The application of open

digital badging at the OU

UK and its future in HE

Patrina Law, Head of Free Learning@HigherEdPatrina

Why do we provide free learning?

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ELIZABETH THE SECOND

by the Grace of God of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain

and Northern Ireland and of

Our other Realms and

Territories Queen, Head of the

Commonwealth, Defender of the

Faith…

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What this has achieved via OpenLearn

44 million learners

13% make a formal enquiry

www.open.edu/openlearn

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Who are our OpenLearn learners?

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How do they feel about their learning?

58%

‘A test to give confidence my next

module choice is appropriate for me’

38%

80%

Declare improved

confidence in ability to study.

Are students. 29% of enrolled

are OU students.

Want OU-branded recognition

for informal learning.

More likely to take

another free course.

More likely to

recommend OU

content to others.

80%

80%

‘The free extracts of courses gave me

confidence to enroll in my first module…I

have also been using them to practice

time management.’

‘A good talking point and something

to include on my CV’

‘Fees are now too high for me to

consider continuing my degree’

‘Thank you for providing a resource

for people that cannot get to a facility

due to physical or financial difficulty. ’

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Recognition in an informal / non formal

environment

Cross (2007) describes informal learning as ‘the unofficial,unscheduled, impromptu way people learn’ but in anenvironment where ‘...no one assigns grades…’ and ‘...no onetakes attendance.’

Technology has disrupted informal learning settings andexpectations.

We have moved from Cross’s anonymous world to one ofidentified informal learning. There is a growing demand thatlearners want recognition for their achievements in the freelearning space that can be acknowledged publicly.

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OpenLearn learners want OU-branded recognition for their learning.

80%

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In support of motivating and rewarding

learners

OpenLearn Badged Open Courses (BOCs):1. Give informal learners the recognition they’ve

requested.2. Give prospective students the skills to be

prepared for undergraduate study.3. Give our current students a means of

developing and displaying skills relevant to career progression.

Cheaper to produce than our MOOCs No tutoring overhead Uses Open Badging Infrastructure

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Badged Open Courses assessment

framework• Learners need to achieve 50% to

pass an assessment• Learners are given three

attempts• If they fail on the third attempt,

they can retake after 24 hours• Practice assessment is available

throughout the course• All pages of the course must

have been ‘read’• Formal assessment takes place

halfway and at the end• All BOCs are 24 hours of learning

Two successful assessments = 1 badge

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Assessments (using Moodle quizzes in BOCs) presented in the way that Hickey identifies, we are attempting to communicate feedback and provide motivation to learners in an environment that cannot provide tutorial support.

o An incentive for learnerso To identify progresso To signify achievement and learning

On assessment in learning (Abramovich et al., 2013): “…the potential benefit of an assessment is determined by its ability to both maintain learning motivation and accurately communicate a student’s learning.”

On assessment in badges (Hickey (2012):o Summative functions - assessment of learningo Formative functions for individuals - assessment for learningo Transformative functions for systems - assessment as learning

Defining the potential of digital badging

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Badge displayBadge aggregator

My OpenLearn Profile (an e-portfolio)

Export functions PDF

OU Student Record

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BOC impact – first 12 months

• 3000+ badges issued

• The BOCs are generating around 15,000 new visitors a month to OpenLearn

• They drive a very high proportion of learners to make a formal enquiry to study (25% Feb 2015 - May 2016)

• Completion rates of BOCs are higher than our MOOCs

• 400+ formal module registrations (mostly entry level)

• 350+ qualification sign-ups (mostly new students)

• 3,535 prospectus requests

• Satisfaction rates are high (~98%)

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BOCs as a motivator and for recognition• 71% perceive digital badge and certificate as equally

important

• Responses to ‘What does earning a badge mean to you?’

Source: SurveyMonkey. End of course survey, Succeed with maths, Part 1.

“The basic

accreditation from

these badges adds

more value to the

work I put in”

“Thank you for giving

me the confidence to

do something I

thought I had no

intellect to actually

do”

BOC impact – data analysis

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BOCs supporting professional development

• 39-57% will show badge to employer

BOCs as preparedness and driver for study

• Promising demographic for undergraduate recruitment (younger than OpenLearn overall) and existing qualifications: only 7-17% hold undergraduate degree compared to 26% on OpenLearn (MOOCs >70%)

• Reasons for studying: Professional development (84%), personal interest (78%), preparation for study (54%)

• 58% had not taken online course before

BOCs supporting disabled learners

• Between 15% and 37% declare a disability (OpenLearn overall is 23%; UK adult population is 16%)

“A good talking

point and

something to

include on my

CV”

“Refreshed my

maths skills and

going on to do the

open learn

English course,

will be applying to

do an access

course in March”

BOC impact – data analysis

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Learners are clear about how they like to learn

• Responses to ‘Please rate how you felt about the different ways of learning on OpenLearn’.

Source: SurveyMonkey. End of course survey, English: skills for learning

BOC impact – data analysis

16Word cloud source: SurveyMonkey. End of course survey, Succeed with maths Part 1

BOC impact – reasons for studying

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BOCs. The challenges…

1. Were we setting the bar too high? Were we going to deter completion?

2. Are detractors right to question the value of a badge? 3. In 2012, scant research and almost no empirical data. 4. Was using repurposed content going to save on

production costs? 5. Can we convince others of the robustness of the QE?6. Developing assessment – a challenge for most writers

– 45 questions for Weeks 4 and 8; 15 questions for remaining weeks. A big ask.

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BOCs. The solutions…

1. Setting the bar too high? Test and see – OpenLearn is rapid response environment for developing approaches to elearning.

2. Detractors? The value of badging is still being debated.

3. Research and empirical data? … now developing. OpenLearn provided rich and rapid feedback.

4. Mixing new and repurposed content – time/cost difference negligible.

5. Quality of learning experience assured through academic authoring and critical readership.

6. Assessment expertise developed, but remains a challenge.

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To be rolled out in UK no later than 2018.

Based on Gov’t recommendation in 2007 it is to be…“a single comprehensive record of a learner’s

achievement”It will enable…

“institutions to provide a detailed picture of student achievement throughout a students’ time at university,

including academic work, extra-curricular activities, prizes and employability awards, voluntary work and offices held in student union clubs and societies that

have been verified by the institution”

The learner record in the wider HE

landscape

Source: http://www.hear.ac.uk/

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Rolled out in UK from 2018

Source: http://www.hear.ac.uk/

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Digital credentials

Bolstering students’ formal qualificationsCreating a mix of skills for students’ own career path

Source: Bryan Mathers, CC-BY-ND

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A ‘comprehensive learner record’

Source: IMS Global Learning Consortium

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Blockchain

Sources: Carla Casilli ‘From Badges to BadgeChain: Part 2; John Domingue, Open blockchain blockchain.open.ac.uk/

“Blockchain technology builds a continuous list of

records or transactions that result in a time-based

ledger.”

“A [dgitial/electronic] list of records that build

upon each other, one after the other in a sequential

fashion.”

“It eliminates the need for a central authority.”

And becomes

“…a publicly shared immutable ledger.”

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Blockchain and open badges

Source: Bryan Mathers, CC-BY-ND

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Blockchain and digital credentials

Source: Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University UK blockchain.open.ac.uk/

Open badges: a helpful proposition when

engaging with partners

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The landscape of digital badging in HE

Networks tell us that they are being developed:

• as a method of encouraging first year students to complete

• for engaging in skills/employability courses and

• for internal staff development

The awarding of a badge is usually a manual activity.

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The future of digital badging at the OU

Supporting qualifications (promotion/induction)As a highly impactful outreach mechanismFor student induction, graduate employability/skills

Development of blockchain technology for learning credentials

BOCs to appear on the Student Record and HEARPromoted by tutors and careers advisors

Public info: http://bit.ly/1TH7BlQpatrina.law@open.ac.uk @HigherEdPatrina #openbadgesHE