Download - Open Badge Factory, what did we learn?
What have we learned from Open Badge Factory statistics
and user feedback?
Eric RousselleDiscendum Oy
10.04.2023
2
Discendum Oy
• Finnish eLearning service provider• Our clients: educational, vocational establishments
and companies • Our services:
– Optima and Totara LMS– Kyvyt.fi ePortfolio– Open Badge Factory
• Mahara and Totara partner
10.04.2023
3
Open Badges Concept in a nutshell
• Developed by the Mozilla Foundation• ”A digital badge is an online representation of a skill
you’ve earned. ” – Source: openbadges.org• Granular, user centered, portable• New online standard to recognize and verify learning
(Open Badges Infrastructure)
10.04.2023
4
Open Badges Anatomy
Source: http://www.openbadges.org/en-US/about.html#how-it-works
10.04.2023
5
Roles of the Open Badges concept
Source: http://www.openbadges.org/en-US/about.html#how-it-works
10.04.2023
6
Backpack and displayers
Source: http://www.openbadges.org/en-US/about.html#how-it-works
10.04.2023
7
10.04.2023
8
What is Open Badge Factory?
• An Open Badge management system provided as a cloud service
• OBF has been designed to serve organizations• Core ideas:
– Trusted badges / verified issuers– Strong management features (roles and reports)– Distributed issuance of badges (Open API / Plugins)– Advanced features such as:
• Badge requests• Milestone badges
10.04.2023
9
Open Badge Factory is an open innovation project
funded by The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
10.04.2023
10
Project partners and advisers
• Discendum (development and coordination)• The Teacher Training School of Turku University
(piloting)• Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius (research
and consulting)• OK Study Center (piloting)• IlonaIT Oy (piloting)• Raisoft Oy (piloting)• Learning Agents Inc. (adviser)• Mozilla Foundation (adviser)
10.04.2023
11
The OBF project schedule
• Started officially on 1.8.2013• First version released on 15.1.2014• Piloting period from January to December 2014• Release of the final version December 2014
10.04.2023
12
Organizations piloting OBF
• About 120 pilot organizations from 22 countries
• 34 organizations from Finland:– 14 non-profit / vocational– 13 educational – 7 business
10.04.2023
13
What did we learn?
Source: http://www.openbadges.org/en-US/about.html#how-it-works
10.04.2023
14
Our sources
Source: http://www.openbadges.org/en-US/about.html#how-it-works
• Finnish pilot organizations and partners’ feedback• Earners’ feedback (Discendum’s badges)• Potential customers’ comments• OBF statistics about Discendum’s badges• OBF system level statistics
10.04.2023
15
At a general level
• Open Bagdes concept seems to generate interest worldwide
• About 70% of OBF issuer organizations are vocational organizations
• Schools and universities (about 25% of OBF users) show a growing interest, but in the world of formal learning the role of badges is yet to be clarified
• Open Bagdes is a new concept, most potential badge issuers and earners have never heard about it
• We have got encouraging feedback from business sector organizations but getting them involved requires case studies and references
10.04.2023
16
OBF’s sysadmin statistics
10.04.2023
17
Some facts
• Creating a test badge is easy, but creating meaningful badges and badge systems requires strategic thinking, planning skills and team work – That takes time and requires resources!
• Only 12% or earners have put their badges in their backpack. Why? This average number does not reveal the entire truth but it’s a fact that– Earner’s need to get some information about the concept
before they get their first badges– The process of receiving a badge in the backpack and
displaying it is for many earners far too complex and meaningless
10.04.2023
18
An alternative to the backpack?
• ”Where do our employees store and display their badges? In the Mozilla backpack? Are you serious?”
• The main issue with the backpack is not the complexity of receiving a bagde, but the fact that it’s just a technical repository. It’s meaningless at least in the working life’s context!
• A good alternative to the backpack is a badge passport, which could be developed as an easy-to-use micro-porfolio.
10.04.2023
19
A ”badges first” approach to portfolios
• Could be an alternative to heavy academic portfolio
practices• As criterion-based trust statements, open badges can
make portfolios more meaningful and simplify the work of their authors and ”consumers” (searchability)
• The first step could be simple: gathering badges in the passport
• The second step: organizing and displaying views• The third step: reflecting and building the big picture,
building a substantial portfolio• Key words are: simplicity and usability
10.04.2023
20
The OBF micro-portfolio
• Simplicity:– Receiving / rejecting badges with one mouse-click– Easy displaying of badge pages (links, embedded code)
• Community features:– Groups– Networking based on badges (search, skill profiles, skill
gaps…)– Endorsements– Leader boards and gaming features supporting
motivation
• Other:– Multilingual badges– Resume– Importing / exporting of badges– Open Source and development on Drupal
Seaching for skilled earners
Issuers Earners Audience
Competence map / goals / gaps