B)

Pathways and learning styles
• Practical pathway for activists and pragmatists
• Theoretical pathway for theorists and reﬂectors

Seven themes from learners’ feedback

Learner control
• Learning contracts
• “...learners had the possibility to choose their paths: some learners
created learning objects, some wrote a literature review. This was
possible only thanks to the open badges system that gave a good
overview of the weight of the assignments and helped to plan the
work”
• “My goal was to get A and I liked that I could choose whether to do
all the assignments or not, for example — I deliberately didn’t write
one post…”

Awareness
• “It really was a good way for me to keep track of my
progress”
• “If there was an automatic score table for achieved badge
points in Moodle, it would have a practical value”

Motivation
• “The motivating aspect of open badges was the possibility to
choose my own learning path and to ﬁnd the assignments that
interest me the most”
• “I planned to get B ... The ﬁrst golden badge however made
me make an effort, because just so little was missing from A”

Learning styles
• “I liked the idea that I could choose the types of assignments
that felt more natural to me”

Open Badges ecosystem
• “Maybe I would use it if we could earn open badges in
different courses” (about Mozilla Backpack)
• “... the system is not complete. I can’t make my earned
badges fully work for my beneﬁt. I added my badges to
Mozilla Backpack and shared in LinkedIn, but apparently this
will be the end of its life cycle...”

Assessment criteria
• Assessment criteria for golden badges was deliberately not
speciﬁed
• “What is still unclear to me, is the criteria of earning the
badges. What were the deadlines, what was the criteria for
the golden badge, and what is the amount of badge points?”

Badge metadata
• “When I opened the badge, there was no next level
information. I guess I expected the learning outcome. This
would be useful information to possible employers who would
also like to understand the “evidence” of what the person
knows/can do and if these are the competences his company
needs”
• Badges described in Estonian are less useful internationally

Design patterns for open learning

Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M.
(1977). A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings,
Construction. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.

Põldoja, H. (2016). The Structure and Components
for the Open Education Ecosystem: Constructive
Design Research of Online Learning Tools. Helsinki:
Aalto University.

Design patterns
• 12 design patterns for collaborative authoring of open
educational resources (LeMill and PILOT)
• 12 design patterns for blog-based open online courses
(EduFeedr and LeContract)

Patterns for collaborative
authoring of OER’s

Pattern 1: Authoring template
This pattern deals with providing a clear structure for creating
new learning resources.
It may be difficult to start creating a new learning resource from
the scratch. Having a certain predefined structure for new learning
resources would help teachers to get started. A large collection of
peer produced learning resources would benefit from having a consistent
structure and layout. Consistent structure contributes to the quality
of learning resources. On the other hand, it is important to achieve
balance between predefined structure and flexibility for the authors.
Therefore: The learning resource authoring tool should provide a
set of pedagogical templates that scaffold teachers and content
producers in creating new resources. LeMill provided six pedagogical
templates for creating learning resources: web page, presentation,
exercise, lesson plan, school project, and PILOT. Web page is a generic
template while other templates provide a more predefined structure.
Authoring templates consist of different types of sections that are
called blocks in LeMill. For example, web pages in LeMill consist of
text blocks, media pieces and embed blocks. The exercise template has
additional blocks for various question types. Templates may also
scaffold the use of new pedagogical methods, such as the PILOT template
in LeMill.
This is a central design pattern, that is related to a number of
smaller design patterns. Learning resources based on authoring
templates have a DRAFT (2) status, support EMBEDDING (3) and LINKEDNESS
(4), are published under a SINGLE LICENSE (5), and could be developed
into TRANSLATIONS (6) or ADAPTATIONS (7). Two special types of
authoring templates are METHOD DESCRIPTIONS (8) and TOOL DESCRIPTIONS
(9). As a central design pattern, authoring template is addressing a
number of design challenges: (C3) assuring the quality of
collaboratively created open educational resources; (C4) lack of
collaboration and peer production of learning materials, (C5) lack of
reuse, revising and remixing, and (C2) scaffolding the use of new
pedagogical methods.
Short description
Conﬂicting forces
Recommended
conﬁguration
Related patterns
and design
challenges

Design challenges and
patterns for collaborative
authoring of OER’s
C1 Digital learning resources are
mainly used for individual
learning and for presentations
C2 Scaffolding the use of new
pedagogical methods
C3 Assuring the quality of
collaboratively created open
educational resources
C4 Lack of collaboration and
peer production of learning
materials
C5 Lack of reuse, revising and
remixing
C6 Multilingualism
C7 Providing localization and
reusability while retaining
authentic context
C8 Limited ﬁndability and poor
usability
C9 Poor use of the underlying
principles of the Web
P1 Authoring template
P2 Draft
P3 Embedding
P4 Linkedness
P5 Single license
P6 Translations
P7 Adaptations
P8 Method descriptions
P9 Tool descriptions
P10 Collection
P11 Teaching and learning story
P12 Featured resources
Design challenges Design patterns

Patterns for blog-based
open online courses

Design challenges and
patterns for blog-based
open online courses
C10 Supporting learners with
setting up their personal learning
goals and strategies
C11 Keeping the learner
motivation throughout the course
C12 The danger of over-
scripting
C13 Establishing and keeping
the community gravity
C14 The fragmentation of
discussions in blog-based
courses
C15 Lack of coordination
structures for managing blog-
based courses
C16 Lack of awareness support
mechanisms
C17 Commenting and versioning
of learning contracts
P13 Being open for lurking
P14 Open enrollment
P18 Blogroll
P19 Course tag
P23 Learning analytics
visualizations
P15 Nicknames
P16 About page
P17 Personal learning contract
P20 Aggregated discussions
P21 Reﬂective assignments
P22 Summary posts
P24 Open badges for
assessment
Design challenges Design patterns

Six design patterns for outcome-
based badge systems

Badge levels
• Pass/fail assessment is too limited for measuring the quality of
learners’ work and motivating them
• Badge systems should have multiple levels (e.g. regular
badges, golden badges; Gold, Silver, Bronze)

Badge points
• Badge points enable to translate badges into course grades

Broken badges
• Broken badges are used to point out unwanted behaviour
(e.g. being late with the assignments)

Deconstructed badges
• Large learning activities should be deconstructed into
separate independent badges (e.g. peer review badge for the
literature review assignment)

Learning pathways
• Badge system should be designed so that it provides a
possibility of multiple learning pathways
• Most common learning pathways could be recommended as
readymade “packages” for learners

Personal learning contracts
• Learning contracts help learners to plan their learning goals and
strategies
• Learning contracts provide an overview of the learning pathways
that learners plan to take
• Learning contracts could be used for self-assessment
• Open badges, multiple learning pathways and personal
learning contracts form a triangle of educational tools
that complement each other when used together

Open education ecosystem
… a learning ecosystem that consists of tools, services,
resources and stakeholders who share a common set of values.
The core value that deﬁnes the extent of the open education
ecosystem is openness.

(based on Gütl & Chang, 2008)
Open education
ecosystem

Learning stakeholders of
the open education
ecosystem

Learning utilities of the
open education
ecosystem

Open should be the default,
closed should be an option!

References
• Class Hack, Open Badge Anatomy (Updated): http://classhack.com/post/
45364649211/open-badge-anatomy-updated
• Goktas, Y., & Demirel, T. (2012). Blog-enhanced ICT courses: Examining their effects
on prospective teachers’ ICT competencies and perceptions. Computers &
Education, 58(3), 908–917. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.11.004
• Gütl, C., & Chang, V. (2008). Ecosystem-based Theoretical Models for Learning in
Environments of the 21st Century. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in
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• Plourde, M. (2013). MOOC (massive open online course). Retrieved from https://
et.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOC#/media/File:MOOC_poster_mathplourde.jpg

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Hans Põldoja
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
Tallinn University
School of Digital Technologies
https://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja

Open Educational Practices at Tallinn University

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