By Kevin Campbell-WrightProject Officer for Digital Projects, NIACE

For over a hundred years, scouts have used badges.

Photo: Wikipedia.Org

You get badges for things you achieve like camping, helping in the community or being able to read a map or demonstrating other skills.

Photo: Girl Guides of Canada via Flickr

You wear badges on your shirt, sleeve or a sash so that other scouts can see who you are and what

your skills are easily and quickly.

Photo: Wikipedia.Org

But for the rest of the world it isn’t that easy. Take applying for jobs.

Letters, CVs, LinkedIn Profiles.How do you stand out digitally?

What about those small skills you have that you wouldn’t put on your CV?

How do you record small life experiences?

This is where these come in.

Here’s how they work

You complete an online activity. It could be

anything.

Maybe you evaluate something you did in real

life.

Maybe you write a programme.

Maybe you submit a file.

Here’s how they work

You complete an online activity. It could be

anything.

Maybe you evaluate something you did in real

life.

Maybe you write a programme.

Maybe you submit a file.

You get awarded a badge.

It looks just like a picture file.

You can share it like a picture file on email or social media.

It contains hidden data that says what you go it for, who

you got it from and how long its valid for. This data only

works with your email address.

Here’s how they work

You complete an online activity. It could be

anything.

Maybe you evaluate something you did in real

life.

Maybe you write a programme.

Maybe you submit a file.

You get awarded a badge.

It looks just like a picture file.

You can share it like a picture file on email or social media.

It contains hidden data that says what you go it for, who

you got it from and how long it’s valid for. This data only

works with your email address.

You upload your bade to your “Mozilla Backpack”

Now you can share it directly

with employers, colleges, whoever you want.

You can have private or public collections.

Any badge associated with your email stays there as

long as it is valid.

As more courses and activities are done online, more places will award badges. Badges are your digital skills portfolio.

For example...

Awarding bodies (the people who award qualifications like GCSEs and A-Levels) were asked to look at OpenBadges in a

2014 government report.

Computer giant IBM uses OpenBadges as part of their Authorised Training

programme....

...and we’re issuing them to adult learning professionals across Europe as

part of our AE-Pro Training.

This pretty much sums up how they could work, straight from Chris at Mozilla

Find Out More....

Sign Up:https://backpack.openbadges.org/

Follow:@OpenBadges@AEPRO_2014@KevAtNIACE@NIACEhq

Read:https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/so-what-are-open-badges-28-aug-2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Open_Badges

Produced 2015by Kevin Campbell-Wright, NIACE

as part of the AEPro ProjectSome rights reserved.

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