LEARN + SHARE + REFLECT

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Now in its sixth year, the Badge Summit is established as the leading gathering to learn about digital badge credentials and connect with others who are changing the world. The 2020 Badge Summit brings together thinkers and doers from K-12, Higher Ed, Industry and Cultural institutions for an exciting and impactful day. 

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MAIN PROGRAM

SESSIONS

A conversation with the leaders of Virginia’s leading credential issuers
 
Where does innovation happen? Why do some organizations and areas seem to breed innovation? When it comes to credentials and badges, what is the front line?
 
In this panel, several cutting-edge Virginia institutions might offer the answers to these questions. From higher education to workforce development and certifications, Virginia organizations are building new ways to recognize achievement and encourage success.
 
We’ll explore how they developed their current initiatives, what their progress says about credentialing today, and how their work might be reproduced elsewhere.

To Global Seal of Biliteracy provides a free 3-tiered language credential via competency-based testing in over 125 languages. The goal of this unique serial-numbered certification program is to expand access and equity to bilinguals of any age to document their language skills for academic and professional purposes. The Global Seal, which is being awarded internationally, can be issued by a school, company or organization to support advanced placement or language pay differentials.

This session will be a facilitated group discussion, similar to a focus group, around the topic of a micro-credential community of practice for post-secondary educators in the United States. We hope to collaborate with attendees in exploring a possible “Micro-credentials Alliance” and identifying what possible needs such a community may help address.

AACRAO (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) establishes member-led work groups that develop recommendations for institutional polices and practices on trending topics. Launched in August of 2021, the Alternative Credentials Work Group is comprised of professionals in higher education registrars' offices committed to studying micro-credentials and publishing an AACRAO report around best practices and recommendations. This interactive and conversational session will propose a number of questions the work group is seeking to learn about and will actively engage attendees in feedback that can inform our work.

How might we build and assess competency and cultural learning while maintaining the scale achievable through automation and integration? The session will be a rapid prototyping design experience. The goal will be to workshop the concept referenced in the title, and to do so in order to prototype a solution to a learning challenge that you, your team, or your organization is facing. The session will unfold as follows:
Welcome & Introduction
Overview of the Question/Challenge
Participant Questions
Rapid Prototyping -- autonomous yet structured/supported
​Share-out Closure & Next Steps

Validating what someone knows and can do is a vital factor in increasing equitable hiring practices in the skills economy. 21st century skills, while in demand by business, are often the most difficult to evaluate and capture through the academic process and yet are key to unlocking the doors to higher wages and a better quality of life. To maximize the capture of achieved and existing skills, Education Design Lab has prototyped fully automated, next-generation performance-based assessments of critical, high-demand 21st-century skills, leveraging simulation and XR technologies. Aligned to eight digital micro-credentials and an associated competency framework, the assessments allow for scalable prior learning assessment, skill documentation for learner employment records, and learner empowerment through digital wallets. Come learn about these exciting, high-quality new tools, and try one yourself!

Many lessons can be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation reviews a Crisis Empowerment Framework to support educational leaders’ decision making in situations where they must continue to provide educational services during an ongoing crisis. We drew from theory and literature regarding crisis management, communications, policy, empowerment, and innovations in learning science to construct this conceptual framework. Its components make it ideal for the dynamic and fluid environments of schools working within the broader community context amid a crisis to ensure learning outcomes while addressing whole student needs in the learning process

Implementing digital badges and micro-credentials in K-12 is difficult, especially when attempting to do so at scale.  The lessons learned are myriad, and those of us who have attempted this work know that it can be perpetually clouded by the risk factor of being labeled yet another flavor of the week.  Panelists in this session have experience with both the celebrations and heartache inherent in these efforts and will share reflections on specific, concrete examples of both their lessons learned and successes. 

The North Dakota Credential Co-Lab Project has developed, Open Credential Publisher, an open-sourced tool that allows high school transcripts to be published, stored, and shared as Verifiable Credentials (VC) using the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) standard. From transcripts to badges to career pathways this innovation provides a real-world adoptable option for credential issuers, individuals, and verifiers. Learn from the creators and implementors of Open Credential Publisher as they answer questions about the architecture, technology, and adoption.

With over decade of experience around Open Badges, We Are Open Coop and Participate will engage participants in an innovative learning and participatory learning experience! "Keep Badges Weird" will explore the intersection of badges and Communities of Practice (CoP). This is a place in which contribution badges can recognize participation, creation, and reflection, as well as act as credentials. Our experimental project is focused on people who are curious about badges and CoP, helping you engage with your community as you learn about the theory and practice of both badges and CoP. With your feedback, we intend to test, iterate and launch this learning experience to other CoP-curious folk and then to Badge Champions in organizations of all sizes. While we do all of this, we will have some fun!

While the Open Badges and Micro-Credentials movement has accelerated in the United States, the greatest advancements in implementation and adoption have not been confined to a single country. Inspiring work is already advancing at UNESCO, the World Bank, the European Commission, the International Council on Badges and Credentials, and many more. Join thought leaders from four continents in a panel that will explore the inclusive and global nature of micro-credentials.

BADGESPLAINING

Inspired by TED Talks and Ignite! presentations, The Badge Summit is excited to prototype our newest content offering, Badgesplaining.

If you have amazing ideas, work, or provocations that needs\ to be shared with Badge Summit attendees (you know you do!), you are invited to record a 6-10 minute Badgesplaining talk and submit it to [email protected]. Badgesplaining sessions will be available to all attendees and one session will be selected for a special Badge Summit prize.