Badge to the Future

Back in early November I attended ePIC 2024: Opening and scaling up digital credential initiatives, the 22nd International Conference on Open learning and recognition practices, technologies and policies.

Unsurprisingly there was a lot of discussion about emerging AI tools and the roles they could play in this space, but what did come as a surprise was digital badges.

Back in 2010 the Mozilla Foundation and MacArthur Foundation developed open badge prototypes and in October 2012, the Mozilla Foundation launched the Public Beta of the Open Badge Infrastructure. Since then over 43 million digital badges have been issued worldwide.

The white paper Open Badges for Lifelong Learning (updated 2012) authored by The Mozilla Foundation and Peer 2 Peer University,
in collaboration with The MacArthur Foundation noted that badges were specifically able to support the Capturing and translating the learning across contexts, Encouraging and motivating participation and learning outcomes, and Formalizing and enhancing existing social aspects of informal and interest-driven learning.

Updates to the the Open Badges standard have enabled embedded evidence, endorsements, version control and internationalization (Open Badges 2.0), and the facilitation of federated backpacks via the Open Badges 2.1 (Badge Connect) API. By 2021 24 products from 19 organizations headquartered in 8 countries that have gone through the IMS conformance certification process for Open Badges v2.x.

However, understanding the “value” of a badge with regards to credentially in educational settings has proven difficult.

In December 2024, the implementation guide for the Open Badges 3.0 and Comprehensive Learner Records 2.0 standards was published.

Section 1.5 states :

The core of both Open Badges and Comprehensive Learner Record is an assertion about an achievement. As defined in Open Badges Specification v3.0 and Comprehensive Learner Record Standard v2.0, an assertion is specific to one learner. It contains a claim that the learner has made a particular achievement and metadata about the achievement, the issuer, and the learner, including possible evidence that provides support for the claim. (https://www.imsglobal.org/spec/ob/v3p0/impl)

This is something to get excited about. Updates to the metadata capability enable the inclusion of multimedia content that make it possible to embed evidence within the badge. Additionally, the standard has adopted the use of the W3C verifiable credentials data model and introduced the use of Decentralised Identifiers (DIDs) gives badge earners more control over their personal data and how it is shared. It is also now easier and more transparent to revoke badges which may be outdated or have expired in some way, potentially increasing trust in the potential.

At ePIC2024 there were a few projects which looked to leverage these new capabilities to support lifelong learning initiatives. One example is Odznaka+, co-funded by the European Union that has expanded upon the open Badge standard. The application enables the issuing, collecting, storing and sharing digital badges and equivalent PDF certificates. It allows users to digitally certify different types of skills and achievements.

This new generation of digital badges may be able to address some of the concerns raised in the Landscape report undertaken by the UK Badging Commission on the trustworthiness and verification of badged credentials.

In addition to verification, data sovereignty was a key discussion point. Who owns the credential, the learner of the issuer? Who chooses what information is shared and with whom?

The UK Badging Commission recognise that digital skills wallets are an ideal platform for communicating a comprehensive picture of an individual’s skills and experiences from a range of learning opportunities. These can be facilitated through the new Open Badges 3.0 and Comprehensive Learner Records 2.0 standards in transferable and verfiable ways.

Paragraph 15 of the COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability (2022/C 243/02) begins:

Education and training systems should cater for the diverse individual needs, abilities and capacities of all learners. They should also offer learning opportunities to all, including in non-formal and informal settings as underlined by the Council conclusions on equity and inclusion in education and training in order to promote educational success for all (11).

Most importantly this learning should be portable, in the recommendations portability is defined as:

‘Portability’ means the ability for a credential-holder to store their micro-credentials in a system of their choice, to share the credential with a party of their choice (whether national or transnational) and for all parties in the exchange to be able to understand the content and verify the authenticity of the credentials. This enables portability between and within education and training sectors, in the labour market and across countries.

The new generation of badges and associated learner records could become a key tool in facilitating these requirements.

What does that potentially mean for UCL?

In addition to our degree programmes, UCL provides a wide variety of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities. Could these be credentialed and verfiable digital badges to make them a transferable microcredential where appropriate?

Should we be looking to credentialise smaller pieces of CPD offered both internally and externally to better facilitate skills recognition and lifelong learning?

As stated by a speaker at ePIC2024 “we do not have a skills shortage, but a recognition of skills shortage”.

Could this new generation of badges help address this recognition issue?

References:

• Blog post: Why Open Badges 3.0 Matters
• Open Badges – History
• Blog post: Reflecting on the Open Badges journey
• Open Badges Implementation Guide – Spec version 3.0
• Odznaka+ Application
• Badging Commission
• Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability 2022/C 243/02