June 12, 2018
Wrap-up of 1EdTech 2018 Learning Impact Leadership Institute
There was a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy at the recently concluded 2018 Learning Impact Leadership Institute. Held on Baltimore’s waterfront, LILI covered a broad range of topics for K-12 and higher education leaders. My focus was on the digital credential track; the 1EdTech team put together an impressive roster of speakers.
Track highlights for me started with the employer-focused presentation by Dr. MJ Bishop of the University System of Maryland and Brenda Perea, the former Instructional Design Project Manager at the Colorado Community College System. Their session provided insights into how digital credentials can be highly valid and relevant to businesses when they are collaboratively developed with regional employers and industry experts. At Madison College we certainly found this to be the case when we worked with healthcare employers to develop technical and soft skills badges for students in the Medical Assisting program. Gaining employer or industry buy-in is one of the most effective things you can do when developing digital credentials.
Digital credentials can be highly valid and relevant to businesses when they are collaboratively developed with regional employers and industry experts.
The State of Michigan Department of Education presented on their high school badging program. They have issued over 5000 badges using a system based on the 1EdTech open badges standards. Of particular interest to me was the badging rubrics shared by the presenter, Michelle Ribant. Developed and published in 2015, the document addressed badge relevance and credibility. It also introduced the concept of informal versus formal badges. Presented as a continuum, informal badges have limited professional credibility as they are based on opinions or observed behavior. Formal badges are viewed as highly credible by employers and are typically issued by third parties. The continuum model noted that informal badges might be shared with friends or posted on social media platforms such as Facebook while formal badges would be shared with employers and added to a professional profile on a social media platform such as LinkedIn.
Michigan’s standards of badge quality affirmed the importance of formal badges when it comes to recognizing learning outcomes. In this context I agree with their conclusions. As the Dean of Continuing Education, I was very concerned about assessment in non-credit vocational courses. Non-credit coursework should not imply non-assessed learning. Rigorously assessed learning outcomes are critical if they are to achieve credibility with employers or higher education institutions.
I would argue however that in other contexts, informal badges can add value as a tool of motivation or recognition of an accomplishment. I will be exploring this theme in future blog posts by sharing some of the work of the Open Recognition Alliance and IBM.
Kate Radionoff
Executive Director
Digital Credentials Institute
kradionoff@madisoncollege.edu
