Digital badging at

The Open University

Patrina Law, Head of Free Learning@HigherEdPatrina

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Why do we do free learning?

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…

Engaging new learners

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What is OpenLearn?

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Our commitment to ‘open’

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What has this activity achieved?

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Benefits to institutions of OER

Increases access to education

Provides an opportunity to assess and plan education choices

Showcases intellectual outputs, promoting profile and attracting students

Converts learners into fee paying enrolments

Accelerates learning

Adds value to knowledge production

Reduces faculty preparation time

Generates cost savings

Enhances quality

Generates innovation through collaboration.

(Stacey, 2012)

For OU students in particular: A taster for online/distance Delivers improved progression for those that use OpenLearn A vehicle for module choice / qualification pathway

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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.’

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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?

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OpenLearn learners want OU-branded recognition for their learning.

80%

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What are badges?

Image credits: Thornhill School http://thornhillschool.org.uk/current/latest-news/-/post/blue-peter-badges; and Patrina Law.

As a coming together of games culture and the traditional badge issuing by clubs and societies, a digital badge has developed to become “…an online visual representation of an accomplishment or skill” (Ostashewski & Reid, 2015) issued in a variety of formal and non formal settings.

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• An incentive for learners• To identify progress• To signify achievement and 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 badgingOn 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.”

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.

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In support of motivating learners in the open

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 Badging infrastructure interoperable with open

standards

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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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5 points of openness

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Badge display

Mozilla Backpack (or other aggregator)

My OpenLearn ProfileSocial networks

Printable certificate https://backpack.openbadges.org/backpack/login

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BOC impact – first 10 months• 2000+ badges issued

• The BOCs are generating around 12,000 new visitors a month to OpenLearn

• They drive a very high proportion of learners to click-through to make an enquiry to the OU (26.2% Feb-Nov 2015)

• Completion rates of BOCs are higher than our MOOCs

• 300 formal module registrations have been made (mostly entry level)

• 2,300 prospectus requests

• 254 qualification sign-ups (mostly new students)

• Satisfaction rates are very high (~98%)

• Surveys have shown that up to 57% say that they will be sharing their achievements with an employer or prospective employer

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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

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BOC impact – reasons for studying…

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

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Challenges…?

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

2. Are the detractors right to question the value of a badge?

3. Scant research and almost no empirical data. 4. Was using repurposed content really 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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Solutions…1. Setting the bar too high? Test and see – OpenLearn is

rapid response environment for developing approaches to elearning.

2. Detractors? Development of IMS Global Open Badge Extensions for Education.

3. Still scant research and almost no empirical data.4. Will continue to mix new and repurposed content;

identify at module specification where possible. 5. Quality of learning experience assured through

academic authoring and critical readership. As with MOOCs and other OpenLearn courses.

6. Assessment expertise developed, but remains a challenge.

A mechanism to engage with partners

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The future of digital badging at the OU

In 2016Succeeding in postgraduate study Digital scholarship

Working in the voluntary sector Resilience and flexibility

Returning to STEM Commercial communication and negotiation

Succeeding in a digital world Leadership and followership

Cyber security Understanding business structures

Supporting student preparedness as inductionSupport learner CPDBOCs on the OU Student Record and HEARPromoted by lecturers and University careers advisorsHighly impactful outreach mechanism

Succeed with maths – Parts 1 &2 Succeed with learning

Introducing the voluntary sector English: skills for learning

Taking your first steps into HE Succeed in the workplace

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www.open.ac.uk/about/open-educational-resources/what-we-do/badging-free-content-the-ou

www.open.edu/openlearn

@HigherEdPatrina #openbadgesHE