Seals, Badges, Marks, Stamps, Labels & Awards

Quality in MetadataQuality of Metadata

Contents

• Definitions• Selecting the Appropriate Term• Mozilla Open Badges• Quality Seals• Concept-Process-Attribute• Metadata• Conclusions

Define: Seal

• Seal: A piece of wax, lead, or other material with an individual design stamped into it, attached to a document as a guarantee of authenticity– [offline] it’s also something that joins two things

together to avoid them getting apart– [online] it’s used to also refer to quality seals but

also digital seals (or signatures)

Define: Badge

• Badge: a small piece of metal, plastic, or cloth bearing a design or words, typically worn to identify a feature or sign which reveals a particular quality– [offline] it’s used to refer to the policeman’s badge

mainly, but also for the awards earned by scouts– [online] it’s used to refer to proof of competences

earned through online or offline courses

Define: Mark

• Mark: A symbol, name, or other identifier, especially a name, logo, or other indicator used to indicate ownership, origin, or level of quality– [offline] it’s used to refer to the marks earned at

school, or metaphorically to say that someone had a significant impact on something

– [online] it’s used to refer to quality marks, quite often

Define: Stamp

• Stamp: An official mark, design, or seal that indicates ownership, approval, completion, or the payment of a tax– [offline] it’s used to refer to the stamps for letters

or the actual stamp that is used on documents– [online] it’s used to refer to the stamps that can

be used for children to fill with color

Define: Label

• Label: A small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it– [offline] it’s used to refer to the tags on garments

or food, that references either washing conditions or ingredients – it may contain badges in it

– [online] it’s used to refer to quality labels (referenced in the EFQUEL e-Quality Label)

Define: Award

• Award: A prize or other mark of recognition given in honor of an achievement– [offline] usually ribbons given in competitions or

figurines (Oscars) and trophies– [online] used frequently in the

media/music/cinema industries with similar meanings

Google-define• Search…

– e-learning AND• “quality seal” 28.000 hits • “quality badge”: 12.400 hits• “quality mark”: 59.300 hits• “quality stamp”: 8.090 hits• “quality label”: 24.300 hits• “quality awards”: 32.900 hits

– Learning resource AND• “quality seal”: 24.200 hits (+Scholar)• “quality badge”: 10.500 hits• “quality mark”: 11.500 hits• “quality stamp”: 1.180 hits (+Scholar)• “quality label”: 18.200 hits• “quality awards”: 29.200 hits

Use of the terms in literature

• Badge and Mark are somewhat steady

• Label and award are gaining traction

• Seal and Stamp are falling behind

• All numbers refer to multiple meanings of each term

approval quality origin expiration warranty authenticity

Seal

club competence cause training ranking

Badge

certification cause process

Mark

grade mail origin

Stamp

ingredients contents origin

Label

Award

excellence acknowledgement

ranking

Selection

• “Seal” is a term that is not “flooded” with other uses, just like “Stamp” is

• “Seal” gets more hits in the e-learning related search, allowing for greater acceptance in the community

• “Seal” is connected to the notions of approval, quality, origin, expiration date, warranty, authenticity

Where do they fit in?

Define: Mozilla Open Badges

• A digital representation of a skill, learning achievement or experience. Badges can represent competencies and involvements recognized in online or offline life– Each badge is associated with an image and some

metadata. The metadata provides information about what the badge represents and the evidence used to support it

• Skill or achievement– Achievement is too broad… Isn’t it?– How broad is experience?• Too broad!

Uses of Mozilla Open Badges

• Just like a real-life badge, an Open Badge can represent almost anything, like:– accomplishments in a class you’ve taken,– levels of achievement in an ongoing process,– your membership in a club,– your skills as a gamer

• Generally speaking: experiences, achievements, skills, competencies, learning, associations, community involvement, peer interaction, etc.

approval quality

Seal

club competence training ranking

Badge

grade

Stamp

Award

excellence acknowledgement

ranking

Quality Seals

From this point on, we only discuss about their digital counterparts

Warning: Oversimplification!

• The is always a concept going into a process funnel and comes out on the other side, with an extra attribute

As Simple As it Gets - ASAG®

- Process - - Set of rules - - Conditions -

- Objects - - Processes -

- People -

- Accredited -- Certified -- Awarded -

Working Definition

• The outcome of a quality control (process) on a learning object (concept), can be termed as a “Quality Seal” (attribute)– ASAG® for now!– But: • We may have different aspects of the same concept, • Processes may focus on different things and • Attributes can be really diverse

Concept-Process-Attribute

• A concept can be:– A person (Mozilla Badges)– An institution/organization– A digital asset• Learning objects• Processes• Photo/Image• Etc…

Concept-Process-Attribute

• The process can be:– A textual description of steps followed to ensure

quality • How to create a resource, how a course is structured

– An evaluation scale that is used to grade/rank• Movie ranked with 4 out of 5 stars

– A yes/no list of criteria• A hotel that has a parking lot

– All of the above combined

Concept-Process-Attribute

• The final attribute can be:– Grade/Ranking– Approval – Origin– Quality Mark– All of the above

Metadata

• We need to describe with the appropriate metadata:– The concept– The process– The attributes

Metadata for Concepts

• For example, IEEE LOM for learning objects– Title, Description, etc.– Already hosted in learning repositories

• Or a Vcard for a person/institution, etc.– Containing basic information – Maybe through linking with existing accounts

Metadata for Process

• Need to decide on the abstraction level– The more specific we get with the process, the more

metadata fields are needed to describe it• Image, Title & Description of process

VS• Title, Description, Dimensions, Range, IPR, etc.– Prefer to move towards the second option– Less metadata means less facets to search with, less

structure and less visibility

Metadata for Attributes

• This can be as simple as Mozilla Badges do it– Just store the “evidence” used to support the fact

that the concept got the specific attribute– Like storing the number of stars that a movie

received or the outcome of the evaluation based on specific criteria (a report if you will, specific to this one learning object)• Should be linked to the schema of the process,

mapping the “evidence” to the dimensions being evaluated

Conclusions

• It’s more of a pick-your-poison approach, that can be really structured or pretty loose

• It depends on the needs of each application – what are you certifying? – And what does “certifying” means…?

• Is there a compatible quality seal for learning objects, applicable across platforms, including metadata as a metric/dimension?

Next Steps

• Look closer into the specifics of quality assurance for learning objects as well as metadata

• Maybe the 6 W’s can help…– What do we want to provide?– Who provides it?– Why? How? Where? When?

Seals, Badges, Marks, Stamps, Labels & Awards

Hope you enjoyed this highly abstract and opinionated presentation!!!

Questions or commentspalavitsinis@gmail.com