I will give you my opinion about it;
never, never. . . . We shall never cease to learn, unless
we apostatize from the religion of Jesus Christ.
--Brigham Young
Part of the Mormon belief system is a high value placed on continual learning. At BYU, one of the 4 aims of a BYU education is Lifelong Learning and Service. ". . .a BYU diploma is a beginning, not an end, pointing the way to a habit of constant learning." In today's world, many resources offer us opportunities to continue learning after graduation. The Internet gives us thousands of sources to expand our knowledge and learn new skills, as well as linking us to experts who can help us learn. Many communities and organizations offer classes and learning opportunities offline. Finally, we can learn through experience in the workplace and in other settings. But there's one problem: How can we get recognition for learning gained outside of a university?
Enter Mozilla's openbadges.org. It's a bright new idea that offers us a way to get "credit" for learning done outside a traditional University setting. Not only could this system help us qualify for jobs, it could encourage us to continue learning and mastering skills throughout our lives, long after we have left school. Here is how it works:
Any organization can download Mozilla's Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI) and use it to issue badges to earners, showing mastery of specific knowledge or skills. A badge is an online graphic with an embedded link to information about the earner's skills and to the issuing organization's website. When your organization issues you a badge, they email it to you and you can choose whether or not to post it in your Mozilla badge backpack. You can share your backpack link with others to let them see what skills you have. Badges are also exportable to any website, so you can display your certifications on your blog, on social media profiles, and anywhere you want!
I think of it kind of like a Red Cross first aid certification. When you've satisfactorily completed the first aid course, you get a wallet-sized card proving you are certified. So a badge is like that Red Cross wallet card, except you can display it online and earn badges for a huge variety of skills! For instance, if you volunteer frequently with disabled kids, your organization could award you a badge indicating your skill level in working with disabled children, which you could display online to potential employers, possibly leading to a job in that field.
Openbadges.org is still in beta form, so there aren't many badges to earn yet. But some badges are available through Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU), a Mozilla initiative to help people learn together online. (This could be a whole other blog post!) By 2013 though, we should start seeing a lot more participating badge issuers.
Here are some questions you might have with answers I adapted from openbadges.org:
Are badges just for people without degrees?
Not at all! Degrees indicate that a person has knowledge in a specific field, but don't indicate exactly what they've learned. Two people with the same degree might have different skill sets. For instance, an English major who took several classes in British literature would have different skills than one who focused on literature and film. Badges are a way to show what specific skills a person has acquired in their field. They can complement degrees, not just compete with them.
How is the badge backpack different than a resume?
It can be difficult to verify information someone puts on their resumes. In contrast, because each badge in your backpack contains a link to the badge issuer and to information about your learning, badges can be used to verify your skill.
What standards exist for badge issuers?
Very few, actually. As long as they comply with OBI and maintain a page on their site with information about badges they've issued, they can issue badges. This seems sketchy, but it allows issuers to be flexible and create their own standards for their badges. This makes learning more flexible and makes it easier to acquire individual skills dependent of degrees. Lack of standardized rules for issuers isn't necessarily a problem because the badge links to information about how it was earned and what standards were met.
I think badges have potential to revolutionize learning. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment