“How we feel when we experience any activity is widely accepted to have a bearing on our learning experience” (Hauck and MacKinnon, 2016). In the days of computer-mediated learning, hugely expanded since the covid pandemic, keeping a track of what you have learned and how that learning has impacted upon our professional skills can pose a serious challenge. Where were you in cyberspace when you had that last lightbulb moment, acquired a new skill or found a helpful network?

In our #LTHEchat this evening we would like to discuss how webinar attendance, open sharing and contribution to informal learning such as this chat can be recognised using open badges and how such badge use could facilitate the task of evidencing learning. According to Halavais (2012) the implementation of digital badges can be “a clear way of expressing what is valued by a community” 

Open badge use has become more widespread of late, especially in the area of professional development in education. If this is not an area that is familiar to you check out the Badge Wiki. Creating and issuing an open badge from one of the many platforms that exist offers the chance for the awardee to take ownership of their evidence, curating their collection and annotating to make explicit the value of the learning experiences they have engaged in. The badges carry data about how, where and when the activity happened and can easily be shared online, though social media and reflected upon using an e-portfolio or personal website/blog. Further evidence or reflection can easily be added to contextualise that experience. 

This session’s leaders Debbie Baff @debbaff and Teresa MacKinnon @warwicklanguage have long advocated for greater awareness of the potential of open badges and strongly support a call for open recognition which can build our learning networks and empower us to reflect upon our experiences. Recognition which reflects both formal and informal learning. Check out their video “There’s a badge for that” and their Open Badge profiles in their bios!

Teresa maintains that open badges are more than just an opportunity for collection, to realise their potential for your professional development you have to get active. At the heart of badge earning is the agency of the badge owner, the more one actively curates and intentionally makes use of one’s badges the more one takes control of one’s digital presence and learning. Activity is a vital part of the process. As Nardi put it (1996): “you are what you do.” Seen through the lens of Activity Theory as Vygotsky interpreted it, the use and construction of artefacts are part of human development: the mind is developed through activity (Vygotsky, 1978). Intentionally collecting, curating and contextualising one’s badges online supports double-loop learning and is particularly suited to online and distance education as explained by Blaschke (2012) 

Join us to share your experiences and help shape the future of #LTHEchat.

References

Blaschke, L. M. (2012). Heutagogy and lifelong learning: A review of heutagogical practice and self-determined learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(1), 56-71. Available 

https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1076/2113

Hauck, M., & MacKinnon, T. (2016). A new approach to assessing online intercultural exchange: soft certification of participant engagement. In Online Intercultural Exchange (pp. 209-232). Routledge.

Halavais, A. M. (2012). A genealogy of badges: Inherited meaning and monstrous moral hybrids. Information, Communication & Society, 15(3), 354-373. 

Nardi, B. A. (Ed.). (1996). Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction. MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. S., & Cole, M. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard university press.

Bios

Teresa MacKinnon @WarwickLanguage

Teresa is an open educator, an award-winning language teacher with a wealth of expertise in online delivery. Experienced in education management and course design in secondary and higher education, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT).

Teresa has extensive experience of the integration of computer-mediated communication in learning design. She retired in January 2021 from her post as Associate Professor at the University of Warwick but remains active online as @WarwickLanguage where she enjoys connecting educators internationally across sectors. She advocates open educational practice, and is active in the areas of virtual exchange, professional development and open badges. You can see a collection of her open badges here.

Deb Baff @Debbaff

Debbie Baff is a Subject Specialist (Leadership and Culture) at Jisc focusing on the Digital Leaders Programme and has over 25 years experience of working in Higher Education & the voluntary sector. An Open Educational Practitioner and PhD Student in E Research and TEL. Her research interests are in online social support and the impact on wellbeing for educators. She is co-chair of the Open Education Special Interest Group and contributes to several committees and groups at the Association for Learning Technology. Debbie is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA), a Certified Online Learning Facilitator (COLF) and a Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT). She is also on the editorial board for the Research in Learning Technology Journal and the Journal of Social Media for Learning.

An open digital badge enthusiast and keen sketchnoter, Debbie has a creative approach to learning, teaching and building communities both online and in person. She has been involved with open digital badges since 2014 and was a member of the planning committee for the first Open Badges in Higher Education conference held at the University of Southampton in 2016. She has implemented open badge initiatives at the University of South Wales, Swansea University and the Association for Learning Technology. She is now working on a project at Jisc to review the use of badges across the organisation. A badge earner herself, Debbie’s badges are available on her Open Badge Passport. She blogs at debbaff.com.

Here is the Wakelet where you can revisit the tweets from this chat. Enjoy!