The use, role and reception of open badges as a method for formative and summative reward in two Massive Open Online Courses

Open online learning courses such as cMOOCs and xMOOCs differ from conventional courses yet it remains uncertain how, and if, existing common yet costly practices associated with teacher-driven formative and summative assessment strategies can be made to work in this new context. For courses that carry no charge for registration or participation, authors of open online courses have to consider alternative approaches to engaging, motivating and sustaining study and for helping participants manage, plan and demonstrate their own learning. One such approach is that of open badges or similar such visual public symbols that communicate to others a particular quality, achievement or affiliation possessed by the owner. This paper reports the role, reception and use of open badges in two ‘massive’ open online courses delivered in 2013 with attention to varied functions of badges and the a distinction between formative and summative applications. The paper will then draw upon data from end of course surveys, which specifically asked about badges, pre-course surveys, and user comments made during the course on platforms such as Twitter to examine what value participants ascribed to the open badges. Although there was found to be a broadly positive response to badges in both MOOCs, the reasons for this were often very different, and approximately a quarter of respondents remained sceptical or concerned about their role. The paper concludes by reflecting on the open badge as a formative instrument for providing the learner with an indication of progress and achievement

An Exploratory and Descriptive Analysis of the Utah Microcredentials Participant Population

This study examined the population of users of the Utah Microcredentials system, a professional learning resource available to all Utah teaching license holders. A microcredential verifies that an educator has successfully demonstrated competency with a specific skill, concept, or instructional tool, and is awarded upon submission of evidence meeting a predetermined set of rubric criteria. During the first stage of the study, quantitative methods such as regression analysis were used to determine the participation rates of educators based on a number of demographic variables, including age, number of years of service as an educator, the rurality of the educator\u27s assigned school, and the Title I status of the educator\u27s assigned school. Stage two used qualitative methods to analyze the characteristics of microcredentials with the highest rates of participation. The results of this study can be used at a number of levels to increase the effectiveness of public education in supporting student outcomes. At the local level, the findings can be used to guide the ongoing development of the Utah Microcredentials platform, ecosystem (microcredential catalog), and user support systems. At the national and international levels, these findings can be used to guide the development of digital credentialing systems in a wide range of fields beyond public education. These findings also point to new routes of investigation for further research

Rethinking workplace learning in the digital world: a case study of Open Badges

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore digital badging in educational institutions as support for K-12 practitioners struggling to integrate technology into pedagogical practices. The researcher conducted a mixed-method study that captured perceptions about digital badges and follow-up interviews with selected badge users to explore their viewpoints further. The goal was to generate a detailed case description, identify participants’ self-assessment of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and define those attributes that are deemed important or not useful to Open Badge Course earners that participated in the study. Ten individuals from a Northern California region completed the survey and four participated in an interview process. Results from the survey found that participants highly valued the convenience, accessibility, and ability to self-pace afforded by the course. They valued being able to set their own learning goals and to begin and work at their own level of expertise. The game-like features and personal achievement were motivating factors to earn and complete badges. The course experience allowed time for cumulative study to learn and implement technology into teaching. The course experience supported their understanding of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The interviews provided detailed information regarding perceptions and experience with the Open Badge Course. Six themes emerged from thematic analysis of the interview data: affordances of course content and course design, recommendations to sustain and improve the course, challenges of course content and course design, ways experience impacted/changed teaching, motivation for learning, and ways experience impacted/changed learning. Participant responses indicated that modifications were necessary for the course to be effective. The areas of challenge included: a lack of timely assessment of learning, constraints from rigor and management of badge levels, lack of relevant or meaningful badges related to the grade level taught, and difficulties with mechanical/operational procedures to access and complete required activities. Facing obstacles are not unique to digital badge project developers. The challenges identified in this collective case study provide valuable information for developers in redesigning future iterations of digital badge systems. Recommendations include how development of similar systems for informal professional learning within formal institutions of learning can be effective

Building digital capacity for higher education teachers: recognising professional development through a national peer triad digital badge ecosystem

Digital Badge design and practice at a national level is a relatively new field of scrutiny and this study reports on a sector-wide initiative for building digital capacity with the design, and implementation of an ecosystem of 15 open courses in teaching and learning with digital badges to recognise the professional development of teachers in Irish higher education. Each course is provided in three delivery modes and mapped to Ireland’s National Professional Development Framework for teachers. This enables multiple access points for teachers to engage in professional development via the Framework and recognize their engagement through peer triads and a digital badge ecosystem. The paper critically discusses and reflects on the study of the complex phenomena of the application of the open courses within professional contexts. A novel dimension is the implementation of a peer triad system for recognition of PD. Implementing the open courses digital badges ecosystem was challenging as this different form of assessment required a clear understanding of all stakeholder expectations, the language of recognition and how the learning outcomes could be met and validated using a peer triad assessment. This paper concludes with sectoral learning on nationally recognized open course development, including success factors for building digital capacity, challenges encountered and transferability to other contexts

The potential role of ePortfolios in the Teaching Excellence Framework

Current debates on HE policy in the UK are dominated by the evolving Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which will soon involve the government establishing key metrics.  In this context, and seizing this valuable moment in policy formation, we here provide a brief foray into the multiple aspects of ‘teaching excellence’ (TE) as a basis to highlight both the complexity of identifying ways to measure it and the shortcomings of existing official developments.  In the absence of a clear conceptual understanding of the learning processes and the role of teaching which apparently underpins the TEF, we present a model of the learning process to which the indicators currently proposed by the authorities can be related.  We propose that ePortfolios can play a special role in the TEF in capturing the qualitative outcomes of learning processes which, importantly, reflect the student perspective in terms of goals, learning experiences and achievement.  These are both crucial yet missing elements of the proposals to date. Finally, we provide some examples of how information from ePortfolios could be used by HE institutions to enhance their institutional submissions to the TEF.

Digital badges for STEM learning in secondary contexts: A mixed methods study

The deficit in STEM skills is a matter of concern for national economies and a major focus for educational policy makers. The development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) has resulted in a rapidly changing workforce of global scale. In addition, ICT have fostered the growth of digital and mobile technologies which have been the learning context, formal and informal, for a generation of youth. The purpose of this study was to design an intervention based upon a competency-based, digitally-mediated, learning intervention: digital badges for learning STEM habits of mind and practices. Designed purposefully, digital badge learning trajectories and criteria can be flexible tools for scaffolding, measuring, and communicating the acquisition of knowledge, skills, or competencies. One of the most often discussed attributes of digital badges, is the ability of badges to motivate learners. However, the research base to support this claim is in its infancy; there is little empirical evidence. A skills-based digital badge intervention was designed to demonstrate mastery learning in key, age-appropriate, STEM competencies aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and other educational standards. A mixed methods approach was used to study the impact of a digital badge intervention in the sample middle and high school population. Among the findings were statistically significant measures which substantiate that in this student population, the digital badges increased perceived competence and motivated learners to persist at task

Establishing and Sustaining National Partnerships in Professional Development and the Recognition of Open Courses in Teaching and Learning Through Digital Badges.

This article discusses a national partnership in Irish higher education between the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and the sector. The partnership initiative focussed on the scalable design and development of a suite of open-access professional development (PD) courses in teaching and learning. The empirical work explored the role and value of digital badges as professional recognition for open courses, and in particular the transformative experience of the collaborative course design teams from teachers into teachers-as-designers. Each course has been mapped to Ireland’s national PD framework for all staff who teach. This initiative aimed to provide multiple nationally developed access points to PD opportunities and recognise engagement through digital badges. The partnership with course designers from institutions across Ireland was multifaceted, and their transformation from novice creators of digital content is explored here. Lessons learnt relate to developing consensus on national criteria and associated evidence forscalable open courses, ensuring quality assurance and supporting teams working in partnership. A framework of triple-loop learning was used for conceptualising the different phases of development of the collaborating teams and the sectoral learning around partnerships and nationally recognised collaborative course design

Teachers’ Perceptions of the NASA STEM EPDC Digital Badging System as a Model of Personalized Professional Development

Unlike the ineffective generic approach often used for teacher professional development, NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) Digital Badging offers access to a highly organized system of knowledge and personalized, online professional development (PD) through digital badging. This qualitative case study provided an in-depth view of teacher perspectives of the value of NASA STEM EPDC Digital Badging as a model for personalized STEM professional development. The population for this study consisted of ten K-12 teachers, from a rural Southwest Virginia school system, who participated in the STEM-UP after school program and experienced PD through NASA STEM EPDC Digital Badging. Data from STEM-UP 2019 program evaluations and teacher responses from semi-structured interviews were used to inform this research. This study focused on teacher demographics, educational advantages and motivating factors that caused teachers to persist with the program, their perceptions of the badging for personalized learning and how the training fit into the over-all learning ecosystem. Data shows that teachers perceive the badge training as motivating, useful, personalized and effective as a form of PD that easily transfers learning into the classroom. Results of this study imply that NASA STEM EPDC Digital Badging was useful for the STEM-UP teachers and may be effective PD in other learning situations

The impact of emotions on student participation in an assessed, online, collaborative activity

There is growing recognition of the importance of emotions in academic online learning contexts. However, there is still little known about the role of emotions in social and collaborative online learning settings, especially the relationship between emotions and student participation. To explore this relationship, this study used a prospective longitudinal research design to follow 46 distance learning students throughout a 3-week assessed, online, collaborative activity. This approach allowed the fluctuating and dynamic aspects of emotions to be explored as well as the relationship between emotions and student participation in the collaborative activity. Self-report data were gathered using a semistructured online diary at five time points throughout the task (once at the start of the collaborative activity, three times during the activity, and the final entry after the activity had finished). Findings revealed that learners generally perceived pleasant emotions (such as relief, satisfaction and enjoyment) to have positive impacts, or no impact, on participation, whereas unpleasant emotions (such as anxiety, frustration, and disappointment) were generally perceived to have negative impacts, or no impact, on participation. Interestingly, however, anxiety, and to a smaller extent frustration, were perceived by a number of students to have positive impacts during the activity. To conclude this paper, implications for educators are highlighted