RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.AC.UK
Issue 1 (2017)
The International Journal for
Recording Achievement,
Planning and Portfolios
Open Badges in Education
Graeme Redshaw-Boxwell, Newcastle University.
A digital badge is an online credential
displaying achievement or recognition of a
competency being met. An Open Badge is a
digital badge containing metadata based on the
Open Badge Infrastructure 11 . This metadata
will include the awarding institution, the
recipient, the name and description of the
badge, the criteria required to achieve the
badge, the date issued, and could also include
optional data such as the badge holder’s
evidence (Mozilla 2011). Open badges are not
fixed to any proprietary system, and as they are
based on an open standard 12 , users can
receive open badges from many locations and
collate them into collections. Thes e collections
are held in a secure online location, often
called a digital backpack 13 , and can be
displayed on online spaces such as individual
blogs or LinkedIn profiles.
Abramovich et al. (2013) describes two
alternative models of badges – merit badges and
videogame achievements. The merit badge is the
equivalent of the Boy and Girl Scout badges,
where children would choose which badge to go
for, and then earn the awarding of the badge by
demonstrating they have learned a particular
skill. The displaying of the badges on the shirt
sleeve of the scout uniform acted as a type of
curriculum vitae, showing the achievements of
the scout. Videogame badges are awarded to
videogame players when they accomplish a
particular task or achievement within the game.
Online profiles allow players to demonstrate their
achievements to their peers
Both of these models of badges have links to
educational Open Badges which are a relatively
new development. Students can earn badges by
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12
demonstrating
competency
or
skills
development, and can display their badges on
online spaces such as blogs and LinkedIn. They
can also earn Open Badges for incidental activity
similar to some videogame badges, as well as
choosing to earn a specific badge. A report from
the Open University in 2012 (Sharples et al.
2012) outlined the possible benefits and marked
Open Badges as having a high impact over the
next five years. The benefits described include
the ability to break down a course into more
manageable ‘challenges’, using badges as a self-
awarding system to encourage reflective
practice, and as the badge can provide a direct
link to evidence that demonstrates achievement
of the criteria , they argue that it has the potential
to be more persuasive to an employer than a
degree certificate
Potential Benefits of Open Badges
Increased employability of students
Tymon (2011) has suggested that the
introduction of tuition fees in UK HE has
influenced why students choose to attend higher
education. One of the main choice factors for
students when picking universities is the
employability of students upon graduation
(Maringe 2006). The employability of university
graduates is measured using the DLHE survey 14 .
This is a survey by institutions to measure what
proportion of their graduates are in employment,
and also how many are in ‘graduate level’
employment. By recognising informal learning
and linking this with employers’ demands,
badging can be used to increase the
employability of students. As the focus of Open
Badges can be on skill acquisition they can be
used to formally recognise informal learning
(Glover & Latif 2013). Badging can offer a way of
http://openbadges.org/
http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition
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14
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/lt/dlhe/
https://backpack.openbadges.org/backpack/welcome
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