I met some excellent people from JISC at the EPIC conference in Barcelona (2015). Simon Whittemore discussed using Open Badges to help create and recognise “T-shaped” students. I really like the thought of a broad compliment of skills and attitudes across a number of domains, coupled with an expertise and competence in one particular domain.
Author: Bryan Mathers
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Membership vs Alignment
What would a Union look like if started a new one today? Here’s a thought from a “Union MVP” conversation with @dotcomrades hosted by @mozilla. The suggestion being that people these days were more likely to align over issues rather than sign up as a member with an institution.
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Funding Form
After getting wapisasa, a social business (non-profit) focused on developing creative young people, off the ground, I thought that we’d be able to get funding to help us get quickly up to speed. Sadly, this tickly thought is my experience of the funding world – which I suppose is understandable – who wouldn’t want maximum bang for buck? Slow-burning ideas are hard to find funding for.
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Levelling the Playing Field
This is a thought inspired by the Open Badges conference organised by @szerge in Barcelona recently. I am increasingly aware of how privileged I am, and how easy it is to accept the state of the playing field as just “how it is” as opposed to questioning it’s unfairness, and doing something about it. An even more disturbing question to ask is this: In whose interest is it that the system remains so unbalanced?
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Social Fabric
Here’s a thought from a conversation with @szerge at the EPIC conference in Barcelona. The underlying message points to the network of trust relationships that exist in a badging ecosystem, and how each assertion forms a relationship between two or more people or bodies. These relationships weave together to form a social fabric. I’m not sure if this image does such deep thoughts justice…
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Awesome Awards
Some very wise words from Charles Kennedy that I came across the day he died. In the last couple of years I’ve been amazed at how much pointless Education System tinkering goes on by politicians with a certain view of how education should be.
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A Constellation of Pathways
“When you are deep into designing your badge system, pause. Look outward: consider the bigger picture that your earner will see. Imagine the thrill of being a learning explorer charting new territory with badges as your guideposts! Now with that new perspective, rough out some potential badge pathways that do not solely include your badges—that include far flung and seemingly unrelated badges. Begin to imagine a future where your badges mingle with and build on a variety of other badges; where new constellations of learning pathways evolve into being from earners devising their own paths, guided by light from distant badge galaxies.”
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The Motivation for Reading
I didn’t really read much as a kid (I need to hear the words) until my GCSE teacher encouraged me to read some books he thought I would be interested in. I remember he challenged me to read 10 pages a night. Soon I was hooked – it was slow going – but I was reading for myself. I think the motivation behind our reading really matters.
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Open Badges – now with Endorsements
This thought was created for Doug Belshaw‘s DML blog entitled “Extending Badges“.
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I am more than just my grades
When you hire a person what do you look for? I look for what I would call character, and a spark…
Yet grades are so big that that although voices say that other qualities matter, its hard to hear them. Could Open Badges be a game changer in terms of recognising value, in all its diversity? I believe it could…
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Education Technology
I love Lego, and I wonder how much it played a part in feeding my creative (and constructivist) side. Problem solving, learning to pivot and change direction, creating new worlds with others. Needless to say my kids are all over it…
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Badge Taxonomy
As part of our work for City and Guilds, Doug Belshaw and I decided to formulate a Badge Taxonomy – not in order to classify badges per se, but to evolve our understanding of how badges (and their intended purposes) differed. After a whole bunch of stickies and some brain crunching, this was the (half-baked) result. 🙂