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

Ritual performances and collective intelligence: theoretical frameworks for analyising activity patterns in Cloudworks

This paper provides an overview of emerging activity patterns on Cloudworks, a specialised site for sharing and debating ideas as well as resources on teaching, learning and scholarship in education. It provides an overview of activities such as 'flash debates', 'blended workshops' and 'open reviews' and seeks to situate dialogic interchanges and structures of involvement within the following theoretical frameworks: a) Goffman's notions of 'face-work' and 'ritual performance�; and b) and secondly, notions of collective intelligence. The paper argues that these perspectives can offer a unique contribution to the study and analysis of sociality (Bouman et al, 2007) bounded in the context of technologically mediated networked learning, with wider implications for understanding matters of participation, self-representation, reflection and expansion in education

OULDI-JISC Project Evaluation Report: the impact of new curriculum design tools and approaches on institutional process and design cultures

This report presents research and evaluation undertaken by the OULDI-JISC Project (Open University Learning Design Initiative JISC Project) between 2008 and 2012. In particular, it considers the impact of new curriculum design tools and approaches piloted by the project on institutional processes and design cultures. These tools and approaches include tools for sharing learning design expertise (Cloudworks), visualising designs (CompendiumLD, Module Map, Activity Profile) and for supporting design and reflection in workshops (Facilitation Cards, workshop activities, etc.). The project has adopted a learning design approach so as to help foreground pedagogy and learner experience. Nine pilots have been completed across six UK universities

MOOC Badging and the Learning Arc

The first part of the post expands on some of our thinking behind the digital badging strategy used in the 2012 OLDS MOOC by using a pictorial representation to explain the place of the badges in the course. This is predicated on (a) the idea that a course, just like a novel, a movie or a video game, contains a broad central 'story arc' - a 'learning arc' or journey with a start (beginning of course) and an end, and (b) the idea that there are different types of badge that have different relationships with this learning arc. The second part reflects some of our initial critical consideration of what the roles and benefits of badges may be. As the post is intended as a discussion piece, we welcome your thoughts and responses

Beyond Measure? The State of Evaluation and Action in Ontario's Youth Sector

Program evaluation has the potential to inform and improve youth work practice, as well as help youth sector organizations and initiatives to better understand the impact of their work. This report presents findings from the first province-wide study of the Ontario youth sector's experiences conducting evaluations of their programs and services.This multi-focal study, led by Ontario's Youth Research & Evaluation eXchange (YouthREX), used a Community Dialogue Approach. Grounded in an extensive literature review and drawing on survey and interview data, the report puts forward ten key recommendations for three youth sector stakeholder groups: funders, evaluation capacity builders, and youth sector organizations.The study's contextualized examination of the youth sector's evaluation strengths informs YouthREX's service delivery strategy, and contributes to critical conversations around evaluation-related challenges and opportunities in the youth sector context

Exposure to a social stressor alters the structure of the intestinal microbiota: Implications for stressorinduced immunomodulation

a b s t r a c t The bodies of most animals are populated by highly complex and genetically diverse communities of microorganisms. The majority of these microbes reside within the intestines in largely stable but dynamically interactive climax communities that positively interact with their host. Studies from this laboratory have shown that stressor exposure impacts the stability of the microbiota and leads to bacterial translocation. The biological importance of these alterations, however, is not well understood. To determine whether the microbiome contributes to stressor-induced immunoenhancement, mice were exposed to a social stressor called social disruption (SDR), that increases circulating cytokines and primes the innate immune system for enhanced reactivity. Bacterial populations in the cecum were characterized using bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing. Stressor exposure significantly changed the community structure of the microbiota, particularly when the microbiota were assessed immediately after stressor exposure. Most notably, stressor exposure decreased the relative abundance of bacteria in the genus Bacteroides, while increasing the relative abundance of bacteria in the genus Clostridium. The stressor also increased circulating levels of IL-6 and MCP-1, which were significantly correlated with stressorinduced changes to three bacterial genera (i.e., Coprococcus, Pseudobutyrivibrio, and Dorea). In follow up experiments, mice were treated with an antibiotic cocktail to determine whether reducing the microbiota would abrogate the stressor-induced increases in circulating cytokines. Exposure to SDR failed to increase IL-6 and MCP-1 in the antibiotic treated mice. These data show that exposure to SDR significantly affects bacterial populations in the intestines, and remarkably also suggest that the microbiota are necessary for stressor-induced increases in circulating cytokines

Community indicators: a framework for observing and supporting community activity on Cloudworks

Cloudworks (Cloudworks.ac.uk) is a social networking site designed for sharing, finding and discussing learning and teaching ideas and experiences. Design and development of the site has been based on an iterative analysis, development and implementation approach, underpinned by ongoing research and evaluation. To this end, we have been seeking to establish strategies to enable us to systematically position transactions and emerging patterns of activity on the site so that we can more reliably use the empirical evidence we have gathered (Galley, 2009a, Galley 2009b, Alevizou et al., 2010a, Conole et al, 2010). In this paper we will introduce a framework we have developed for observing and supporting community development on the site. In building our framework we have used empirical evidence gathered from the site, then related it to the literature from a range of disciplines concerned with professional and learning communities. We link research relating to distance learning communities with studies into Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), self-organising communities on the web, and wider research about the nature of learning organisations and continuous professional development. We argue that this framework can be used to capture the development of productive communities in the space (i.e. how far cohesive, productive groups can be said to be emerging or not) and also help focus futur

Researching participatory literacy and positioning in online learning communities

As discussed in earlier chapters, the potential of Web 2.0 tools and social networking environments for enhanced peer interaction is being recognised across the education sector. Many institutions are moving their blended and online learning provision from a ‘computer-as-tutor’ approach towards models which foster knowledge co-construction and sharing in socially networked learning communities. Yet, many education professionals find that they do not have the skills required to help their students to fully benefit from this paradigm shift. The TESOL-Electronic Village Online (EVO) 2012 module Tutoring with Web 2.0 tools – Designing for Social Presence provides the backdrop for this contribution. The module was designed to develop effective learner-centred online moderation skills, with a focus on the role of Social Presence (SP). Although hosted by the EVO, the programme was open to practitioners from all subject areas, and participants represented a multifaceted community in terms of educational, social and cultural backgrounds, online learning and teaching skills, and ICT literacy. Drawing on examples from the participants' learning journey we hypothesise that a group’s capacity to send and read SP cues is a precondition for successful knowledge creation and sharing in online learning communities. Our findings provide new insights into the notion of online participation and challenge aspects of Garrison et al.’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) model. In accordance with Morgan (2011) we highlight the need for a different way of conceptualising what happens in networked learning contexts taking into account aspects such as learner identity, creative agency and participatory literacy

Student workload: a case study of its significance, evaluation and management at the Open University

Distance students are time poor and some drop out of their studies because they fall behind with coursework. This raises the issue of how course teams decide upon how many study hours should be included in a course. This article presents a number of Open University projects that have addressed student workload management and relates how learning design has incorporated these findings into advice for new module development. Moreover, the article also discusses how recent automatic feedback systems can motivate and support time-poor students when writing their assignments. This is an important finding as drop-out can occur when students are unable to devote the necessary time to their summative assessments and drop out of the learning process

Cloudworks as a ‘pedagogical wrapper’ for LAMS sequences: supporting the sharing of ideas across professional boundaries and facilitating collaborative design, evaluation and critical reflection

Cloudworks is a specialised social networking site for sharing, debating and co-creating ideas as well as designs and resources for teaching, learning and scholarship in education. The site has been co-funded by JISC and The Open University, and has ca.2500 registered users and visitors from 165 countries (May 2010). Fundamental to the development of the site has been the belief that one of the key challenges in encouraging more innovative learning design is getting teachers to share designs and ideas. Despite the fact that there are numerous repositories of good practice, case studies, learning objects and Open Educational Resources (OER), their impact on practice has been limited (McAndrew and Santos, 2008). Yet in interviews and workshops, when asked what would they find most helpful to enable them to make better use of technologies in their design practices, teachers consistently say that they want examples of good practice and access to others to share and discuss ideas with (Beetham and Sharpe, 2007). This paper will explore how Cloudworks might be used as a ‘pedagogical wrapper’ for LAMS sequences, supporting the sharing of ideas across professional boundaries and facilitating collaborative design, evaluation and critical reflection