A strategic partnership project called #BADGES4GOOD, initiated by organisations from Lithuania, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Finland and Spain, is already over. The project consortium is looking back and celebrating its achievements: from involved and trained workers to the new materials and tools created for everyone working in the youth field.
Mapping and inspiring
Digital Open Badges are one of the innovative solutions, which build new credentialing methods and systems capable of capturing, recognising and validating a broad range of learning outcomes, participation or achievements. Project partners mapped 12 inspiring practices of using digital Open Badges that can be used in other organisations or institutions. During the project, 21 new educational programmes started using digital Open Badges in their activities: youth mobilities, vocational education and training (VET), long term volunteering or organisational management.
A European approach to micro-credentials
At the core, learning is a process. The conditions for inputs to learning are clear, but the process is incomplete without making sense of the learning results and many ways to achieve them. Digital Open Badges enable learners and learning providers to record information related to the learning process, achievements or competencies. Each badge has essential data built within a name, description, criteria, the issuing body, evidence, the date of issuing and other additional information. Diverse organisations, businesses, institutions, schools, colleagues and universities use digital Open Badges to validate and recognise learning and achievements in Europe and beyond. However, more attention should be drawn to the European approach to micro-credentials. Project consortium, together with external partners, created a position paper to the European Commission’s public consultation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability, addressing 10 key areas that should be included within the European approach.
Increasing the value of digital Open Badges
The project consortium believes that digital Open Badges map missing parts in this lifelong process and invite all practitioners not to lose the perseverance to work on further recognition of the tool. Communities drive the change: deepening our impact with community members further ignites the need for greater recognition of the tool.
Self-paced e-learning course “Recognition with Open Badges”
7 modules about digital Open Badges and the external recognition of the learning are always open: from a newbie to know it all. This is a self-paced course that you can take at any time and your own pace. The course offers videos, good practice examples, self-assessment activities, sharing knowledge in discussion forums, resources, practical tools and tasks on the following themes:
- On-boarding and introduction to key terms and concepts of endorsement;
- Good practices of endorsement;
- Open Badge system design;
- Approaching endorsers.
Everyone completing the course will receive digital Open Badges for each module.
Would you like to learn more? Check Erasmus+ dissemination platform on this project.
The materials were made with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The European Commission support for the production of the materials does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which rejects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.