2015-16 Digital Portfolio & Badge Year in Review

Notre Dame, Digication, & Credly Pioneer First
Digital Portfolio & Badge Integration

press 1
Click here to read the full press release

ND’s Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning Wins Campus Technology
Innovator’s Award for ePortfolios with Evidence-Based Badges (E2B2)

press 2

Click here to read the full news story

32 Badges Created as of 5/4/16

Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

Issued to 417 Learners, Clicked on 26.8K, and 89% Traffic from LinkedIn

Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

Top 10 Badge Activity

Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

Notre Dame Hosts Conference on Digital Portfolios & Badges

Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

Click here to learn more

ND Issues (& Studies) 5 different Open Badges
in 3 edX MOOCs issued to 231 global learners

Click on image to zoom in

Click on image to zoom in

Click here to read the full story

2015-2016 Academic Year ePortfolio Census at Notre Dame

Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

What Alaa Taught us about Open Learning Evidence (in a MOOC with a Digital Portfolio & Badge)

Let me introduce you to Alaa. Alaa is a Syrian Architecture student at Damascus University. Last month she completed a Notre Dame Architecture edX Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called The Meaning of Rome: The Renaissance and Baroque City.

Click on image to zoom in.

Click on image to zoom in.

This wasn’t your typical MOOC that culminated in a verified certificate (at cost). Notre Dame faculty, Office of Digital Learning course designers, and the Center for Teaching & Learning researchers designed this MOOC with an optional performance/project-based capstone challenge that gave students (who passed the edX course with a 70% or higher) the opportunity to build an ePortfolio that demonstrated skills and knowledge from the course. In essence, they offered a free opportunity for students to showcase their learning in a public, dynamic way. This was far more than your run of the mill watch videos and take a multiple choice quiz for a MOOC certificate. (To see the resource and the documentation website with the ePortfolio project description and details on how to get started–including a template–click here.) The campus ePortfolio group worked with engineers from Academic Technologies and Digication (our campus vendor) to build a first-in-kind seamless integration into the edX platform, giving all MOOC learners a free ePortfolio account that was connected to their edX profile. The MOOC learners then submitted their ePortfolios for Faculty & TA review through Digication’s back-end Assessment Management System. A rubric was used to evaluate the quality of the MOOC learner’s ePortfolio.

Back to Alaa. She was one of four MOOC learners that not only completed and passed the course but also received a passing rubric score that earned her a digital badge. See the screenshot below for the completed details of the badge, description, criteria, and list of earners.

Click on image to see verified page in Credly

Click on image to see verified page in Credly

One of the first and most evident benefits of issuing badges to Credly profiles is that it begins to humanize the MOOC classmates by providing profile pics such as those seen above. Clicking deeper provides another level of significance. For example, when you click into Alaa’s pic, you can see the meta-data that is baked into and connected with the badge. Most importantly (and usually under-used) is the “evidence” field.

Click on image for a link to the verified page on Credly

Click on image for a link to the verified page on Credly

When you click on Alaa’s evidence link it takes you to her public ePortfolio, which can viewed here. I encourage you to click around to see her evidence of what she gained from the MOOC. Below you will find some of my favorite snippets of her pictures, drawings, videos, and reflections.

Click on image for a zoomed in view

Click on image for a zoomed in view

While her country is being torn apart through a civil war from ISIS, Alaa states that she wants “to bring attention” to her ancient city. This is the potential of open evidence. The ePortfolio and the open badge empowered this young Syrian woman to use Notre Dame’s free Massive Open Online Course to demonstrate her interest in and competency with architectural analysis–using her city as her canvas. This is what open evidence of learning means: to be transparent, to give public visibility, to bring attention to Alaa and her skills through her city of Damascus. At the center of his is digital portfolios and badges. If paired right,they can unlock the power of evidence behind the open badge and optimize a student’s ability to collect an available body of projects and the process to make and prove a claim.

If Notre Dame didn’t offer this free Massive Open Online Course would Alaa have had this opportunity?

Could we have known or seen Alaa, her work, her story, her learning, her architectural analysis of her ancient city without the ePortfolio?

Would we have bubbled up Alaa from the thousands who enrolled in the course, hundreds who finished the course, the dozen who built an ePortfolio without the badge?

If you haven’t gotten enough here is a gallery of three more badged ePortfolios from the MOOC

Click on image for a zoomed in view

Click on image for a zoomed in view

From St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NYC), Dublin (Ireland), and Salt Lake City (UT).

ND Issues (& Studies) 5 different Badges in 3 MOOCs issued to 233 global learners

Over the last year, The University of Notre Dame’s Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning and the Office of Digital Learning issued and designed 5 different (Credly) Open Badges in 3 (edX) MOOCs to 233 learners around the globe.

Click on image to zoom in

Click on image to zoom in

To read a white paper on examining digital badge impact on learners’ profiles, performance, & perceptions see: “Notre Dame Issues 151 Digital Badges in an edX MOOC

To view some slides about a study on the second MOOC Digital Badge see: “AAEEBL Conference Presentation on Role of Digital Badges in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

To hear a story from our third MOOC Digital Badge experience see: “What Alaa Taught us about Open Learning Evidence (in a MOOC with a Digital Portfolio & Badge)

Twitter 140 character sum:
@NotreDame studies 5 different @Credly #Open Badges in 3 @edX #MOOCs issued to 233 global learners

Conference Presentation on Role of Digital Badges in MOOC

Citation:
Anthony, Elizabeth, Ambrose, G. Alex (2016) “Examining the Role of Digital Badges in a University’s Massive Open Online Course” Association of Authentic, Experiential, and Evidenced-based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference. Notre Dame, Indiana.

Abstract:
This presentation examines the role of digital badges – an emerging alternative micro-credential – in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called Math in Sports (Math) offered by the University of Notre Dame in 2016. Three badges were designed and awarded with an accompanying study.  The study addressed four research questions about the impact of digital badges on MOOC participants, the profile of digital badge pursuers, the perceptions of digital badges, and the ability digital badges have to ensure that MOOCs serve their purpose. We can draw five major conclusions from this research:
1)“MOOC participant” should only describe those who engage with MOOC content
2) MOOC passers are interested in credentials that distinguish them from other course participants
3) MOOC passers do not perceive the digital badge to be equivalent to the verified certificate
4) The majority of MOOC passers are previously-educated, adult males from the United States, but digital badges may be used to diversify the population of MOOC completers
5) MOOC participants need more information about digital badges to fully understand and appreciate their value.

With these conclusions in mind, we offer three design recommendations for badges in MOOCs: create digital badges that recognize, validate, and assess distinct and specialized knowledge or skills gained in the course; distribute more information about the value of digital badges and how to use them; and connect digital badges more directly with social networking sites, particularly LinkedIn.

About the Conference:
The Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, in partnership with the Open Badges in Higher Education, is hosting the Association of Authentic Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference on Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12, 2016. Click here for more details about the conference, program, and registration.

Incorporating ePortfolios into Advising Practice

Abstract:


Advisors are increasingly adopting innovative advising techniques to enhance their work with students. Embracing a new era of blended advising practice, this presentation highlights the process of combining First Year of Studies’ (FYS) Advising ePortfolios with traditional advising methods. In addition to enhancing our ability as professional advisors to engage first-year students in the advising process, incorporating ePortfolios in advising provides us the opportunity to teach students how to integrate and be intentional about their college learning experiences. You will also hear about the benefits and challenges of using a Blended Advising Model and best practices for transforming advising with target populations (e.g. first generation, students of concern).


Citation:

Smith Ware, Michelle, Anggara, Trunojoyo, Ambrose, G. Alex  (2016) “Incorporating ePortfolios into Advising Practice” The Association of Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference, South Bend, Indiana


About the Conference:

The Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, in partnership with the Open Badges in Higher Education, is hosting the Association of Authentic Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference on Wednesday May 11 and Thursday May 12, 2016. Click here for more details about the conference, program, and registration.

Integrative Student Assessment in the First Year Experience through Analytics, Digital Portfolios, and Badges

Abstract:


In the academic year 2015-2016, the First Year of Studies in collaboration with the Division of Student Affairs launched the Moreau First Year Experience, a two-semester course sequence designed to assist first-year students in making a meaningful transition to collegiate life at Notre Dame. In our inaugural year of Moreau First Year Experience, we were able to collect, store, and analyze student data through Sakai and ePortfolio submissions in collaboration with the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning and Office of Information Technologies (OIT). The data are used to provide interventions for students with at-risk performances and show how students meet course goals of integrative learning and increasing sophistication in the use of technologies (audio, image, and video) through voluntary digital badges. In this presentation, we will show how the two spectra of interventions and celebration of exemplar work are being used to enhance the value of the Moreau First Year experience course.  The Moreau First Year Experience has significant campus-wide impact because it involves students and instructors from all university disciplines and will soon be the one academic experience common to all students at Notre Dame. As such, the Moreau First Year Experience is a uniquely powerful way to study and analyze successful student behavior.


Citation:


Dawson, Maureen, Ambrose G. Alex, Lanski, Alison, Anggara, Trunojoy, Dillon, John (2016) “Integrative Student Assessment in the Moreau First Year Experience through Analytics, Digital Portfolios, and Badges” Association of Authentic, Experiential, and Evidenced-based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference. Notre Dame, Indiana.  

About the Conference:

The Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, in partnership with the Open Badges in Higher Education, is hosting the Association of Authentic Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Midwest Regional Conference on Wednesday May 11 and Thursday May 12, 2016. Click here for more details about the conference, program, and registration.