Mozilla Open Badges for Assessment
Hans Põldoja, Tallinn University
Hans Põldoja!!Lecturer of educational technology Tallinn University, Institute of Informatics !Doctoral student Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture [email protected] http://www.hanspoldoja.net
What are Open Badges?
(Class Hack, n.d.)
(Open Badges, 2013)
(Open Badges, 2013)
(Open Badges, 2013)
(Open Badges, 2013)
Using Open Badges in Formal Higher Education
adfa, p. 1, 2011. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
Exploring the Potential of Open Badges in Blog-Based University Courses
Hans Põldoja and Mart Laanpere
Tallinn University, Institute of Informatics, Tallinn, Estonia {hans.poldoja, mart.laanpere}@gmail.com
Abstract. Recent developments with personal learning environments and open online courses have led educators to experiment with opening up their formal higher education courses. In these courses, the online learning activities take place in open learning environments based on various Web 2.0 tools such as blogs. Although this type of courses have a number of pedagogical benefits, they also raise issues related to private grading of students’ works and recogniz-ing the learning of informal participants. This paper presents our exploratory study on addressing these issues by introducing open badges to master’s level course that takes place in a blog-based learning environment. Students’ perspec-tives on using open badges were evaluated through focus group interviews. The results of the study indicate, that badges could have a potential in formal higher education, if they are used more widely and provide an explicit choice of per-sonal learning paths for learners.
Keywords: open badges, assessment, blog-based courses.
1 Introduction
One of the recent trends in education is the blending of formal and informal learning. This is supported by introducing social media, personal learning environments and various open educational practices to formal higher education [1, 2]. Students can enrich their learning experience by using open educational resources from other uni-versities and taking part in Massive Open Online Courses.
In many cases, such developments have led university lecturers and professors to increase the degree of openness in their courses. One approach is to move online learning activities to open learning environments that are based on social media and Web 2.0 tools such as blogs. The use of blogs in online courses provides a number of pedagogical benefits such as motivating learners, enhancing the development and expression of ideas, fostering interaction, collaboration and group work, inviting feedback from other learners, and enriching the learning environment [3]. The use of blog-based learning environments also allows educators to open up their course for informal participants or members of professional communities who are not officially enrolled to the course.
Põldoja, H., & Laanpere, M. (in press). Exploring the Potential of Open Badges in Blog-Based University Courses. In Y. Cao, T. Väljataga, & J. K. T. Tang (Eds.), New Horizons in Web-Based Learning - ICWL 2014 Workshops. Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer.
Blog-based courses
Assessment issues in blog-based courses
• Private grading in open learning environment
• Recognizing the learning outcomes of informal participants
Badge design patterns?
Composite badges
Blog posts on each of the 13 course topics
OpenEd Overview
Badge
In-depth blog posts on 3 selected course topics
OpenEd Researcher
Badge
(Wiley, 2013)
Activity-based badges
N blog posts or tweetsActivity Badge
N received comments or retweets
Quality Badge
Completed milestone or assignment
Result Badge
(Santos, Charleer, Parra, Klerkx, Duval, & Verbert, 2013)
Grade-based badges
95% of points or more Gold Badge
85% of points or moreSilver Badge
75% of points or moreBronze Badge
(Rughiniș & Matei, 2013)
Hierarchical badges
Course Level Badge
Project Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
Project Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
Lower Level Badge
(Randall, Harrison, & West, 2013)
Our proposal: outcome-based badges
Basic knowledge badges
Basic knowledge on
learning objects and repositories
Basic knowledge on authoring tools
Basic knowledge on
computer-based
assessment
Basic knowledge on
new technologies
Basic knowledge on copyright of
digital learning
resources
Basic knowledge on
quality of digital
learning resources
Content package author
Assessment test author
e-Textbook author
Advanced knowledge on
learning objects and repositories
Advanced knowledge on authoring tools
Advanced knowledge on
computer-based assessment
Advanced knowledge on
new technologies
Advanced knowledge on copyright of
digital learning resources
Advanced knowledge on
quality of digital learning
resources
Blogging assignment 1 Blogging assignment 2 Blogging assignment 3 Blogging assignment 4 Blogging assignment 5Group assignment on developing a digital learning resource
Blogging assignment 6 Literature review
Describing the advantages and
disadvantages of learning objects approach
Searching for learning objects from learning object repositories by metadata and licenses
Creating simple content packages, tests and e-
textbooks, and describing these with metadata
Following copyright principles for digital learning resources
Evaluating the quality of a learning resources using an evaluation framework
Using one authoring tool to create a more
comprehensive digital learning resource
Analyzing the current issues, research studies and trends in one sub-topic related to digital
learning resources
Learning outcomes
Assignments
Advanced knowledge badges
Skills badges
Students' perspectives on Open Badges
• Main benefits: feeling of recognition and confirmation about accepted assignments
• Badges would become more valuable, if they are used in several courses, not as a one time experiment
• Students are interested in recognizing prior learning with badges
Recommendations for future courses
• Offer at least two levels of badges for each assignment
• Provide more choice of different badges / learning paths
• Visual aesthetics of badges is also important for learners
Food for thought
• Extending the badge metadata (“weight”, etc)
• Combining outcome-based badges with other types of badges
• Student-designed and student-awarded badges for peer-assessment
• Combing personal learning contracts and badges
References• Wiley, D.: Assignments: Introduction to Openness in Education, https://
learn.canvas.net/courses/4/assignments
• Santos, J.L., Charleer, S., Parra, G., Klerkx, J., Duval, E., Verbert, K.: Evaluating the Use of Open Badges in an Open Learning Environment. In: Hernández-Leo, D., Ley, T., Klamma, R., Harrer, A. (eds) EC-TEL 2013. LNCS, vol. 8095, pp. 314–327. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2013)
• Rughiniș, R., Matei, S.: Digital Badges: Signposts and Claims of Achievement. In: Stephanidis, S. (ed) HCI International 2013 - Posters’ Extended Abstracts, pp. 84–88. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2013)
• Randall, D.L., Harrison, J.B., West, R.E.: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: Designing Open Badges for a Technology Integration Course. TechTrends. 57, 88–95 (2013)
Used Images• Ellen Munro: Badges, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellenmunro/5140522031/
• Class Hack: Open Badges Anatomy, http://classhack.com/post/45364649211/open-badge-anatomy-updated
• Open Badges, http://openbadges.org/about/
Thank You!
• http://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja
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