RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.AC.UK
Issue 1 (2017)
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differences between regional implementation
was of interest.
What technologies were being used, or
considered, to award the badges to
students?
Methodology
For this research, two separate surveys were
conducted.
Both surveys were advertised
through various Jiscmail listserv mailing lists:
• Blackboard users mailing list
(BLACKBOARD-
[email protected])
• Association of Learning Technologists (ALT-
[email protected])
• e-assessment (E-
[email protected])
• ePortfolio and PDP (PDP-AND-E-
[email protected])
There were two optional questions
a. What is the name of your institution?
b. What kind of organisation do you work for?
Responses to initial survey
It was not surprising that the majority (32) of
institutions who responded were either not
progressing / considering, or at the exploratory
stage of badge implementation (Fig 2). Nor was
the use of the VLE as the tool to award the
badges
surprising
as
most
educational
institutions have a VLE and the main competitors
have an implementation of Open Badges as part
of the core product (Fig.3). The planned areas of
use for badges was surprising though (Fig.4),
with the most popular response being staff CPD
(24). It is interesting to compare this figure with
the result from our main survey.
The link to the survey was also distributed on
social media channels, predominantly Twitter.
This means that in both surveys respondents
were self-selecting and therefore likely to have a
higher awareness of Open Badges.
Initial Survey
The first survey was available from the 23rd to
the 29th June 2015. The purpose of this survey
was to support internal work within my University
through gaining an insight into the use of Open
Badges across other UK institutions. 62
responses were received as shown in Fig 1.
Higher
Education 5
4 UK 46
Further
Education 5 Non-UK 8
Adult/Work-
Based
Learning
Provider 1 Unknown 8
Other 2
Figure 2 Stage of Badge Implementation
Figure 1.
Survey 1 respondents: type of
institution and country of origin (n=62)
The questionnaire was created using Google
Docs and distributed using the methods
described above. The questionnaire had three
mandatory questions:
1) Can you describe what stage of the
implementation of Open Badges you are at?
2) What areas are you considering using Open
Badges for?
3) How are you planning to issue the Open
Badges?
Figure 3 Issuing platform to be used
20