The ENCORE exploration of Open Badges
The educational landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation, fuelled by increasing availability of Open Educational Resources (OER) and a growing need for the recognition of diverse learning paths. While OERs have democratised access to knowledge, Open Badges have democratised access to recognition for these varied learning journeys.
To address those changes, the ENCORE project is pioneering a dual-pronged approach:
- AI-driven OER Creation: Leveraging AI to efficiently produce new OER by repurposing existing materials.
- Open Badge-based Recognition: Implementing a robust system to recognise learning outcomes derived from OER-based learning processes.
By coupling these initiatives, ENCORE aims to create a holistic ecosystem supporting both the creation and recognition of flexible, learner-centric learning experiences. To start from a well defined context, that could be generalised later, ENCORE is focused on the development of competence in 3 domains: Green, Digital and Entrepreneurial (GDE).
A reformulation of the previous description of ENCORE could be:
- For teachers: AI-driven creation of OER supporting the development of GDE practices
- For learners: Recognition of GDE practices—acquired using OER, but not necessarily, assessed by teachers, but not necessarily
In the ENCORE context, GDE practices are defined as: Green practices that are entrepreneurial and supported by digital technologies. Starting from that definition we have elicited the potential for a community of practice (CoP) to emerge with four basic ‘profiles’:
- I am interested, I would like to know more, count on me if I can help, etc.
- I am exploring GDE practices in my personal or professional practice
- I am a GDE practitioner, I can demonstrate what I have achieved to make the world greener
- I support the development of GDE practices, organise workshops, produce learning material, etc.
Based on those initial profiles a number of badges have been created: Supporter, Explorer, Practitioner, Ambassador, Curator etc. The attribution of the different badges to the OER produced by ENCORE depends on the level of practice supported: if it’s just about raising awareness, participants could claim the badge Supporter, while if the learners have the opportunity to hone their GDE skills, they could claim the Explorer badge.
What is special (more ‘open’) with this approach of recognition is:
- The ‘course certificate’ is not the just the mark of the end of a process, but the entry ticket into a community of practice where the learning process can continue to progress. One can see how to grow, the other badges to claim, the people who have those badges, what they have done, who they recognised by, etc.
- Anybody can join that community, independently from the different learning pathways. It is the community of practice that sets and implements the participation and contribution rules.
This process was facilitated by (and benefited to) ORCA, an open-source badge system designed to support Open Recognition practices.
Text: Serge Ravet, Reconnaître-Open Recognition Alliance
Photo Credit: Canva