RAPPORT
where badges are being piloted are varied but strong themes include staff and academic CPD, employability / entrepreneurial modules, development of soft skills such as leadership, and also in MOOCs.
Issuing of badges 31 respondents said they were using the institutions’ virtual learning environment( learning management system) to issue their Open Badges, but in the‘ Other’ category there were 5 responses saying“ Moodle” so the initial figure should rise to 36, and the other responses should drop to 22( figure 15). This high figure is expected as most institutions have some form of VLE, and Open Badges are part of the core product of the two most popular VLEs( Blackboard and Moodle).
40.00 % 35.00 % 30.00 % 25.00 % 20.00 % 15.00 % 10.00 % 5.00 % 0.00 %
How are you issuing your badges?( Or how are you planning to issue them?)
Series1 Series2 Series3 Series4 Series5
Figure 15: Issuing badges
17 of the‘ other’ responses are either for the creation of the institution’ s own application to issue badges, or exploring other badge software. In total, 49( 40 %) are exploring a different mechanism than using the institutional VLE / LMS for awarding badges.
Conclusions It can be seen from the results of the survey that there is interest internationally in the use of Open Badges, although it can be safely assumed that the technology is in the early adopters’ stage of Roger ' s( 2010) innovation adoption lifecycle. There is a geographic difference with European institutions describing themselves mainly in the exploratory stage, whereas the United Kingdom and rest of the world allocate themselves differently.
Most respondents who answered the survey, regardless of institutional role, have an awareness of Open Badges, but this can be expected as it is a self-selecting survey. There is a strong academic interest in the use of Open Badges, and the
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student response seems to be very positive. This correlates with the findings of Hakulinen mentioned on page 4 of this report. When comparing the purpose of Open Badges, Europe and the rest of the world are not using them extensively for staff CPD.
Further research is needed in relation to the barriers for entry with a shortage of good practice examples and the need for further development of the badge concept being seen as the main barriers. Further exploration of the areas of the concept requiring development would be beneficial.
With 49 respondents exploring different mechanisms other than the VLE / LMS to deliver badges, does this also suggest that the implementation found in some VLEs is not meeting the requirements of educational institutions?
References
Abramovich, S., Schunn, C. & Higashi, R. M.( 2013). Are badges useful in education?: it depends upon the type of badge and expertise of learner. Educational Technology Research and Development, 61( 2), pp. 217 – 232. Available at: http:// link. springer. com / 10.1007 / s11423-013- 9289-2
Clark, R., Howard, K. & Early, S.( 2006). Motivational Challenges Experienced in Highly Complex Learning Environments. Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters. Available at: http:// digitalcommons. chapman. edu / educatio n _ books / 16 [ Accessed May 25, 2016 ].
Glover, I. & Latif, F.( 2013). Investigating perceptions and potential of Open Badges in formal higher education. In World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2013. pp. 1398 – 1402. Available at: http:// shura. shu. ac. uk / 7173 /.
Hakulinen, L., Auvinen, T. & Korhonen, A.( 2013). Empirical study on the effect of achievement badges in TRAKLA2 online learning environment. Proceedings- 2013 Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering, LaTiCE 2013, pp. 47 – 54.
Kapp, K.( 2013). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice, Hoboken: Wiley.
Lau, H.-H. et al.( 2014). Impact of participation in extra-curricular activities during college on graduate employability: an empirical study of graduates of Taiwanese business schools.
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