The use of Open Badges to recognise non-formal and informal learning

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Ildikó Mázár, Deputy Secretary General, EDEN
2016 eucen Autumn Seminar, 25 November 2016, Barcelona
Open Badge Network: the use of
Open Badges to recognise
non-formal and informal learning

Introducing EDEN
 The most comprehensive European association of its kind
 Registered in the UK in 1991
 Platform for professional co-operation and information
exchange www.eden-online.org
 Open for all levels and sectors of education and training
 Open for institutions, individuals and networks
 Organises annual and thematic conferences
 Participates in EU projects (research and practice)
 Recognises excellence
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Open Badge Network
 www.openbadgenetwork.com
 Funded by the Erasmus+ Programme
 Supporting the development of an Open Badge ecosystem
 Promoting the use of open badges to recognise non-formal
and informal learning
 Collecting practical use cases (submit your own)
 Discussion papers for individuals and organisations
 Discussion paper on open badge policies
 Designing a MOOC – please register to get involved
www.openbadgenetwork.com/members/register/
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What are open badges? Why use open badges?

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Which soft skills
are the most important?

 By 2020, 90% of jobs will require digital skills (Cedefop)
 McKinsey (2014). ‘Education to Employment, getting
Europe’s youth into work’, ILO Global Employment Trend
 74% of universities consider they prepare their graduates well for the
world of work
 38% of students believe the are prepared
 35% of employers agree with this statement
 Tools the eLene4work project offers
 Self Assessment of soft skills and digital soft skills
 Orientation Guide to help improve skills
 Personal Journal to support the students' learning process
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Recognition of soft skills

The design process
 Using Digital Me’s badge design canvas
 Setting criteria (this is key to quality badges)
 Identifying badgeable skills, knowledge and behaviours
 Who is the badge for?
 Value proposition for earners, issuers, audience, displayers
 Learning pathways
 Resources and sustainability
 Graphical design
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What makes a badge?
Open Badges are
Versatile, adaptable, stackable
Standardised, evidence-based, verifiable, portable and shareable

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Reviewing the PPT and/or the recording of the webinar will allow you to pause and
spend as much time as you need to fill in the canvas blocks

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What do you want to badge?

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Badge Name: Workshop Participant

Audience and Value
 Who is the badge earner?
Professionals who don’t require formal recognition of their learning
 Who is the badge issuer
Workshop organiser/endorser/validator, i.e. EDEN
 Who is the audience / consumer
Current and prospective employers of badge earners
 What opportunities does the badge unlock?
New ways of CPD; identifying skill gaps; a creative means of organising
non-academic and informal achievements; clustering similar achievements
 Where does a user find out about the badge?
EDEN website; Partner communications (e.g. EUCEN, OBN); conferences
and formal/informal meetings; open badge databases; endorsers
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Audience and Value
 Why bother earning the badge?
 Earner: Confidence building; Sense of achievement; Informal but
official recognition of achievement; Point of reference and evidence to
new knowledge, skills, achievements
 Issuer: Recognising excellence; Brand awareness; Incentive of
modernisation; Raising interest
 Audience/Consumers: Awareness of initiative; identify interest and/or
expertise
 Displayer(LinkedIn, Moodle, etc.): Reputation; Community; Loyalty
 What is in it for the issuer?
 Value recognition (statistical record of acceptance rate)
 Widening brand/service recognition
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Strengthened skills, knowledge,
competencies and behaviours
 Non-formal learning ability
 Professional commitment
 Curiosity, openness to innovation
 Independence
 Collaboration and teamwork
 Communication
 Critical thinking
 Specific knowledge/skill, i.e. ability to design a badge
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Evidence
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 Attendance
 (Self) assessment
 Completion of task
 Publishing result
 Endorsements
 …

Learning pathways
 Map your learning offering
 Organise your learning offering
 Consider your options for improvement and expansion
 “Pie”-type badges
 ”Level-up” badges (bronze, silver, gold)
 Connect with parallel, relevant, external learning resources
 Allow learners / prospective earners to explore, engage
 Be creative and adaptable
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Resources & sustainability
 Time for concept development
 Time to fill in the canvas
 Align with curriculum or competency framework (if needed)
 Time and skill to design badges (low key) or
 Pay professional designer (high profile)
 Issue badges manually (low key) or
 Issue badges via existing platforms (high profile)
 Time to create support material
 Time to create and issue, re-issue individual badges
 Time to evolve open badge portfolio
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Resources
 www.openbadgenetwork.com
 www.badgealliance.org
 www.openbadgefactory.com
 www.openbadgepassport.com
 www.openbadgeacademy.com
 www.openbadges.org
 www.makewav.es
 https://backpack.openbadges.org
 http://elene4work.eu
 www.eden-online.org/recognition/eden-open-badges
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