{"id":574,"date":"2014-10-12T16:06:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T16:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/?p=574"},"modified":"2015-10-22T18:59:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T18:59:21","slug":"open-badges-the-new-pathways-and-storytellers-in-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/2014\/10\/12\/open-badges-the-new-pathways-and-storytellers-in-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Badges: New Pathways and Storytellers in Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently\u00a0I attended \u201cBadges for Learning: Creating your own path\u201d, a MaRS Best Practices<\/a> event about the future of badges in education and their implications, not only for individuals, but also for innovators in the sector. On the panel were notable reps from organizations presently pushing the boundaries of how knowledge is accredited in the open badges community: Charles Tsai, Director of Learning Networks, Ashoka Canada,<\/a> Peter Janzow, Open Badges Lead, Pearson VUE<\/a>, and Kathryn Meisner, Director, Hive Toronto<\/a> at Mozilla. The panel discussion was moderated by Joe Wilson, Senior Strategist, Education, MaRS Discovery District<\/a> and was followed by a \u2018Deep Dive\u2019 session in the afternoon. \u00a0It was a day rich with discovery and connection. \u00a0Here is an overview of what I learned:\u00a0<\/p>\n

A badge tells a story. It\u00a0captures learning.\u00a0And, a collection of badges tells\u00a0a\u00a0story of what drives, motivates, and fuels an individual\u2019s pursuit of knowledge. Badges\u00a0speak beyond institutions to life aspirations; they form\u00a0a fuller picture of an individual. Badges\u00a0tell<\/em> and show<\/em> the story of learning for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

So, what exactly are badges and how do they work?<\/p>\n

Badges go by many names: digital badges, open badges, microcredentials, open credentials, open certification. A badge is an online emblem of a skill or achievement, interest or knowledge. Badges can represent traditional academic success or the attainment of proficiencies and competencies such as creativity, innovation, collaboration, teamwork, and leadership. Badges can be merited by people of all ages and they can make any significant achievements visible to prospective employers, educators, coaches, and organizations. They can be earned in formal settings like classrooms, courses or seminars, or they can be awarded for knowledge and involvements that take place in more informal environments, such as online communities, organization meetings, or extracurricular activities.<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HgLLq7ybDtc[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

They differ from traditional diplomas and degrees in that they are rich with metadata and provide clickable evidence of achievement. Badges allow for testimonials, links, documents, sound files, images, and artifacts. They are game-changers for certification standards in that they change expectations on how knowledge and competence can be demonstrated. They are not static and they can expire. Unlike e-portfolios, badges\u00a0are machine readable and searchable. Open badges from many different systems talk with each other and recognize each other as part of one coherent system.<\/p>\n

So, where do they live?<\/p>\n

Once acquired, badges\u00a0are sent via email to be displayed on one\u2019s online portfolio, social networking profiles, job sites, \u2018passport\u2019 or \u2018backpack\u2019 (the online equivalent of a Guide or Scout sash).<\/p>\n

Badges are not only awarded at the completion of a course or project; they can be granular in scope, too. They can capture and reward stages in learning. A traditional transcript only reveals an\u00a0overall mark a student earns in any given course. Transcripts do not indicate the areas or units where a student demonstrated mastery of a particular skill or acquisition of knowledge in a unit of study. Transcripts do not tell a complete story. \u00a0Through badging,\u00a0students can\u00a0display notable accomplishments and attain recognition\u00a0for skills that would otherwise be hidden by a traditional transcript. The recognition of these skills may be the defining factor in what determines whether or not a worker\u00a0secures employment or a student gains admittance to a post secondary institution. It provides a richer, more detailed account of an individual learner. Purdue University is one of several institutions of higher learning that is embracing\u00a0badging as\u00a0viable and valuable means to indicate competency,\u00a0skill, and knowledge. \u00a0The University is not badging curriculum, but items within curriculum.<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=O41-BWJ_VE0[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

Badges are also gaining ground in the domain of continuing education where there is a movement toward open badges and a way from traditional degree programs. \u00a0In these environments learning is self-directed, motivated, and autonomous. \u00a0Udacity<\/a>\u00a0(a for-profit educational organization offering MOOCs), for example, recently launched nanodegrees <\/a>to help funnel people to jobs quickly and efficiently. \u00a0In 2013, the Clinton Global Initiative<\/a> committed to improve the futures of two million US students and workers with skills and credentials to access employment via Open Badges.\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a02014, the CGI, along with the Badge Alliance<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0increased the reach of this\u00a0commitment<\/a> from two million US students and workers to ten million students and workers, worldwide.<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1Qq7emqbzcA[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

Badges are changing the landscape of education and they are disrupting prevailing mindsets\u00a0of\u00a0how we learn<\/em> and who decides if learning has taken place<\/em>. \u00a0Schools will need to redefine and redesign curriculum. Just as badges are setting and defining expectations for certification standards, so to they are changing they ways schools think about acknowledging merit. Teachers and students in the 21st century know well that learning is happening\u00a0beyond classrooms, beyond schools and online, in communities, and organizations. \u00a0This learning is now being recognized by institutions and employers who want to read a different story than what is presently available via traditional test scores and transcripts.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

For more\u00a0information\u00a0about open badges and the open badge community, I recommend visiting the following organizations and networks:<\/p>\n

Mozilla Open Badges<\/a>: started as a \u201ccollaborative project between MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC and Mozilla and has continued to grow through an open, collaborative approach. It is designed, built and backed by a broad community of contributors, such as NASA, the Smithsonian, Intel, the Girl Scouts, and more. The open source model means that improvements made by one partner can benefit everyone, from bug fixes to new features.\u201d<\/p>\n

TakingItGlobal<\/a>: \u201cis one of the world\u2019s leading networks of young people learning about, engaging with, and working towards tackling global challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credly<\/a>: recognizes lifelong achievement by offering platforms for verifying, sharing and managing digital badges and credentials.<\/p>\n

Hive Learning Networks<\/a>: \u00a0Are \u201ca growing constellation of communities around the globe that are championing digital skills and web literacy through connected learning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently\u00a0I attended \u201cBadges for Learning: Creating your own path\u201d, a MaRS Best Practices event about the future of badges in education and their implications, not only for individuals, but also for innovators in the sector. On the panel were notable reps from organizations presently pushing the boundaries of how knowledge is accredited in the open … Continue reading “Open Badges: New Pathways and Storytellers in Education”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,32,34,33],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-badges","tag-clinton-global-initiative","tag-mars","tag-nanodegrees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/shelleythomas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}