Badging digital pathways of learning

Abstract

Educators worldwide are witnessing a change in thinking concerning digital learning, teaching and assessment resources as well as the theories and practices connected to making claims about learning based on digital evidence. These shifts are occurring as three elements have combined to form new digital pathways for learning: 1. Self-organizing online global communities engaged in informal learning activities, 2. A new globally supported mechanism for sharing and managing data, files, images and metadata concerning those activities known as ‘open badges’, and 3. Rapidly changing conceptions of higher education, continuing education, and the boundaries of informal to formal learning. So in addition to learners being on a personal learning journey to fulfill their aspirations for professional growth, higher education institutions world wide are also on learning journeys to modernize and respond to these changes, which have the potential for disruption and transformation of the university’s business model and role in society.