Application of (open) digital badges Partners: EDEN and SRCE Short term staff training, Seville, 2-6 October 2017 Ferenc Tátrai EDEN

Objective At the completion of this training you will be able to create digital (open) badges to be used in open non-formal learning as a means of recognition of the professional competence development of the learner. .

Focus Focus of the training material: teacher and trainer competence development in designing and applying digital badges and their integration in the open non-formal learning process. The training is based on group work and trainee collaboration.

STRUCTURE recommended reading/listening before the course starts Video presentations inserted into lectures 4 Units ( 9 topics) 20 acad. hours of F2F or self learning Theory – 8 acad. hours Practical activities – 12 acad. hours

STRUCTURE Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Introduction to the concept of digital badges Digital badge metadata Unit 2 The digital badge ecosystem The value of using digital badges for the different stakeholders Unit 3 Tools to support digital badge design Creating and issuing badges using the awailable open badge infrastructure Unit 4 Questions of granularity of the non-formal courseware Relation of units awarded by badges Learning path selection by the learner

UNIT1 UNIT 1 Concept of (open) digital badges Objective To make you familiar with the concept of digital badges, their role in the recognition of learning outcomes of open non-formal learning Learning outcomes After completing this Unit you will be able to describe the concept of digital badges list the features of digital badges tell the added value of issuing open digital badges list the metadata of digital badges Topic 1: Introduction to the concept of digital badges Topic 2: Digital badge metadata

UNIT1 Topic 1: Introduction to the concept of digital badges Digital badges are now widely used in education. Why do we use badges in education? Watch this short video about „What is a Badge” by Chicago Art Department (less than 3 minutes) here In the video you have heard about badges, digital badges and open badges. Lets see their relationship! All are badges, open badges are also digital, but not all digital badges are open badges.... Digital badges are web-enabled versions of a credential, certifying the learning outcome. Representing your credential as a (digital) badge gives you the ability to share your skills online in a way that is simple, trusted and can be easily verified in real time.

UNIT 1 – Topic 1

UNIT 1 – Topic 1

UNIT 1 – Topic 1 How does this system work? The learner can acquire knowledge and skills from various sources and in various ways, from attending a training institution, through online learning or just taking part in volunteering programmes (left side of the Figure 3. If these achievements are awarded by open digital badges (shortly: Open Badges), these badges can be collected, stored and displayed in his/her Badge Backpack (middle of the picture). The Badge Backpack is a digital tool to store/display the Open Badges someone has earned, and makes it easy to share them between platforms, anywhere on the web. The badges collected in the Badge Backpack can then be uploaded to his/her personal website, or to various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, etc. These appearances in the digital space might unlock new possibilities, new job opportunities or might clear the way to lifelong learning.

UNIT 1 – Topic 1 Note Some institutions developed their own system to display badges earned in the same institution. This motivates the learners using the system to proceed with their study, help them in selecting the right learning path, and at the same time also eliminates the possibility of anyone claiming the credential of anyone else. Such badges are only visible inside the institution and are not necessary public (not „open” it that sense). Digital badges earned in such systems are uniquely linked to data hosted on the platform. This link makes them reliable. Every credential and profile has a unique URL that is sharable via email, on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or embeddable in a résumé. But such systems do not support uploading badges issued by other platforms, and access to metadata are limited to the users of the same platform.

UNIT 1 – Topic 1 Digital Badges make it easy to: Get recognition for the things you learn Give recognition for the things you teach Verify skills and Display your verified badges across the web, if the reference quoted in the badge metadata is open, e.g. when the digital badge is an Open Badge) – Open Badges are retain the advantage of digital badges like versatility, adaptability, and are evidence-based, but above these basic features, they are Standardised: follow an emerging consistent open standard on what constitutes a badge, making it possible for these digital representations of accomplishment to be portable and displayed side by side with badges received from a range of sources, the reference quoted in the badge metadata is openly accessible, thereby they are openly verifiable and shareable.

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Topic 2 Digital badge metadata If you have a look at the digital badge, the first thing you see is the badge image. Three digital badges from www.moodle.org that users can gain for various contributions to the site, like Moodle development and user support. You might think that the image is the whole badge. However, an integral part of the digital badge is the set of metadata, called “badge attributes”.

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 What does a particular badge constitute of and what kind of information someone can get from the badge or show to the audience. The badge attributes, i.e. badge’s description and criteria are inseparable part of the badge. They can be grouped in several ways, but essentially they constitute of the Recipient details Issuer details (name, contact) Badge details (name, description, image, criteria) Administrative details (badge issuing time, badge expiry date, badge issuer ID, badge earner ID)

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Recipient details Name Name of the individual earning the badge Issuer details Name of the individual, entity, or organization that issued the badge. Contact Issuer’s contact information.

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Badge details Let’s see what they mean: Name Recalls the content of a skill or achievement in few words. Badge name should be short and the content of the achievement should be easily understandable Description Provides the details of achievement: describes the context, specifies the achievement, refers to completed tasks, and explains the assessment procedures. Useful tips on how to write a good badge description are available here. Image The image will be the main representation of the badge. It should be simple, without too many details but still interesting enough for someone to see the rest of the information. Criteria Tasks needed to be completed by the badge earner to receive a badge. Options like Manual completion by role: the role we want to be played by the recipient to be awarded by the badge Course completion: for using this option, tracking must be enabled for the course Activity completion: like for the previous option, the course tracking must be enabled The selected criteria will be displayed among all the other digital badge metadata.

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Example 1: MoodleBites badge

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Reflection questions Have you ever received digital badges in your learning history? If yes, were any of these badges an open badge? Did you share the badge? Have you ever used digital badges to recognize the learning achievement of your students? If yes, were these open badges? If yes, what is your experience with open badges?

UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Assignment 1.1 Questions: Q1: Who can issue digital badges? only institutions only individuals individuals and institutions   Q2: What is the added value of an open badge over a digital badge not following the open standards?    Q3: List at least 5 attributes of a digital badge

Thanks for your attention! Contact: tatrai@eden-online.org UNIT 1 Thanks for your attention! Contact: tatrai@eden-online.org