Digital Badges and Alternate Credentialling in Education

Echo360 is adding new tools to assess learning and measure student engagement in continuing education programs, thanks to the acquisition of online learning company Astute Technology.

Leaders from Learning Machine, MIT Media Lab, and Carnegie Mellon University engaged in a groundbreaking conversation with a packed house of EdTech vendors and education leaders at the annual EDUCAUSE conference. Together, they introduced Blockcerts, the open standard for issuing secure, verifiable digital credentials.

Hosted by Learning Machine CEO, Chris Jagers, the panel brought together research from the MIT Media Lab (Principal Engineer Kim Duffy), real-world perspective from the Registrar of Carnegie Mellon University (John Papinchak), implementation details from Learning Machine leadership (COO Dan Hughes), and the societal implications of distributed technologies (Learning Machine Anthropologist Natalie Smolenski). The panelists described a future in which learners are able to act as their own lifelong registrars with blockchain credentialing.

Chris Jagers began the discussion by acknowledging the uncharacteristic interest in this new technology from universities worldwide: “There’s been a lot of genuine excitement about using the blockchain within higher education because the promise is immense. The promise is that it will enable students to hold and share their own official records directly with others in a manner that is safe, tamper-proof, and trusted. We’re talking about degrees, transcripts, certifications, badges–everything.”

Educators are always learning. In the classroom with students, at workshops and trainings, through the process of developing and facilitating lessons, and in so many more places educators are constantly building and refining their skills. Often, the skills developed in their day-to-day practice prove to be the most valuable tools for educators. With micro-credentials, educators can now be formally recognized for the skills and competencies they learn throughout their careers. Micro-credentials are research-backed, expert-assessed, representations of learned skills or competencies that can be presented as a digital badge. In partnership with Digital Promise and their micro-credential platform, Maker Ed is excited to share “Getting Started with Making,” a set of six maker education micro-credentials.

A series of specific designed courses, coupled with badges and gaming, helps students in Northern Ireland to master the skills they need to be ready for the workforce. The South West College team share their story.

The South West College is at the heart of the communities of Tyrone and Fermanagh. Physically represented at campuses in Cookstown, Dungannon, Enniskillen and Omagh, the College employs over 500 full time and part time staff servicing some 14,000 enrolments with a turnover of £40m and makes a major contribution to the local and regional economy.

In order to boost students’ employability, the South West College have introduced a new student enhancement initiative called the “SWC Virtual Academy” which is student-centered, interactive, engaging and available 24/7.

To make Competency X a success, it was vital that we know which foundational science-based skills industry partners seek in employees and interns. We co-created the badges in a Summer Workshop with teachers, scholars, and industry and college partners who collaborated to ensure that scholars are focused on the most important skills, knowledge, and dispositions for success. Together, we identified high-demand and foundational science-based skills. For example, dispositions like humility, independence, and persistence were proposed alongside more traditional science-based practices in NGSS like analyzing data or engaging in argument. We used this rich information, as well as teacher proposed learning progressions on science and engineering practices to build digital badges that validate mastery of skills and practices.

If teachers are expected to design and build innovative learning cultures for their students, it is critical that they learn in trusted spaces that allow them to experiment and fail.

Teachers should be able to choose learning pathways that build upon their existing knowledge, experiences and interests, and support their goals for their students. Most importantly, if teachers are expected to design and build innovative learning cultures for their students, it is critical that they learn in trusted spaces that allow them to experiment and fail.

In recent years, disruptive technologies that support alternative credentialing (e.g., digital badges) have introduced the possibility of transitioning to a competency-based system for professional learning. However, a systemic overhaul is necessary for these new micro-credentialing systems to work, allowing districts and teachers to recognize the value of badges to demonstrate the implementation of professional learning — a critical component for effective PD.

Currently, most badges and/or micro-credentials equate to Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and these, in turn, equate to seat time. This is an important first step, but cannot be the only step. Badges and micro-credentials should unlock further learning opportunities and be awarded based on competency. Most importantly, they need to provide teachers with more benefits than a CEU credit hour, which is received at a traditional workshop with little demonstration of learning outcomes or implementation in the classroom.

Professional development should focus on providing teachers with support, research and tools that allow them a choice in what they make, and how they demonstrate the teaching and learning that best reflects the complexity of these processes.

Oregon Tech Online is currently offering more than 20 badges in several areas, including Healthcare and Information Technology, but any course, series or courses, or assessment-based offering at the institution is "badge-able." For instance, "It is possible to develop a badge for an exam, an award, successful completion of a coding 'boot camp,' or to reflect a specific skill set students may achieve at a certain point in their college career," according to a statement from the school. Badges are awarded for "excelling enough to be deemed proficient at the skill," and can be stacked to show specializations.

Awarded electronically, the badges can be displayed on LinkedIn, social media, e-portfolios, electronic resumes, websites or other formats. Each badge is linked to a specific skill set and verified by Oregon Tech, allowing potential employers to view a student's capabilities without having to obtain transcripts. Badges are tagged so that they can be searched by skill area. Employers can even work with the university to design badging "groups" that identify step raises or advancement opportunities for employees.

A keynote presentation at the University of Worcester's Staff Development Day (16 November 2015)

It seems that digital badges are everywhere these days: in fitness apps, on social networking websites, and in company loyalty programs. In higher education, they're taking the form of microcredentials, representing successful completion of a variety of learning experiences inside and outside of the traditional for-credit course.

Institutions continue to experiment with digital badges, and the rate of adoption is increasing at a rapid pace. According to a recent study of 190 institutions by the University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), one in five colleges has issued digital badges.

The University of Texas System is updating its technology learning platform to one that features an online marketplace of courses and credentials, real-time feedback and personalized student support services.

UT System’s Institute for Transformational Learning will work with Salesforce and Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, to help establish the 2.0 version of TEx (Total Educational Experience).

TEx will fall under the Institute for Transformational Learning’s portfolio of initiatives that aim to leverage new technologies and innovative programs to benefit students. That portfolio has been dubbed UTx.

Unlock the potential of badge applications
Next webinar is on Monday 10 October at 15:00 / 3pm CEST (14:00 / 2pm BST).

Welcome to our very first OBF Academy webinar of fall 2016! In this webinar, we will go through some of the most recent features that have been added to OBF.

The emphasis will be on badge applications and on the different ways on how to evaluate them (for example peer assessment). Badge applications feature is one of the most used feature in Open Badge Factory. Make sure you join us and learn more!

Got questions you want to send in before the webinar? Tweet us at @OBFactory_.

How to join:
Go here: discendum.adobeconnect.com/OBFAcademy

Choose “Enter as a Guest”

Write your name

Click “Enter Room”

Welcome!

Unbundling doesn’t mean liberal arts will disappear. It may be that liberal arts courses provide high-value competencies that predict career success across many professions. But it does mean that revenue per student will decline, and that colleges and universities will need to work a lot harder and be a lot more creative to capture the lifetime value of student-consumers. No longer will students fork over $200,000 in tuition for a standard four-year bundle. Postsecondary education will become increasingly affordable. Completion rates will rise. Placement will improve.  This is how technology will ultimately disrupt higher education.

While this seems like the stuff of science fiction, it is not far off. Millions of new job descriptions are posted online every month. Colleges and universities are issuing millions of micro-credentials, millions of students are posting work in e-portfolios. Thousands of employers use Applicant Tracking Systems that are transitioning to Applicant Information Systems.

To thrive in today’s fast-evolving job market, students need flexible ways to quickly develop and demonstrate new skills. Alternative credentialing helps solve this problem.

UPCEA and Pearson surveyed 190 institutions to determine the role alternative credentials play in higher education. Learn more about the key findings and download the complete report, Demographic Shifts in Educational Demand and the Rise of Alternative Credentials.

The blockchain technology we use to store all of our data and projects allows community partners and leaders we trust to review our portfolios (anonymously, or course), and give us feedback and rate our competencies, which add up to badges, which add up to credentials. To me, that's much more useful and reliable than a teacher giving me a grade. UA's competency trackers are always adding new experiences in the database, which helps us find vetted learning experiences that can help us build whatever skills we need; that's how we found the Toastmasters coaches. We have no trouble finding what we need to learn, especially with how much is on the Internet.