Explaining Open Badges through analogy. One of the best ways to help people understand something they’ve not come across before is through metaphor and analogy. A year or so ago, for example, my son had a cold and said “my nose is deaf” – and I knew exactly what he meant. It contained just the right balance of ambiguity.* When explaining Open Badges to people I’ve found “X is kind of like Y because of Z” helpful in getting them to grasp what I mean.
The more useful metaphors, similes and analogies I can find, therefore, the better. Below are some I’ve used recently to explain Open Badges. They may or may not help you or the people you’re talking to about badges. But give them a read and tell me what you think. Oh, and the animated GIFs are just for fun! The difference between ‘a badge’ and ‘a badge system’ Mozilla is developing the OBI – the Open Badges Infrastructure. It’s a bit like a water company providing the infrastructure so that instead of having to go to a well, you can get water coming out of a tap. Metadata in badges. Nothing found for Blog 2013 05 08 Answering-your-questions-about-open-badges. I spend about half my time working for Mozilla working on a new, open learning standard for Web Literacy. The other half of the time I’m evangelising Open Badges in the UK and Europe.
Unsurprisingly, with the latter a lot of the same questions come up time and time again. These are legitimate concerns and curiosities that people have, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a URL I could point them towards. Are Open Badges ‘transferable’? It depends what you mean. If, on the other hand, you talking about the ‘portability’ of badges then, absolutely, that’s exactly what we’re aiming for. Why is Mozilla interested in creating a system for credentialing learning? We’re a non-profit that believes in the Web. Are all Open Badges public?
They can be. What’s the difference between a ‘digital’ badge and an ‘Open’ badge? It’s very simple, but with fairly profound consequences. Does Mozilla ‘police’ Open Badges? We’re looking after the ‘plumbing’ of the Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI). The Badges of Oz. Almost a year ago I wrote a post about being a “skeptical evangelist” when it comes to the uses of badges in learning.
This was spurred, in large part, by a workshop run by Mitch Resnick at DML2012 that was critical of the focus on badges. This year Resnick was back, as part of a panel, and the designated “chief worrier.” Then, as now, I find nothing to disagree with in his skepticism. To provide what is perhaps too brief a gloss on Mitch Resnick’s critique, he is concerned that the badges come to replace the authentic learning experiences.
Which brings us to Oz, and a charlatan wizard from Kansas. “I think you are a very bad man,” said Dorothy. In the end, he gives them tokens in the book which the three companions take to be real. Now, as someone who sees badges as useful and helpful, it may seem odd to raise this as an example. On the other hand, the Wizard’s actions are about recognizing the achievements of the three. I don’t have a good answer to that, but I have two suggestions: Open Badges: Portable Credentials for Learning by Bill Brandon. “Are badges frivolous, superficial, or worthless? Will employers, job applicants, and providers use them or not?
Time will tell, but what is certain is that the way is open to anyone who wants to learn almost anything and to do it at the time and location of their choosing. The means of certifying and documenting that learning are evolving now, and badges are becoming a viable alternative.” Disintermediation rolls on. Credentialing initiatives In one development now underway, Mozilla and the MacArthur Foundation are working toward widespread recognition of a credentialing system that uses badges from providers, awarded directly to learners, and maintained and displayed by those learners, independent of employers, and publicly available. So what are these Open Badges and similar credentials, how do they work, and are they just another gimmick or do they have some serious purpose? What are badge-based credentials? How do these badges work? What organizations are interested in these systems? Re-Presenting Badges.
Yes, it’s another badge post. Feel free to skip, or take a look at some of the other badge-related stuff I’ve posted earlier to get some background. One of my earliest questions, asked a couple of years ago, about badges and the Open Badge Infrastructure is whether you could put badges into the infrastructure that the issuers didn’t intend (specifically) to go into the OBI.
And here we have a great example: the “I walked 5000 steps” badge you see here. When I earned it, via FitBit, it let me share it via Facebook or Twitter, and so I did. The question is simple. Who owns the badge image Can I assume, since they are allowing me to put the image on FB, that I can use the image to represent myself in various venues, particularly if the badge is “properly earned”? More technically, I would assume that the “helper site” would cache the image, rather than providing the OBI with the original image location on, e.g., the FitBit site. Are you that person? The issue of stolen glory is tougher.