'Talking about Teaching' is the annual event that gives staff the opportunity to engage in conversations about learning, teaching and assessment. This year the key theme is inclusivity.
Open Badges: how do they impact on teaching and learning?
Eden Marrison (student), Kerry Sorby and Daniel Mackley
Following participation in the SEDA award (supporting learning with technology) in the summer term 2014, Open Badges were introduced as a pilot for the occupational therapy programme. A level 2 module was chosen for a cohort of 93 students to recognise informal learning. The Open Badges were chosen to recognise acquisition of specific professional skills: these were splinting, wheelchair mobility and visual impairments. The workshop will share the perspectives of the lecturer, TEL and one of the students involved.
By the end of the session, delegates will:
- Understand the concept of open badges
- Consider how open badges have been used to develop informal learning
- Identify how open badges could be used within their own practice
Beyond Boundaries: Leveraging No-Code Solutions for Industry Innovation
Talk About Teaching 2015 - Open Badges: How do they enable on teaching and learning?
1. Can Open Badges enhance
inclusive teaching and learning?
Kerry Sorby, Eden Marrison and
Daniel Mackley
January 2015
2. Why open badges?
• Brand new module: opportunity to create fresh
material
• Practical sessions have always been well received by
students and features informal feedback – but does
any learning take place?
• Practical sessions do not overtly contribute to the
summative assessment. Is there a way to recognise this
informal learning?
• Concern that too much material could be “shoe
horned” into 3 hour session. Can acquisition of
knowledge, skills & attitudes be effectively achieved in
1 session?
3. What are Open Badges?
• Open Badges is a digital accreditation
infrastructure from Mozilla.
• Open Badges are images with metadata hard-
coded into them.
4.
5.
6. What are Open Badges?
• Open Badges is a digital accreditation
infrastructure from Mozilla.
• Open Badges are images with metadata hard-
coded into them.
• Visual representations of achievements,
learning, skills, competencies etc.
• They can accommodate formal & informal
learning pathways.
11. Format of practical sessions
– an example
Building on students’ previous experiences of
learning from level 1:
Using a flipped classroom approach
• Pre-session SOL : 15 min Screencast = guiding
students to the theory underpinning the practical
session
• Pre-session quiz: to self-regulate learning
• Active participation in 3 hour practical session
• Post Session SOL : reflection on professional skill
12. Resources required to achieve this
• Time ++++
• Support (and education) from TEL team to
create screencast and on-line quiz
• Support from technician to facilitate
formative feedback within session.
13. Impact on Learning
………….a lecturer’s perspective
• End of module review
• Attendance for practical session
• Reviewing each of the reflections took time
but affirmed learning had taken place
(reflection)
• Formative feedback on reflections provided
via Moodle
• 1 badge endorsed by external company.
14. Inclusivity?
• Screencast and quiz – enables students to rewatch
/revisit material in their chosen environment and in
their own time– opportunity to formatively check their
understanding of the subject area.
• Supports different learning styles as different media
available to support learning. (screencast , documents
to read , practical session)
• Opportunity to formatively check own learning and ask
questions in safe learning environment (practical
session) . This gives students the confidence to reflect
on their own skills – evident in the post-session
reflection.
15. Results
55% students earned at least one badge.
NONE (45%)
ONE (27%)
TWO (16%)
ALL THREE (11%)
Interestingly, 7 students earned open badges
over the Christmas period.
16. Benefits to students
…..a student perspective
• Allows student to track own progress
• Sense of achievement
• Engaging & motivating
• Useful
• Post session reflection enables students to
recap on session, fully understand the
material
• Good for CPD
17. Barriers to complete the open badges
a student perspective
• TIME
• Lack of info re.badges : purpose, what to do
with them
• Would a printed certificate be more beneficial,
especially for CPD ?
• Some badges were too lengthy
18. What have we learnt?
……. Or future aspirations
• Restructure Moodle site: navigation is easy
and intuitive.
• Each badge to clearly identify the criteria for
completion.
• Introductory lecture to include rationale for
the open badges and promoting the benefits
for the student.
• Enhance inclusivity of screencast to include
subtitles & more “interesting/ diverse” visual
materials (photos)
19. What skills, knowledge, behaviours
would you like to promote ?
http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/media/421718/jiscopenbadgesdesigntoolkit-print_1.pdf
Ok, so just put that into context, here is a badge titled issued by Kerry at York St John University for their Professional Skills and Reasoning module. This badge was automatically issued through Moodle our learning management system.
Ok, So let’s have a look at how it all works, we will start with the learner…
A learner can earn badges from a number of places – this could be an organisation, training provider, a University. Within a HE institutions, badges could be delivered by different teams such as the programme team for the degree they’re studying, Careers, student union etc. We are going to share with you later in the presentation how different departments within our institution are using Open Badges.
Badges the learner earns are stored in their backpack…
Badges can then be shared on social media profiles (such as LinkedIn), online portfolios and personal webpages where learners can build a digital resume/CV. This could lead to unlocking new possibilities such as job opportunities and accreditation. For example, Badges could be used as evidence for gaining fellowship of the HEA.
Building on students’ previous experiences of learning from level 1: SOL informs discussion in workshop
The pre session SOL was designed to enable students to develop knowledge and comprehension prior to the face- to face session. The workshop was designed to provide an active learning experience where application and analysis were the focus . This enabled more opportunities to develop students’ professional reasoning skills (which was the focus of this module) – for all badges students needed to attend the session and complete the post session SOL.
End of module review : – only 5 students responded .
3 had not any completed badges due to time/illness,
1 student was planning to complete badges over Xmas (time)
and 1 student found it useful
Attendance for practical session – variable – why?
Splinting – only 7 absences
Wheelchair skills – 17 absences.
Visual impairment –
For example studies by Smith, K and Morris, NP (2014) and Ford, Burns, Mitch and Gomez (2012) found that lecture capture enhanced attendance and student engagement.
Additional folder – supporting evidence for practical session accessed by 34 students (39%) - evident in reading some of the reflections which incorporated professional reasoning skills and evidence.