Speakers:
Megan Cole – Head of Marketing at Badge Labs
Dr. Melissa Stange – Lord Fairfax Community College
Richard Shelton – Coordinator of Academic Services Northeastern State UniversityDonna Shelton, PHD – Professor of Spanish, Northeastern Oklahoma

Badge Labs – Consulting and Development term for Open Badges

Open Badges Ecosystem:

What are open badges?
Representing skills that are real based on real tasks and work.  Employers are willing to pay for hire for and give credit for real results.

can be used to:

  • recognize learning
  • Assessment learning
  • Motivate learning
  • Study learning

Badge anatomy: name, description, criteria, issuer, evidence, date issued, standard, tags

Badges can

  • capture complete learning path,
  • build maps of learning and pathways & opportunities of more learning,
  • build and communicate reputation & identity,
  • foster an ecosystem that is connected,
  • signal learning to key stakeholders & potential employers.

Building an Open Badges Ecosystem: Openness, Learner Agency, Innovation (Blackboard, IMS Global, Mozilla, Badge Labs, digitalme, Pearson, concentric sky)

We will be at 10million badges issues by 2016.

Lord Fairfax CC Digital Badge Pilot: 1 f2f two online courses 74 students in total, badges & certificates possible, adding a “My Badges” button, Mozilla backpack.

Students didn’t know how badges apply to them after they left college.  Had to educate the students while they educated us.  Credly was more preferred to backpack.  GPAs went up.   Badges were a motivator

Results

– Retention rate went up
– More uploads to backpack if extra credit given
– Increased quality of learning
– increased faculty discussion of badges
– Improved collaboration in online courses
– Expanded learning opportunity – e portfolio
– Provided discussion between curriculum advisors & college
– CBE moving forward got approved
– nationally accredited badge

Lesson’s learned

  • If only content is copied between courses, the trigger rules are lost
  • If content is not included in a copy or export/import achievements are not export
  • select both content & adpative release rules to get copied correctly
  • Bb admins have to set up goals before faculty can add as an alignment to get on goal coverage report
  • Had to add extra content (lecture) to explain badging & badge backpack
  • Takes time to setup initially
  • Learning terminology
  • triggers elements not changeable, recreate
  • No direct path to change rewards

Next Steps

  • Continue data collection
  • expand badges in computer science
  • continue to work with deans for faculty adoption
  • Submit badge research and pilot finding for publication in system journal
  • Assist knowledge to work CBE team to create new national credential badge
  • Develop System-wide badges in conjunction with articulation agreements
  • Work with local industry
  • Continue to participate in the IMS global networking CBE group

Richard Shelton – Northeaster State University

  • Achievements to recognize all learners: students, faculty, staff community
  • First introduced in individual courses
  • In near future expanding to faculty and staff
    – Faculty Professional Development
    – Human Resources Training
  • Continued Education

Use in course projects – series of milestones awards: submissions and completely and grade they received.

used to increase motivation to submit assignments and to improve submission rate

Encourage students who enjoy gamification (used in university studies course)

Positive anecdotal results.

Sequential online instructor training courses – used to promote awareness of badges.

Next Steps:  Moving to University-level achievements.

Continuing education – Police Officers seem to like badges.

Donna Shelton:

CAEP is new version of NCATE -CAPE go throuth SPAs to evaluate various groups

Digital badge use through Blackboard to be implemented in fall 2015 as key element of new program.

New digital badge based assessment eight aligned ACTFL Standard 6, Professional Development, Advocacy and Ethics

Standard 6: candidates engage in ongong professional development opportunities that strengthen linguistic, culture and pedagogical competencies.

– Series of conferences with program faculty (educate about badges)
– Course embedded and extracurricular opportunities to earn badges: 3 badge categories, acceptable performance level: two badges in each category
– Reflection essay in last half of student teaching semester

Badge Types and example Tasks:

Language Proficiency, Cultural Knowledge and Pedagogy

Why?

  • help with motivation
  • recognition for extra-curricular activites
  • tracking accomplishments, help with resume
  • educate badge consumers
  • marketing with badge images

Custom achievements, badge icon creation, use Organizations to track across courses, Upgrade will include portfolios that go across courses.

Challenges:

  • students as earners – educating
  • Issuers (faculty) – educating
  • University as issuer – logistics, rules etc..
  • Outside issuers – local industry, cont. ed, professional development, HR
  • School districts as consumers.
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