Thinkery - Open Visual Thinkery

Here is the archive of open visual thinkery in chronological order.

A certificate is just an offline badge

When thinking about Open Badges, its easy to get stuck on the paper certificate paradigm and think about why an Open Badge isn’t that. Here’s is a thought from Chris Kirk and Doug Belshaw, emanating from an excellent dinner conversation, which looks at a certificate from the perspective of a badge.
edTech innovation

I’ve got a few tech products off the ground in my time, and I’m still not sure how it happens. I did this thinking for the FELTAG report, looking at how the customer, the builders and the backers all need to play their part in the innovation.
Qualification Sweet Spot

One thing I’ve learnt from being part of City & Guilds, is that it’s not easy getting a public funded qualification off the ground. So where’s the sweet spot for a qualification? Here’s a thought from Patrick Craven, Director of Assessment and Policy at City & Guilds. This ended up being part of the FELTAG…
Eyes wide open

This piece of thinkery was created in collaboration with Doug Belshaw for FE Week – there’s something about how an eye looks and the inner meaning attached to it that is hardwired in our inner machine – its hard to hold its gaze. “The eye is the lamp of the soul”…
Higher Education

This thought made me giggle – and that’s OK – even if it’s a bit of a #dadjoke.
Soft skills aren’t so soft

I liked this thought about "soft" skills by Beverley Oliver, at #epforall Barcelona Indeed, as Scott Wilson commented, they are hard to define, hard to acquire, hard to assess, hard to evidence – there’s very little that’s soft about them…
The T-shaped Student

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.
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.
Funding Form

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.
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…
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…
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.