In this presentation, presented at AECT as well as the Utah ATD group, we discuss our proposal for issuing soft skill badges.

1. Soft Skill Development Using Open Badges
Casey D. Wright
Daniel L. Randall
BYU
Image by photosteve101. Used under CC BY License.
#UtahATD

2. The Need for Soft Skills
Image copyrighted by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Used under the laws governing Fair Use of copyrighted material.
Girls only
like guys who
have skills!
– Napoleon Dynamite

3. “Personal attributes that enable someone to
interact effectively and harmoniously with
other people.” -The Oxford Dictionary (2013).
Soft Skills Defined
Image by thetaxhaven. Used under CC BY.

4. “Personality traits, goals, motivations, and
preferences that are valued in the labor
market, in school, and in many other
domains.” (Heckman and Kautz, 2012, p. 451).
Soft Skills Defined
Image by Kevin Dooley. Used under CC BY.

5. 202 out of 460 executives feel that soft skills is
where the biggest gap in workforce skills are
(Adecco Staffing, 2013).
ID Professionals spend 35% of their time engaged in
soft skill activities versus 30% in actual design work
(Cox & Osguthorpe, 2002).
Other
Soft Skills
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Soft Skill Activities Instructional Design
PercentageofTimeSpent
Time Spent as ID Professional
Why Soft Skill Badges?

6. Graduate Program Description
• Learning outcomes to develop soft skills in graduate students.
• Display skills gained.
• A lot of energy has been placed on developing our design skills but
more needs to be done to develop soft skills.
IDT

7. • Concrete evidence
• Evidence-based outcome
• Professional development
Why Soft Skill Badges?
IDT

8. What are “Open Badges”?
Images from OpenBadges.org

9. Merit Badges and Digital Badges
Boy Scout Merit Badges
Digital Badge
- Acknowledge accomplishment
- Display skills gained
- Motivation
- Enable feedback/teaching from
adult mentors
Typically not sharable -
Acknowledge accomplishment -
Motivation -
Gamification -
Enable feedback on specific skills -

10. Open Badges
Open Badges
Webmaker Open Badges
- Uses Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI)
- Criteria and Evidence links
- Display badges via web
- Motivation
Awarded Automatically -
Display skills gained -
Motivation -
Gamification -

11. Mozilla Backpack

12. Backpack Collection
Multiple collections can
be created.
Collections can remain
private or can be made
public and shared.

13. Open Badge Information

14. Design of Open Badges for Soft Skills
Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept. Used under CC BY.

15. Mozilla’s Webmaker badges plan used the
“constellation” concept in which smaller
badges are earned and added together to
receive a higher level badge.
Badges image adapted from the Mozilla Open Badges Project. Retrieved from http://erinknight.com/post/29830945702/webmaker-badges on 11/9/12.
Early Badge System by Mozilla

16. Google
Sites
Personal
Tech
Choice
1
Choice
2
Choice
3
IPT EdTec Badge System
Student selected Internet
Communication Technology
Student selected
Multimedia Technology
Student selected
Personal Technologies
Additional
Concepts
Mobile
Learn
Internet
Safety
Copy
right
iMovie
Lower level badges are not
issued for these projects
Project level badge not
issued for these
additional concepts
Educational
Technology
Course
Level Badge
Project
Level Badge
Lower
Level Badges

17. IDT Badge System

18. idt.wix.com/home (Prototype)
Official Site
Coming Soon
(LearnTech.org)

19. Project Management
(Brill, Bishop, & Walker, 2006)

20. Professional Communication
(Brill, Bishop, & Walker, 2006)

21. Possible Solution
5) Badge Issued: If accepted, results of evaluation reviewed by administrators who issue badge.
4) Review: Documentation and checklist evaluated. Based on rubric, a recommendation to accept or reject.
3) Rubric Completed: All parties submit requested information (checklist, other documentation).
2) Contact: Dept. secretary contacts nominee, supervisor, and a peer to request evidence via checklist.
1) Nominate: Student (self), peer, or faculty begins process by submitting nomination form

22. Badge Issuer
Available on Github
msedev/badges

23. General Soft Skills Design Process Other
-Project Management
-Professional Comm.
- Teamwork/Collaboration*
- Any others?*
- ADDIE
- Agile
- CPS*
- Design Thinking*
- TRIZ*
- Any others?*
- Fluid Intelligence*
- Diversity understanding*
- Psychological capital?*
- Business ethics?*
- Any others?*
*In progress or planned
Available Badges
IDT

24. Future Design Iterations
• Produce meaningful badges.
• Scaling assessment.
• Maintaining accuracy of rubrics and tutorials as
tools evolve and change.
• Creating a smart dashboard management tool for
people to log in and track their progression on
badges (ala Khan Academy).
IDT

25. Future Research Considerations
• Employer perception of open badges?
• What populations can best be served by soft skill
badges?
• Student motivation. How many students will go above
and beyond to earn badges? extra badges? Post-class
badges?
IDT

26. Casey D. Wright – casey.wright@byu.edu
Daniel L. Randall – dan.randall26@gmail.com
Coming soon: TechLearn.org
Contact us with Questions
Thank You#UtahATD