Open Badges: New Opportunities in PD Tadd Farmer & Emily Pulham Introduce ourselves (1 sentence). What images/memories or words come to your mind when you think of Professional Development? (Click for picture) We’re going to do our best to avoid this type of experience. While there is a spectru of good-bad professional development, what we don’t see is a lot of CHOICE involved. We are hoping to present a case for badges that will help you visualize how badges can provide customized opportunities for PD using technology. BYU Tadd Farmer & Emily Pulham

Currency of our Education Certificates Grades GPA’s/Transcripts Seat Time How many of you have ever gotten a certificate for attending workshops or seminars? (raise hands) The currency of our education system is based in (list the bullets) But what do these things really mean? I took a class called Accounting 200 and I got a B+ (almost an A-!) but what does that really say about me? In a similar way, when you’re done with UCET, what do the Professional Development points you gain from being here say about you? Did you learn a new skill or change in some way? You’re here because you want to learn and improve yourselves and help your students. All the things on this list are hollow credentials. Through digital open badges we have a way of showing what you actually learn in a credential.

What are Open Badges? Emily: Ask for show of hands- who has heard of badges? What have you heard about badges? (Shout them out!)

What are Open Badges? Open Badges Acknowledge accomplishment Display evidence of skills gained thru meta-data Add to a personal resume Enable feedback on specific skills Emily: Similar to merit badges Image from Flickr.com user Dennis Crowley

Open Badge Information Tadd:

Badge Rubric Tadd:

Evidence Tadd BYU

Current Badge Offerings Emily: We are constantly updating and creating new badges. We have “agnostic badges” that indicate a concept you can learn, and specific technology badges. We are just getting started! What are some technologies that you’ve learned about at this conference that you’d like to receive a badge for?

Pre-service education teachers at BYU utilize badges What we’re doing now Pre-service education teachers at BYU utilize badges Updated website: http://badges.byu.edu/ Improved UX design and functionality Badge sharing across institutions Tadd: School district partnerships??? BYU

Working with State Office for USOE credit Badge Partnerships Future Directions Working with State Office for USOE credit Badge Partnerships Government Professional Academic International Expanded Offerings Tadd: BYU

E-mail us about badges you would like to see offered What can you do? Talk to your district technology specialist and school administrator about badges! Get credit E-mail us about badges you would like to see offered Emily: School district partnerships? BYU

Questions, Comments, Ideas Thank You ? Emily: Dr. Rick West is the permanent contact who is making inroads on the state level. Questions, Comments, Ideas Dr. Rick West rickwest@byu.edu Tadd Farmer tadd.farmer@gmail.com Emily Pulham emilypulham.com

Randall, D. L. , Harrison, J. B. , & West, R. E. (2013) Randall, D. L., Harrison, J. B., & West, R. E. (2013). Giving credit where credit is due: Designing Open Badges for a technology integration course. TechTrends, 57(6), 88–95. Davies, R., Randall, D., & West, R. E. (2015). Using Open Badges to Certify Practicing Evaluators. American Journal of Evaluation, 36(2), 151–163. doi:10.1177/1098214014565505 West, R. E., & Randall, D. L. (in-press). The Case for Rigor in Badges. In L. Muilenburg & Z. Berge (Eds.), Digital Badges in Education: Trends, Issues, and Cases. Routledge.