This is the first module of as a part of Think Out Loud Club’s introduction to Open Badges.
Open Badges are online representation of a skill you have earnt. It is an infrastructure that was originally backed by Mozilla, but has since been taken over by the Badge Alliance, with the support of the MacArther Foundation. Open Badges allow you to verify different information, such as a description, issuer, criteria of achievement and standards met. This is done by hard-coding the metadata, that is the data about data. Some such as Doug Belshaw suggest that the future of such hard-coding is connected with the blockchain.
Digital badges are a continuation of physical badges issued by organisations, such as Scouts, just in an online form. They usually offer a way of gamifying an activity and are usually built into different sites, whether it be WordPress or Khan Academy. A few limitations is there lack transferability and lack of credibility. In contrast, anyone can check credibility of the open badges and they can be shown anywhere. In addition to this, they are not controlled by any one organisation, often devised to be stackable, evidence-based and add an element of trust into the process.
Open badges can be used in a number of ways, including gaining recognition for skills demonstrated and plotting your own learning pathway. Don Presant suggests that they could be used to celebrate the acquisition of skills, extra-curricular activities or the completion of different programs. In the end though, it allows different organisations to develop a secure yet open foundation to recognise learning.
See Bob Price’s book for a more comprehensive introduction to Open Badges:
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What’s possible with Open Badges? #OB101 by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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