This document discusses the use of open badges to recognize skills acquisition through online learning. It provides an overview of research on using badges to motivate learners and make learning progress visible. Badges are found to help balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation when chosen carefully to support learner ownership. The document advocates developing a concept for an open badges ecosystem in online intercultural exchange that recognizes progression from resilience to autonomy through consultation with stakeholders. It seeks input from readers on designing and achieving open badges.

1. To badge or not to badge?
Mirjam Hauck and Teresa MacKinnon

2. Our work so far:
• OIE task types and badge placement
investigated through Clavier
• Quantitative and qualitative data collected
and analysed from pilot
• Framework proposed to support design
decisions
Preliminary conclusions:
Badges provide a route to the acquisition of
complex skills, confidence builds
competence.
Badge collection should not become the means
and the end, but remain the means to an
end, namely enhanced learner motivation.
Badges can help to balance extrinsic and
intrinsic motivation.
Badge selection and positioning must be
informed by learning design and not the
other way round.
Badges can gamify learning but should be
chosen and placed with care to support
learner ownership of learning progress.

3. Recent developments:
• #openbadgesHE conference held in March 2016, showed many
existing examples of use of open badges across UK and Europe.
Badges as recognition of achievement, as motivators, as tools for
making learning path visible. Applied in staff development, student
engagement, in courses. Available in formal and informal settings.
• Open badges 101 course – collaborative, self access course providing
lots of resources and updated by open badge users.
• Open badges to recognise digital skills development e.g. Tech Future
Badge Academy

5. Why open badges?
Easily verifiable recognition of skills due to hard coded connection with criteria and
issuer. More secure than certificates.
When activity is online, it makes sense to provide immediate recognition of
achievement in situ.
Open badges can be designed and issued by anyone, e.g. peer to peer networks.
Badge awardee controls display, communicates own value of awards, has agency in
process.
“Rather than guessing a person’s skills from a single credential, stakeholders can
gather a nuanced picture of a person’s skills through a collection of smaller
credentials”.
(Ahn et al. 2014)

6. Where to start? Develop a concept
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7. Towards an ecosystem of open badges for OIE
• Badge award needs to be meaningful; best achieved in consultation
with a range of stakeholders (learners, employers, issuers, Community
of Practice)
• Learning arc (Cross & Galley 2012) presents 3 types of “learning
journey”; allows us to make the pathway explicit and to recognise
progression; through resilience to autonomy
• Framework proposal is not prescriptive
• Risks?
Image CC BY-SA Kyle Bowen

8. We need your help!
• Experience achieving an open badge
• Reflect upon that experience and contribute your thoughts
• Design a badge for your context, you can make it here.
• Review our chapter and blog your ideas, sharing with the
#telecollab2016; we would like to aggregate your/the community’s
thoughts on open badges for OIE

9. References.
• Ahn, J.; Pellicone, A. and Butler, B. S. (2014). Open badges for education:
what are the implications at the intersection of open systems and badging?
In: Research in Learning Technology. Vol. 22.
• Cross, S., & Galley, R. (2012). MOOC Badging and the Learning arc. [Blog
post]Retrieved from http://oro.open.ac.uk/42038
• Hauck, M. & MacKinnon, T. (in press). A new approach to assessing Online
Intercultural Exchange: soft certification of participant engagement and
task execution. In: R. O’Dowd and T. Lewis (Eds.) Online Intercultural
Exchange: Policy, Pedagogy, Practice. Routledge.
With special thanks to:
• Inger-Marie F. Christensen, University of Southern Denmark