INVESTIGATING PERCEPTIONS AND POTENTIAL OF OPEN BADGES IN FORMAL HIGHER EDUCATION Dr. Ian Glover, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Farzana Latif, City University London, UK

WHAT IS A BADGE? Visual representation of achievement, experience, affiliation and/or interest - ideally distinctive and understood within a community. Some examples:

“Badges mean nothing in themselves, but they mark a certain achievement and they are a link between the rich and the poor. For when one girl sees a badge on a sister Scout’s arm, if that girl has won the same badge, it at once awakens an interest and sympathy between them.” - Juliette G. Low, Founder of Girl Scouts of the USA

WHAT IS AN OPEN BADGE? o Many apps, websites and organisations issue badges, but they are all separate o Open Badges attempt to draw all these into one (free) place o Include links to criteria and evidence o Add security and verification o can check whether a person was actually awarded a specific badge o Allow 'clusters' of badges to be shared with others o Basically, an image + related data

Open Badges Anatomy (Updated)Open Badges Anatomy (Updated) by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA.

WHY IS THERE A BUZZ ABOUT THEM? o Growing recognition that learning happens outside the classroom o Grade transcripts hide the truth about learning o Strong links with current trends such as MOOCs, Gamification, Mobile Learning o but can be used independently of these

EXAMPLE OPEN BADGES

WHAT DID WE DO IN OUR PROJECT? o Semi-structured interviews with staff o Whole institution o Focus groups with students o Health Sciences and Engineering o None had prior knowledge of badges in HE o but some were aware of other uses o Intended to identify perception and value o recommendation on whether to continue work

WHAT DID WE FIND? o Students want to use badge to stand out from peers o Desire to link badges to requirements of professional accreditation o Important not to issue too many - each badge must represent genuine achievement

WHAT ELSE DID WE FIND? o Badges would act as a motivator o would push students to go beyond the minimum o would support both individualistic and competitive goal structures o Students would use them when applying for jobs or further study o Helped to recall their development and the skills that they had developed o staff would use them when writing references

Carpet BadgingCarpet Badging by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

COMMON CRITICISMS (AND HOW WE ADDRESSED THEM AFTERWARDS) o "Childish" o plan and design them to be meaningful o "Hard to design without skills" o simple, free tools available o "Lack of consistency in use" o set a policy about the requirements for a badge

SOME MORE CRITICISMS o "Not credible with, for example, employers" o involve employers in the design of badges o "I get it, but my students/lecturers won't" o didn't appear true through the interviews o "This could become another assessment route" o ideally it should reflect what is already happening

Swiss Army BadgeSwiss Army Badge by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

POTENTIAL USES o Showing competency in a skill, o e.g. nursing students taking blood samples o Recognising extra-curricular activity o e.g. a music student participating in an orchestra, o Representing co-curricular development o e.g. participation in Students' Union or Student Council activities

MORE POTENTIAL USES o Identifying common themes in a programme o e.g. showing all modules that develop debating skills o Validating informal learning o e.g. certifying a specific standard has been met o Enabling students to differentiate themselves o e.g. highlighting specialisms within a programme

Indiana Jones and the lost badgeIndiana Jones and the lost badge by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

GETTING STARTED o Image creation o OpenBadges.me ( o Online Badge Maker ( o Badge creation and issuing o badg.us ( o All-in-one system o Credly (

STILL GETTING STARTED o Educational platforms introducing badges o Moodle (from 2.6) o Blackboard (from latest Service Pack) o Mahara o PebblePad o Wordpress o etc. o Central, common 'backpack' (

Lord of the Badges?Lord of the Badges? by Kyle Bowen. CC-BY-SA

CONTACT US Dr. Ian Glover - blog - Farzana Latif - twitter