Interesting. What a platform for using open badges within a university context could look like...
"After looking at what information is required to award a badge using the Open Badge framework, I created a design for a platform that can be picked up and used within another institution or context with minimal customisation required. The purpose of this blog post is to document the decision processes involved and to describe and show the resulting design." Via DML Competition, grainnehamilton 
The OERTest project was set up with the aim of putting into place a framework by which the assessment and recognition of learning using Open Educational Resources (OER) could take place in a systemise... Via Susan Bainbridge 
Interesting article exploring the concept of 'open' education...
"1) Are you trying to make a billion dollars? And 2) Do you believe education can be delivered?...
By comparing the Market and Open courses, we can see that a corruption is taking place in the meaning of the word "Open" in the MOOC acronym. The original Open meant open registration and open license. The open license meaning is blurred by referring to proprietary courses as open.
Consider the attention gap between the Market/Open and the Dewey MOOCs. The Dewey MOOCs were first, are more theoretically developed, and there have been more of them. That said, vast sums of money are pouring into the creation of courses about content delivery, and these are getting a great deal of media attention. At the same time, creative educators are using very similar technologies to create massive courses about experience rather than simply content delivery. This pattern shows itself frequently in education technology...." Via Susan Bainbridge, grainnehamilton 
The JISC RSC Scotland team have produced a number of case studies on e-Assessment with staff from further and higher education institutions in Scotland. I thought I would collate recent ones, which will be entered for the JISC RSC Scotland iTech awards 2012.
Areas covered in the case studies include: diagnostic assessment; formative assessment; summative assessment; feedback and peer review; games based assessment; assessment centres; problem based learning and assessment and e-Portfolios. 
I am a little excited about having just earned my first open badge! I earned the Badges101 badge by successfully completing the quiz on the Mozilla Open Badges site, to test my knowledge of badges. To be fair, the quiz was very easy and I'm sure the novelty of earning my first open badges has contributed to my enthusiasm but I think I did also feel a small thrill at achieving something and having some knowledge recognised. :) 
Want to discover an exciting new horizon? Read this exploration of some of the possibilities of open badges, by Doug Belshaw...
"One thing I’ve always been interested in is how to shift the power dynamic within classrooms towards learners in a positive way. Changing (or at least providing additional) ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding is one way to do that.
The trouble is that people fall into the trap of becoming either advocates or naysayers from a very early point. We all like to have a ‘position’ on major developments in our field, so it’s a brave soul who is willing to suspend judgement." Via DML Competition 
Where do technology and teaching methods fit in a digital world?
...Considering this shift, more emphasis should be placed on analyzing the data at our fingertips, instead of simply remembering it. It is unlikely there will be a data blackout any time soon, so educators should train students in critical, analytical thinking and information processes instead of focusing on drilling facts and figures into memory. Via Felix Jacomino 
My colleagues and I have re-developed our online course on e-Assessment. Called e-Assessment for Learning, it introduces a number of e-Assessment approaches, effective practice and emerging trends. The course takes place over 3 weeks and will make use of a number of online tools, as well as encouraging dialogue and collaboration. 
This article by my colleague Margaret McKay, the Advisor for Access and Inclusion at the JISC RSC Scotland introduces a new open source e-Portfolio tool that has been specifically created for students with learning disabilities/difficulties. Having seen a run-through of it, I like some of the features which include a picture password, a clean, easy to navigate interface and inbuilt 'Scottish' text to speech capacities. 
I found this a useful article as it covers how the book discusses more than just assessment of learning but a variety of opportunities for assessment for learning. The article also provides links to a number of useful e-Assessment resources and tools.
Only recently I ran into the e-Assessment Handbook by Geoffrey Crisp of Continuum Books and the TransformingAssessment website which is an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Fellowship resource... 
Join the winners of the Digital Media and Learning Research Competition, "Badges, Trophies, and Achievements," for a conversation about the current state of research on recognition and accreditation systems for informal and interest-driven learning. We will explore some of the opportunities provided by employing badges and other assessment systems in learning communities, some of the dangers, and consider the pressing research questions that need to be addressed. Over the last year, a wide-ranging public conversation about potential future applications of badges and the place of badges in our learning ecosystem has captured the attention of educators, technology makers, and researchers. How can current and past research inform these debates? What are the most important questions we need to raise about the effective design and deployment of badge and reputation systems? Via DML Competition Useful article, which explores in some depth the implications of Apple's new iBooks, iBookstore and iTunes U app, and some of the challenges and opportunities for education.
"Apple made it clear this week that one of the industries it hopes to reinvent is education -- an area in which the company has a long history. Columnist Ryan Faas explains what Apple has in mind for schools." 
Will iBooks, the iBook Author and the iTunes U app liberate content and lead to positive changes for learning and assessment? Possibly, in the Apple orchard at least.
"A new authoring tool, the iBooks Author, will enable anyone to create their own e-textbooks, publish and even sell them via the iBookstore. The iTunes U app, which can be installed on an iPad, iPhone or iPod can be used to build and access courses using content from the iBookstore, the internet, iCloud etc...
Educators have been making their own content available for years (eg as OERs with Creative Commons licenses)... but I think perhaps the shiny, extra piece that Apple have provided, is to supercharge access to self-developed content, allowing this to be easily integrated with material from a range of sources and enabling it to be tracked (across a range of Apple devices)..." |
A collection of iPad apps which have been categorised against Bloom's Taxonomy. I think most apps could probably be used for a variety of the categories in Bloom's Taxonomy, depending on the context in which they're used but this seems a useful introduction to a range of apps and their potential uses in assessment terms. Via Stephanie Sandifer, grainnehamilton This is the question that was posed to me when I was invited to write this article for eLearn magazine. Having been involved in the effort to leverage virtual worlds (VWs) in education since the earl... Via Grainne Conole 
The JISC Assessment and Feedback programme has developed a site in Design Studio on 'existing and emergent work on assessment and feedback of significant interest'. The site includes links to resources and outputs from the Assessment and Feedback and other current JISC programmes. Themes covered include:
- Assessment for learning 
Post about a hack for displaying open badges that has been developed by David Wiley...
The widget currently: 
An open infrastructure for assessing, recognising and showcasing skills, achievements and competencies online, through open badges, takes a step forward ...
"Integration with Mozilla Persona = adding skills and achievements to your online identity. The new Beta release includes integration with Mozilla Persona (formerly BrowserID). This opens the door for users to create a single user-centric identity across the web, with tools like Mozilla Open Badges adding a “reputation layer” that provides a complete story about what they know and have achieved. All through an open, standards-based infrastructure that puts user sovereignty, privacy and security first." Via DML Competition, grainnehamilton 
Interesting example of how open badges could work in practice...
"Say you're an employer considering a job candidate. Under "systems thinking," the applicant's badge portfolio would include some of the UC-Davis courses he's passed, along with grades. But it would also include evidence of the applicant's specific skills, like "integrated pest management," which he might have learned working on a farm. Other badges would describe workshops attended, awards won, and specific projects completed. Each badge would allow the employer to click through to more detailed levels of evidence and explanation—documents, assessment results, hyperlinks, video, and more." Via DML Competition 
The new SQA e-Assessment Resource pulls together SQA guidance and resources relating to e-Assessment, as well as general advice on good practice in e-Assessment... 
Article outlining a winning proposal by UK based DigitalME for the MacArthur Foundation DML Competition. Supporter to Reporter is a real-life learning programme where young people take on roles of sports journalists, media producers and mentors - DigitalME will use the Mozilla Open Badges Infrastructure to assess and reward skills and competencies achieved.
I'm delighted that DigitalME will be talking about open badges alongside Doug Belshaw at our JISC RSC Scotland conference on June 8th in Glasgow. For more information see: http://www.rsc-scotland.ac.uk/Dragons/index.htm Article on the JISC CETIS wiki about a session at their 2012 conference on open badges by Doug Belshaw and Simon Grant. I've been liaising with Doug about open badges and really like the way he puts the concept across. Access presentations by Doug and Simon, as well as feedback on discussions by participants at the conference and other useful resources. 
IPads being used for observational assessment in Dental Radiology at the University of Dundee...
Thoughts on some of the potential challenges and opportunities of open badges for assessment. Interesting article on the potential game-changing impact of badges...
"If digital badges gain employers' respect, colleges and universities will face significant competition, writes Kevin Carey, policy director of Education Sector. "Traditional colleges and universities use their present monopoly on the credentialing franchise to extract increasingly large sums of money from students," writes Carey. That will change—if badges prove their validity as credentials." Via DML Competition |
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