open badges mooc: the year in review [2014]

Open Badges:

A Year in ReviewDecember 2014

Today’s Agenda

• Introductions

• 2014 Year in Review

• Working Group Highlights

–Standard

–Directory

–Workforce

–Research

–Messaging

• Summary

• Questions & Answers

2014 Year in Review

2014 Key Milestones

• Badge Alliance Launch

• Cycle 1 Deliverables

• CGI Commitment

The Badge Alliance

A network of organizations and individuals

building and enhancing an open badges

ecosystem with shared values including

openness, learner agency and innovation.

Soft launched in February 2014 at the

Summit to Reconnect Learning.

The Badge Alliance

The Badge Alliance

Over 650 organizations signed up

in the first six months.

The Badge Alliance

The Badge Alliance

The Constellation Model for Social Change

seats work within working groups.

Working Group Deliverables

CGI Commitment Increase

2M Better Futures 10M Better Futures!

Working Group Highlights

Standard Working Group

Standard Working Group

• Focused on shaping the evolution of the Open

Badges standard.

• Ensure standard is managed and maintained

in a collaborative way, with representation

from stakeholders across the network.

• Ensure the standard is open, well maintained,

backwards compatible and evolves and

extends as new technical demands and use

cases are introduced

Standard Cycle 1 Goals

• Research and experiment with technology

options for implementing standard extensions

• Propose an extension solution that is opened

up to the community to comment, experiment

with and iterate on

• Standardize specifications with combination of

JSON-schema and JSON-LD

• Work closely with endorsement WG and

technology advisory council to assess impact

of specification update on tech stack

Standard Cycle 1 Goals

• Propose baking full BadgeClass object into

BadgeAssertion as part of specification and

open up to community

• openbadges-displayer.js to show what you

could do with a baked badge

• Explore 3rd party standardization support

from W3C

• Formation of W3C Credentials community

group

Standard Highlights

• Agreed to charter and govern the working

group decision making process

• Established a strong, action-oriented cabinet

• Explored the standardization landscape

• Found technology standards we should adopt:

JSON-schema, JSON-LD

• Worked with endorsement WG

• Kicked off W3C collaboration

Present Day: Open Badges 1.0

Each badge is composed of 3 badge

objects connected by URLs:

Assertion Badge Class

badge,uid,recipient,issuedOn,expires, evidence,verify

issuer,name,description,image,criteria

Issuer

name,url,org,contact

from Nate Otto’s: Open Badges Standard Extension Proposal

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dWMU2gdnfjBPRJTCcCDOJrs0xSgCwNc-

IOUdjq9gRmw/edit#slide=id.g40c95dbd7_037

Let’s Look at the Standard:

Extensions & Endorsements

• A way to extend the information/data in a badge

• Uses an external specification

• Encouraged to be shared by many - if popular could be

adopted into the standard

• Examples:

– Endorsements

– Location

– Age Target

– Difficulty

– Apply Link

• Just like any other information in a badge, this info will be

searchable

The Near Future: Open Badges 1.1

We propose issuers add two properties to

each new Assertion, Badge Class &

Issuer object:

“@context”: “http://standard.openbadges.org/1.1/context”*,

“@type”: “assertion”




Linked Data with JSON-LD

New @context and @type properties:

• Allows all 1.1 Open Badges to be indexed

better by search engines and directories

• Clearer path to future enhancements

• Issuers, Earners & Consumers benefit from

well-understood metadata and ecosystem

growth





Providing @context for JSON connects terms to

their definitions

Like, “criteria” means ‘the URL of a page that

says what’s required to earn a badge.’”









@context,@type,badge,uid,recipient,issuedOn,expires, evidence,verify

@context,@type,issuer,name,description,image,criteria

Issuer

@context,@type,name,url,org,contact

Provides context for property declarations. A context file maps terms to definitions of those terms.

{

“@context”: {

“badge”: {

“@id”: “http://standard.openbadges.org/definitions#BadgeClass”,

“@type”: “@id” },

“uid”: {

“@id”: “http://openbadges.org/definitions#uid”,

“@type”: “http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string”

...

}

}

OBI Context*

*see full prototype here

https://gist.github.com/ottonomy/c293b451dfe18e6d20b6

JSON-LD Enabled Badge Extensions

Now that we can share a base @context for

badges:

• Better understanding among search engines

and badge consumers

• Add new @context file for extra information

→ open and standardized extensions









@context,@id*, @type,badge,uid,recipient,issuedOn,expires, evidence,verify

@context,@id, @type,issuer, name,description,image,criteria

Issuer

@context,@id, @type,name,url,org,contact

Organizations may define extensions by creating a new context file to link in extended badge objects

Extension Context

Extension@context,@type,courseLocation,lat, long

{

“@context”: {

“courseLocation”: {

“@id”:

“http://extension.org/definitions#courseLocation”,

“@type”: “@id” },

“lat”: {

“@id”: “http://schema.org/latitude”,

“@type”: “@id”

...

}

}


Any badge object (Assertion, Badge Class

or Issuer) may be extended.




Overview: JSON-LD & Extensions

• Each badge object (Assertion, Badge

Class, Issuer & each Extension)

declares context and type.

• Each context (JSON-LD terminology)

declares the purpose, semantics, and

structure of objects of that type.




Next Steps

• Develop a working updated validator

• Work with Endorsement WG to see

endorsement extensions in use

• Ensure extension is adopted across

badge issuing organizations

• Continue collaboration with the W3C

Directory Working Group

What Is It?

• Community resource

• Storage & retrieval (API) of badges

• A foundation to build cool application

How Can the Directory Be Used?

• Third-party apps and badge search

• Integrate into your badge system or

website

• Research - learn more about the data of

Open Badges

Examples

http://achievery.com/discover

http://achievery.com/discover

Directory Design Considerations

• What to list?

• What is the barrier to entry for badge

issuers?

• Where does the directory end and other

3rd party services begin?

Present Day: Open Badges 1.0

Each badge is composed of 3 badge

objects connected by URLs:


badge,uid,recipient,issuedOn,expires, evidence,verify

issuer,name,description,image,criteria

Issuer

name,url,org,contact




What to List?

• Badge instances?

• Badge class?

• Issuer registry?

What to List?

• Badge instances?

• Badge class? ← MVP

• Issuer registry?

Barrier to Entry for Issuers

• 100% automation for badge issuers:

Crawl the open web

• Issuers register their badge classes

• Hybrid: Issuers register themselves,

directory does crawling

Barrier to Entry for Issuers

• 100% automation for badge issuers:

Crawl the open web

• Issuers register their badge classes

← MVP

• Hybrid: Issuers register themselves,

directory does crawling

Directory or 3rd Party Service?

• What level of end-user experience does

the Directory enable?

– Is there an end-user experience?

– or just APIs?

– A bit of both

Directory or 3rd Party Service?

• What level of end-user experience does

the Directory enable?

– Is there an end-user experience?

– or just APIs?

– A bit of both ← MVP

Open Badges Directory

http://directory.openbadges.org/examples/browser/#/recent

http://directory.openbadges.org/examples/browser/#/recent

What Badge Data Can be Retrieved?

• Initial Prototype Release:

– Badge Class & IssuerOrganization

– Extensions & Endorsement

specification (Once they rollout)

Also any additional fields included in either

the Badge Class or IssuerOrganization.

Submitting Badge Classes

to the Directory

Issuers register a url that contains a list of badge classes.

This list looks like:

{

"badgelist": [{

"location": "http://my-site.com/location-of-badge"

}, {

"location":"http://my-site.com/location-of-other-

badge"

}]

}

Register the url at:

http://badgealliance.github.io/openbadges-directory/add-

badges

http://badgealliance.github.io/openbadges-directory/add-badges

Submitting Badge Classes

to the Directory

Register the url at: http://badgealliance.github.io/openbadges-directory/add-

badges#registration-form

http://badgealliance.github.io/openbadges-directory/add-badges#registration-form

Directory - THE FUTURE

• Badge Instances

• Endorsements

• Pathways

Get Involved!

• Register your badges

• Use the API on your websites

• Badge Alliance Directory Working Group

– Meets every Third Thurs at 1pm ET

(Next meeting is Jan. 15, 2015)

– http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/

Directory_Working_Group

• Share your expertise and coding skills

http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Directory_Working_Group

Resources

• Help Pages

– http://directory.openbadges.org

• Repo:

– https://github.com/mozilla/openbadges-directory

• Node Client Library

– https://github.com/jpcamara/openbadges-directory-client

• PHP & Rails client libraries coming soon

Questions & Feedback:

• [email protected]

• [email protected]

https://github.com/jpcamara/openbadges-directory-client

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Workforce Working Group

Workforce Working Group

• Jobs, internships, career advancement or

other employment related opportunities.

• Non-cognitive skills (e.g., communication)

plus “hard” skills (e.g., technical competency).

• Across academia, industry, government and

society by adding professional capital to the

open badges movement

Workforce Cycle 1 Goals

• Create an explanatory guide for employers

interested in learning about/using/developing

open badges

• Badges in use

• Existing taxonomies and emerging

folksonomies

• Employer badge tutorial (WIP)

Workforce Cycle 1 Achievements

• FAQ for employers interested in learning

about/using/developing open badges: http://etherpad.badgealliance.org/workforce-faqs-final

• Visualization of workforce pipeline https://www.flickr.com/photos/122135325@N06/15307183939/

(with thanks to Bryan Mathers)

• Badges in use etherpadhttp://etherpad.badgealliance.org/workforce-badges-in-use

• Existing taxonomies & emerging folksonomieshttp://etherpad.badgealliance.org/competency-types

Workforce Highlights

• Enthusiastic Working Group team!

– met weekly for the first 3 months

– tracked conferences & speaking

engagements

• Community members presented during calls

– cross-connections made

– new uses in different areas of workforce

• Cabinet members ran several calls

– built strong leadership

Workforce Challenges / Opportunities

• Huge area to address

• Many different constituencies / desires

• Variety of effective approaches

• Need for additional FAQs

• Veterans separating from the military

• Desire for standard taxonomies

Workforce Community Next Steps

• Continue to create Employer FAQs

• Possible subgroups

• Follow GWU + ANSI workforce cred

• Continue to build the wiki http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Workforce_Working_Group

• Share successes on the mailing list:http://bit.ly/BA-Workforce-WG

Research Working Group

Research Working Group

• Academic researchers, design researchers,

badge system designers, consultants and

other badge interested parties

• Covering the entire realm of the open badges

ecosystem.

• Across academia, industry, government and

society by adding research capital to the open

badges movement

Research Cycle 1 Goals

• Begin developing a research agenda for open

badges

• Build spaces to collaborate and communicate

as badge researchers

• Collect and organize existing research

relevant to badges to make it available to the

community

Research Cycle 1 Achievements

• Landscape survey: https://umich.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9vKFoaOoT8HhhJz

• Open Badges research repository http://www.mendeley.com/groups/4666291/open-digital-badges/

• Individual team member ongoing research

Research Challenges / Opportunities

• Huge area to address

• Many different constituencies / desires

• Some types of research are not yet

underway, e.g., market research

Research Community Next Steps

• Rationalize feedback to survey

• Continue to explore research

opportunities

• Possible subgroups

• Continue to build the wiki http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Research_Working_Group

• Share successes on the mailing list:http://bit.ly/BA-Research-WG

Messaging Working Group

Messaging Working Group

• Exploring ways to talk consistently and effectively

about badges to different audiences

• Looking at the preferred vocabulary of various

fields and industries to finding the right language

to convey basic badge concepts to specific

groups.

Messaging Cycle 1 Goals

• Produce a Series of General Messaging

Overviews

• Form a Speakers Bureaus

• Create a Badges Glossary

• Create Working Group overview docs

Messaging Cycle 1 Achievements

• Created a series of overview documents,

including talking points:

– Open Badges Overview

– Educators Overview

– Endorsement Overview

– Higher Education Overview

– Workforce Overview

• Established a Badges Speakers’ List

• Created the Open Badges Glossary

See http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Messaging_Working_Group for details

http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Messaging_Working_Group

Messaging Challenges / Opportunities

• Huge area to address!

• Many different needs and opinions

• Messaging plays a key role in every

working group

• Case studies per Working Group is a

missing ingredient

Messaging Community Next Steps

• Continue to fine tune talking points per

Working Group

• Create case studies based on activity

from Working Groups

• Continue to build the wiki http://wiki.badgealliance.org/index.php/Messaging_Working_Group

• Share successes and engage the wider

community on the mailing list http://bit.ly/BA-Messaging-WG

Summary

A Great Year!

• It’s been a great year!

• A big thanks to our community

• Lots of movement

• Brought together key leaders to help

shape the ecosystem

• Still a lot of work to be done

• We look forward to working with you!

Questions?