1. Application of (open) digital badges Partners: EDEN and SRCE Short term staff training, Seville, 2-6 October 2017
Ferenc Tátrai
EDEN

2. Objective
At the completion of this training you will be able to create digital (open) badges to be used in open non-formal learning as a means of recognition of the professional competence development of the learner. .

3. Focus Focus of the training material:
teacher and trainer competence development in designing and applying digital badges and their integration in the open non-formal learning process.
The training is based on group work and trainee collaboration.

4. STRUCTURE recommended reading/listening before the course starts
Video presentations inserted into lectures
4 Units ( 9 topics)
20 acad. hours of F2F or self learning
Theory – 8 acad. hours
Practical activities – 12 acad. hours

5. STRUCTURE Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4
Introduction to the concept of digital badges
Digital badge metadata
Unit 2
The digital badge ecosystem
The value of using digital badges for the different stakeholders
Unit 3
Tools to support digital badge design
Creating and issuing badges using the awailable open badge infrastructure
Unit 4
Questions of granularity of the non-formal courseware
Relation of units awarded by badges
Learning path selection by the learner

6. UNIT1 UNIT 1 Concept of (open) digital badges Objective
To make you familiar with the concept of digital badges, their role in the recognition of learning outcomes of open non-formal learning
Learning outcomes
After completing this Unit you will be able to
describe the concept of digital badges
list the features of digital badges
tell the added value of issuing open digital badges
list the metadata of digital badges
Topic 1: Introduction to the concept of digital badges
Topic 2: Digital badge metadata

7. UNIT1 Topic 1: Introduction to the concept of digital badges
Digital badges are now widely used in education. Why do we use badges in education? Watch this short video about „What is a Badge” by Chicago Art Department (less than 3 minutes) here
In the video you have heard about badges, digital badges and open badges. Lets see their relationship! All are badges, open badges are also digital, but not all digital badges are open badges.... Digital badges are web-enabled versions of a credential, certifying the learning outcome. Representing your credential as a (digital) badge gives you the ability to share your skills online in a way that is simple, trusted and can be easily verified in real time.

8. UNIT 1 – Topic 1

9. UNIT 1 – Topic 1

10. UNIT 1 – Topic 1 How does this system work?
The learner can acquire knowledge and skills from various sources and in various ways, from attending a training institution, through online learning or just taking part in volunteering programmes (left side of the Figure 3. If these achievements are awarded by open digital badges (shortly: Open Badges), these badges can be collected, stored and displayed in his/her Badge Backpack (middle of the picture). The Badge Backpack is a digital tool to store/display the Open Badges someone has earned, and makes it easy to share them between platforms, anywhere on the web.
The badges collected in the Badge Backpack can then be uploaded to his/her personal website, or to various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, etc. These appearances in the digital space might unlock new possibilities, new job opportunities or might clear the way to lifelong learning.

11. UNIT 1 – Topic 1
Note
Some institutions developed their own system to display badges earned in the same institution. This motivates the learners using the system to proceed with their study, help them in selecting the right learning path, and at the same time also eliminates the possibility of anyone claiming the credential of anyone else. Such badges are only visible inside the institution and are not necessary public (not „open” it that sense). Digital badges earned in such systems are uniquely linked to data hosted on the platform. This link makes them reliable. Every credential and profile has a unique URL that is sharable via , on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or embeddable in a résumé. But such systems do not support uploading badges issued by other platforms, and access to metadata are limited to the users of the same platform.

12. UNIT 1 – Topic 1 Digital Badges make it easy to:
Get recognition for the things you learn
Give recognition for the things you teach
Verify skills and
Display your verified badges across the web, if the reference quoted in the badge metadata is open, e.g. when the digital badge is an Open Badge) –
Open Badges are retain the advantage of digital badges like versatility, adaptability, and are evidence-based, but above these basic features, they are
Standardised: follow an emerging consistent open standard on what constitutes a badge, making it possible for these digital representations of accomplishment to be portable and displayed side by side with badges received from a range of sources,
the reference quoted in the badge metadata is openly accessible, thereby
they are openly verifiable and shareable.

13. UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Topic 2 Digital badge metadata
If you have a look at the digital badge, the first thing you see is the badge image.
Three digital badges from that users can gain for various contributions to the site, like Moodle development and user support.
You might think that the image is the whole badge.
However, an integral part of the digital badge is the set of metadata, called “badge attributes”.

14. UNIT 1 – Topic 2
What does a particular badge constitute of and what kind of information someone can get from the badge or show to the audience.
The badge attributes, i.e. badge’s description and criteria are inseparable part of the badge.
They can be grouped in several ways, but essentially they constitute of the
Recipient details
Issuer details (name, contact)
Badge details (name, description, image, criteria)
Administrative details (badge issuing time, badge expiry date, badge issuer ID, badge earner ID)

15. UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Recipient details Name
Name of the individual earning the badge
Issuer details
Name of the individual, entity, or organization that issued the badge.
Contact
Issuer’s contact information.

16. UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Badge details Let’s see what they mean: Name
Recalls the content of a skill or achievement in few words. Badge name should be short and the content of the achievement should be easily understandable
Description
Provides the details of achievement: describes the context, specifies the achievement, refers to completed tasks, and explains the assessment procedures. Useful tips on how to write a good badge description are available here.
Image
The image will be the main representation of the badge. It should be simple, without too many details but still interesting enough for someone to see the rest of the information.
Criteria
Tasks needed to be completed by the badge earner to receive a badge. Options like
Manual completion by role: the role we want to be played by the recipient to be awarded by the badge
Course completion: for using this option, tracking must be enabled for the course
Activity completion: like for the previous option, the course tracking must be enabled
The selected criteria will be displayed among all the other digital badge metadata.

17. UNIT 1 – Topic 2
Example 1: MoodleBites badge

18. UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Reflection questions
Have you ever received digital badges in your learning history? If yes, were any of these badges an open badge?
Did you share the badge?
Have you ever used digital badges to recognize the learning achievement of your students?
If yes, were these open badges?
If yes, what is your experience with open badges?

19. UNIT 1 – Topic 2 Assignment 1.1 Questions:
Q1: Who can issue digital badges?
only institutions
only individuals
individuals and institutions
Q2: What is the added value of an open badge over a digital badge not following the open standards?   
Q3: List at least 5 attributes of a digital badge

20. Thanks for your attention! Contact: tatrai@eden-online.org
UNIT 1
Thanks for your attention! Contact: