digital-badges-open

Interested in digital badges? 9 critical issues to consider


New framework intersects digital badges with open movement to discuss nine important issues

digital-badges-open The promise of digital badges for alternative credentials and skills pathways has not been lost on higher education; yet, there are many concerns—from business, faculty, and students—on the design, and use, of these badges for real meaning. A new framework condenses these concerns into nine critical questions concerning digital badges.

According to researchers from the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, the implications for open systems and badging are numerous, ranging from incredible potential to large obstacles in real meaning; which is why they decided to develop a framework to identify these obstacles.

The researchers hope to “clarify situations where these concepts come into direct conflict or mutually enhance each other…where research is needed…and offer design considerations for developers, educators, and organizations.”

The framework takes three perspectives of digital badges (motivation, pedagogy, and credential) and correlates each of these perspectives with three different concepts of the open movement (production, access, and appropriation).

“Open badges represent an intriguing way to design, structure and reward learning through digital media, open systems and online networks, say the authors, “…[and] when designing an overall system it will be critical to identify and explicitly design for the potential obstacles or areas of opportunity…in this frame, the goals, implementation, and consequences attached to badges are linked to the concerns of teaching, learning and structuring education systems to enable these practices.”

(Next page: The new framework)

Perspectives of badges

According to the report’s authors, there are three main ways to view badges:

As a motivator for behavior: A great example of this is in gamification of learning. Badges are often used in games to motivate a player to continue with the game and develop skills; the inherent assumption being that an external indicator, such as a badge, can act as a motivator to encourage individuals to participate or pursue tasks. The main obstacle in badges for motivation, say the authors, is in looking at different types of students, since students with different prior motivation levels, knowledge levels, and performance records may be more or less willing to be motivated by badges, as well as the types of badges.

As a pedagogical tool: Open badges have the ability to promote teaching and learning, especially in helping students “visualize the learning path of content and activities,” says the report, “…serving as a series of guideposts towards understanding…However, the process of learning also requires human action such as knowledgeable others actively guiding or scaffolding the process for novices in ways that a digital artifact alone cannot achieve.”

As a signal or credential: Badges also have the potential to be an alternative or supplement to traditional credentials such as diplomas, explain the authors, especially with students who are disenfranchised with traditional schooling or face unequal access to higher-ed. The main obstacle in this perspective is the lack of acceptance by business and industry of these credentials as degree alternatives, since “the use of badges thus far has occurred largely outside of the bounds of formal schooling, with lower economic or social stakes attached to them,” notes the report. However, badges have a great opportunity to be used for showcasing finer-grained skills as a supplement to the traditional degree.

Concepts of the open movement

Open production: The ability to create freely available and openly-licensed software that could be shared over the internet. This model allows numerous people to continually modify, improve upon, and build products. However, not everyone can understand how to produce open content, and institutions should not assume that “learners are capable of fully leveraging open resources for their own purposes,” emphasize the authors.

Open access: This concept relates mostly to copyright and licensing, in that open access allows for widespread access to information through flexible copyright and licensing agreements (i.e. open source).

Open appropriation: The freedom to appropriate materials for one’s own purposes, which includes the ideal of freedom to interpret an artifact, modify it, and then create a new conceptualization and use for that artifact. The hindrance with open appropriation lies in student and faculty ability to utilize open content for appropriation, due to a lack of coherence in content, and not all learners being self-directed and fully able to benefit from open resources.

Based on these six perspectives and concepts, the report’s authors developed a framework of nine key questions to consider for those interested in using or designing badges…

(Next page: 9 questions in the framework)

1. Open production, badges as motivator: Does the source of a given badge (or the issuer) affect users’ motivation to earn that badge? (e.g. a badge from a university vs. a badge from a random individual)

2. Open production, badges as pedagogical tool: With an open supply of badges, how can learners and other stakeholders find available badges, determine the pedagogic quality of a badge in terms of the skills and knowledge that are to be learned, the suitability of the learning activities, and the support available from others to earn the badge?

3. Open production, badges as credential: How important is the source of the badge to an employer or other interested party wishing to appraise the knowledge/skills acquired by the learner? What will it take for badges to gain credibility and status as credentials among learners and other interested parties?

4. Open access, badges as motivator: Would a badge that is widely visible (e.g. an open badge) have different motivational effects on a learner compared to a badge that is less visible (e.g. internal, not shared)?

5. Open access, badges as pedagogical tool: How can learners access support and feedback as they go through the learning that will lead to the badge? Does openness influence the available sources of this support (e.g. more peers) or might closed systems (e.g. a formal course) ensure access to support?

6. Open access, badges as credential: How might visibility and transparency of badges (e.g. the issuer, what the badge communicates, etc.) influence the effectiveness of a badge as a credible credential?

7. Open appropriation, badges as motivator: To what extent would a badge have different meanings and engender different motivations on the part of learners, educators and stakeholders assessing the badge?

8. Open appropriation, badges as pedagogical tool: Where learners are constructing their own learning pathways, how can they be supported in making decisions about which badges are an appropriate next step, given their current skills and knowledge, and their cultural context?

9. Open appropriation, badges as credential: How could different populations and communities re-appropriate and re-define the meaning of a given badge as credential? How can learners be confident that the badges they pursue will be acceptable as a credential to outside stakeholders?

digitalbadgeframework

There are “instances where openness and badges are highly contradictory, such as at the intersection of open production and the use of badges as a pedagogical tool,” note the authors, and there are “instances where openness and badges are strong complements, such as the positive relationship between open access and badges becoming widely recognized as a credential.”

The report concludes by emphasizing that through the considerations of these nine questions, better development of design could occur, as well as avoiding possible pitfalls in higher-ed.

For more in-depth data on this framework, read the full report here.

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