Posts Tagged ‘badges’

Pearson buys Credly

EXCLUSIVE Pearson buys certification group Credly in deal valued at $200m

https://www.reuters.com/business/exclusive-pearson-buys-certification-group-credly-deal-valued-200m-2022-01-31/

The UK-listed firm, a major supplier of courseware and assessments in schools and colleges in the United States, Britain and around the world

Pearson CEO Andy Bird told Reuters that verified credentials were becoming more important as technology adapts, leaving many companies with a skills gap where staff need training on how to work with processes such as artificial intelligence.

Pearson, which has been buffeted by the shift from physical courseware to online learning, bought AI and analytics group Faethm in 2021, which spots skills gaps for organisations.

Credly partners with organisations such as IBM, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to provide certifications, or digital credentials, to workers both inside their firms and out who have attained a certain level with their product. Based in the United States, half of the people earning credentials on the platform are outside America, with India one of its biggest markets.

Pearson will now be able to combine the diagnostic tools of Faethm with its own digital learning programmes and Credly’s certification capabilities to offer a full service to companies.

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more on microcredentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential

more on Pearson in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=pearson

‘maze’ of education credentials

Growing ‘maze’ of education credentials is confusing consumers, employers

As more jobs require postsecondary training, more providers jump in to offer it — including fakes and scammers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/12/26/education-credential-certificate-scams/

a “maze” of nearly a million unique education credentials in the United States, the nonprofit Credential Engine reports, including not only degrees but also badges, certificates, licenses, apprenticeships and industry certifications.

The way new kinds of credentials are being developed and awarded is “a bit like the wild West,” a study by the Rutgers University Education and Employment Research Center found.

Even before the pandemic and the subsequent labor squeeze, 39 percent of human resources managers said they spent less than a minute reading a resume, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.

Conventional higher education institutions are increasingly alarmed about the holes that have developed in a system that was previously much simpler.

A quarter of American adults now hold nondegree credentials, meaning something short of an associate or bachelor’s degree, according to federal data, and they’ve become more popular in recent years.

“As online education becomes normalized, as a credential from Google or Microsoft can get someone a job, all of a sudden we’re in an environment where higher education doesn’t have a monopoly on education,” Ahluwalia said.

The Credential Engine Registry so far includes full or partial information on about 30,000 educational credentials. That’s about 3 percent of the total it eventually hopes to list.

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more on credentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=credentials

microcredentials and faculty

Why faculty need to talk about microcredentials

There is reason to believe that shorter, competency-based programs will play an important role in the university landscape in the coming years.

 Australian commentator Stephen Matchett expands: “MCs are the wild west of post-compulsory education and training, with neither law on what they actually are or order as to how they interact with formal providers. … Until (or if) this is sorted by regulators there needs to be a sheriff providing workable rules that stop the cowboys running riot.”

The lack of standards is also an issue in Canada. While  degree standards have been agreed upon – the Canadian Degree Qualification framework, contained in the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)’s 2007 Ministerial Statement on Quality Assurance of Degree Education in Canada, outlines expectations for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees – the CMEC has yet to issue a pan-Canadian framework for microcredentials.

In the absence of a pan-Canadian model or definition, for the purposes of this column I will use the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)’s definition, put forward in its May 2021 report, Making Sense of Microcredentials:

“A microcredential is a representation of learning, awarded for completion of a short program that is focused on a discrete set of competencies (i.e., skills, knowledge, attributes), and is sometimes related to other credentials.

Developing and running effective microcredential programs is not simply a matter of bundling a group of existing classes into a new sub-degree level program (although there will certainly be some who try that approach). Effective microcredential programming needs to be an institution-wide effort, with appropriate resourcing and guidelines, along with effective recruiting and student support.

department chairs and other unit leaders to lead collegial discussions about the following questions:

  • Gaps: who is not being served by our current degree offerings? Is there potential demand for our disciplinary knowledge and skills from people who don’t want a full degree program? Are there ways people could upgrade their skills by taking certain types of our courses? Can we identify potential short programs to meet new, distinct learning outcomes?
  • Student diversity: are there opportunities to develop short programs that could introduce a new demographic of students to our discipline? How might microcredentials be developed that meet the needs and interests of Indigenous students, first-generation students, or international students?
  • Connection: how might we create partnerships with external organizations to inform our understanding of skill-training needs? Can these partnerships be leveraged to create new career pathways for students, and/or new research opportunities for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students?
  • Impact: in what ways do our discipline’s insights relate to Canada’s current and future public needs? How might our disciplinary knowledge be combined with knowledge from other disciplines to train students to help address particular challenges? In what ways could our discipline contribute to student competency development that we consider meaningful and impactful?

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more on microcredentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential

Google’s New Career Certificates

How Google’s New Career Certificates Could Disrupt the College Degree

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/inside-googles-plan-to-disrupt-college-degree-exclusive.html

Each of the new certificate programs is available on the online course platform Coursera, which works with universities and organizations like Google to offer courses, certifications, and degrees in various subjects. Students will need to enroll with Coursera to take the new certificate programs.

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more on microcredentialing in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredential

Microcredentials virtual conference

Microcredentials and Digital Badges in Higher Education

 

  • Cost and business model considerations
  • Different types of badging platforms and technology
  • How to partner with industry to deliver in-demand competencies
  • Considerations for monetizing microcredentials
  • Current issues impacting badges during COVID-19

Identifying Badges that Add Value to Your Institution
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Our faculty will establish a shared terminology, discuss the benefits and challenges of various badges, and explain how each type can advance the goals of your institution and best serve students. You will share your purposes for pursuing a badging initiative, identify the types of badges that could add the most value to your institution, and set goals for the conference.

Designing Quality Alternative Credentials
2:30 – 3:15 p.m.
What goes into developing, designing, assessing, and maintaining quality microcredentials? In this session, you will learn about:

  • Standardization and rigor in development
  • Curriculum design and assessment
  • Developing a governance process
  • Continuous maintenance and improvement

Funding and Monetizing Badges
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Many institutions are looking into badging as a potential revenue stream during lean times. During this hour, you will learn strategies for monetization. We will also look at various fee-based and tuition-based funding models to financially operationalize microcredentialing.

Marketing and Branding
1:30 – 2:15 p.m.
How do you articulate the value proposition of badges to internal and external stakeholders? During this session you will learn how to brand and market your microcredentials. You will study badge images and stacking considerations that will help you create the best design for your circumstances.

Jeff Bohrer

Technical PM, IMS Global Learning

Jeff currently serves as a program manager for digital credentials initiatives at IMS Global Learning Consortium. Jeff leads projects and programs related to digital badges, comprehensive learner records, and the interoperability of learning technologies. Jeff is also co-chair of the EDUCAUSE Microcredentials and Badges Constituent Group.

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More on microcredentials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=microcredentials

Library Instruction Chem 151

Library Instruction delivered by Plamen Miltenoff, pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu

Dr. Kannan Sivaprakasam,
CHEM 151. Feb 10, 8-8:50PM.
Link to this tutorial in PDF format: library instruction tutorial

Short link to this tutorial: http://bit.ly/chem151

QR code

  1. Badges for library instruction

Link to the video tutorial regarding microcredentials (badges)

My name is Plamen Miltenoff (https://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/)  and I am the InforMedia Specialist with the SCSU Library (https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/free-tech-instruction/).

Dr. Sivaprakasam and I are developing a microcredentialing system for your class.

The “library” part has several components:

  • One badge for your ability to use the databases and find reliable scientific information in your field (required)
    submit your results in the respective D2L assignment folder. A badge will be issued to you after the assignment is graded
  • One badge for completing the quiz based on the information from this library instruction (required)
    a badge will be issued to you automatically after successful completion of the quizz
  • One badge for your ability to use social media for a serious, reliable, scientific research (required)
    submit your results in the respective D2L assignment folder. A badge will be issued to you after the assignment is graded
  • One badge for using the D2L “embedded librarian” widget to contact the librarian with questions regarding your class research (one of two optional)
    A badge will be issued to you after your post with your email or any other contact information is submitted
  • One badge for helping class peer with his research (one of two optional)
    submit your results in the respective D2L assignment folder. A badge will be issued to you after the assignment is graded

Collecting two of the required and one of the optional badges let you earn the superbadge “Mastery of Library Instruction.”

The superbadge brings points toward your final grade.

Master of Library Instruction badge

 

how to collect badges

 

 

 

 

Once you acquire the badges, Dr. Sivaprakasam will reflect your achievement in D2L Grades.

If you are building a LinkedIn portfolio, here are directions to upload your badges in your LinkedIn account using Badgr:

https://community.brightspace.com/s/article/Sharing-Badges-in-Brightspace

chem 151 Social Media accounts

Please do remember we are still developing the system and we will appreciate your questions and feedback; do not hesitate to contact us, if any…

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LIBRARY INSTRUCTION – Information, Digital and Media Literacy

  1. How (where from) do you receive your news? Do you think you are able to distinguish real news from fake news?
    1. Last year, researchers at Oxford Universityfound that 70 countries had political disinformation campaigns over two years.
      https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2020/01/20/bots-and-disinformation/
    2. according to Pew Research Center, 68 percent of American adults get their news from social media—platforms where opinion is often presented as fact.
      results of the international test revealed that only 14 percent of U.S. students were able to reliably distinguish between fact and opinion.

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2020/01/16/fake-news-prevention/

News and Media Literacy (and the lack of) is not very different from Information Literacy

An “information literate” student is able to “locate, evaluate, and effectively use information from diverse sources.” See more About Information Literacy.

How does information literacy help me?

Every day we have questions that need answers. Where do we go? Whom can we trust? How can we find information to help ourselves? How can we help our family and friends? How can we learn about the world and be a better citizen? How can we make our voice heard?

The content of the tutorial is based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education as approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

The standards are:

Standard 1. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the
information needed

Standard 2. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively
and efficiently

Standard 3. The information literate student evaluates information and its sources
critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge
base and value system

Standard 4. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group,
uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose

Standard 5. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal,
and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses
information ethically and legally

Project Information Literacy
A national, longitudinal research study based in the University of Washington’s iSchool, compiling data on how college students seek and use information.

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  1. Developing Your Research Topic/Question

Research always starts with a question.  But the success of your research also depends on how you formulate that question.  If your topic is too broad or too narrow, you may have trouble finding information when you search. When developing your question/topic, consider the following:

  • Is my question one that is likely to have been researched and for which data have been published?  Believe it or not, not every topic has been researched and/or published in the literature.
  • Be flexible.  Consider broadening or narrowing the topic if you are getting a limited number or an overwhelming number of results when you search. In nursing it can be helpful to narrow by thinking about a specific population (gender, age, disease or condition, etc.), intervention, or outcome.
  • Discuss your topic with your professor and be willing to alter your topic according to the guidance you receive.

  1. Getting Ready for Research
    Library Resources vs. the Internet
    How (where from) do you receive information about your professional interests?
    Advantages/disadvantages of using Web Resources

chem 151 databases

Evaluating Web Resources

  1. Google or similar; Yahoo, Bing
  2. Google Scholar
  3. Reddit, Digg, Quora
  4. Wikipedia
  5. Become a member of professional organizations and use their online information
  6. Use the SCSU library page to online databases
  1. Building Your List of Keywords
    1. Why Keyword Searching?
      Why not just type in a phrase or sentence like you do in Google or Yahoo!?

      1. Because most electronic databases store and retrieve information differently than Internet search engines.
      2. A databases searches fields within a collection of records. These fields include the information commonly found in a citation plus an abstract (if available) and subject headings.  Search engines search web content which is typically the full text of sources.
    1. The bottom line: you get better results in a database by using effective keyword search strategies.
    2. To develop an effective search strategy, you need to:
      1. determine the key concepts in your topic and
      2. develop a good list of keyword synonyms.
    1. Why use synonyms?
      Because there is more than one way to express a concept or idea.  You don’t know if the article you’re looking for uses the same expression for a key concept that you are using.
    2. Consider: Will an author use:
      1. Hypertension or High Blood Pressure?
      2. Teach or Instruct?
      3. Therapy or Treatment?

Don’t get “keyword lock!”  Be willing to try a different term as a keyword. If you are having trouble thinking of synonyms, check a thesaurus, dictionary, or reference book for ideas.

Keyword worksheet

  1. Library Resources

chem 151 results libsearch
How to find the SCSU Library Website
SCSU online databases

    1. SCSU Library Web page

lib web page

  1. Basic Research Skills

Locating and Defining a Database
Database Searching Overview:
You can search using the SCSU library online dbases by choosing:
Simple search
Advanced search

Simple vs Advanced Search

  1. Identifying a Scholarly Source

scholarly sources

  1. Boolean operators

  1. Databases:
    CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, Health Source: Consumer Edition, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition

Psychology:
PsychINFO

General Science
ScienceDirect
Arts & Humanities Citation Index

  1. How do you evaluate a source of information to determine if it is appropriate for academic/scholarly use.  There is no set “checklist” to complete but below are some criteria to consider when you are evaluating a source.
    1. ACCURACY
      1. Does the author cite reliable sources?
      2. How does the information compare with that in other works on the topic?
      3. Can you determine if the information has gone through peer-review?
      4. Are there factual, spelling, typographical, or grammatical errors?
    2.  AUDIENCE
      1. Who do you think the authors are trying to reach?
      2. Is the language, vocabulary, style and tone appropriate for intended audience?
      3. What are the audience demographics? (age, educational level, etc.)
      4. Are the authors targeting a particular group or segment of society?
    3.  AUTHORITY
      1. Who wrote the information found in the article or on the site?
      2. What are the author’s credentials/qualifications for this particular topic?
      3. Is the author affiliated with a particular organization or institution?
      4. What does that affiliation suggest about the author?
    1. CURRENCY
      1. Is the content current?
      2. Does the date of the information directly affect the accuracy or usefulness of the information?
    1. OBJECTIVITY/BIAS
      1. What is the author’s or website’s point of view?
      2. Is the point of view subtle or explicit?
      3. Is the information presented as fact or opinion?
      4. If opinion, is the opinion supported by credible data or informed argument?
      5. Is the information one-sided?
      6. Are alternate views represented?
      7. Does the point of view affect how you view the information?
    1. PURPOSE
      1. What is the author’s purpose or objective, to explain, provide new information or news, entertain, persuade or sell?
      2. Does the purpose affect how you view the information presented?
  1. InterLibrary Loan

  1. Copyright and Fair Use
    Author Rights and Publishing & Finding Author Instructions for Publishing in Scholarly Journals

    1. Plagiarism, academic honesty
  2. Writing Tips
  3. Dissemination of Research

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Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS
Professor
320-308-3072
pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu
http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/
schedule a meeting: https://doodle.com/digitalliteracy
find my office: https://youtu.be/QAng6b_FJqs

 

Spring Convocation 2020: Microcredentialing

Digital Badging and Microcredentialing

short link to this blog entry: http://bit.ly/convocation2020

for backchanneling, pls join us on Zoom: https://minnstate.zoom.us/my/badge or 9107443388
if you want to review the Zoom recording, pls click here:
https://minnstate.zoom.us/rec/share/4vF1N-719m9Oc4XE0VrHApU-OKLLaaa8gyEbqfFcz07WTblhxr6U38pBGqPneM2F

Presenters: Kannan Sivaprakasam & Plamen Mittenoff

https://mnscu-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/yg5734wd_minnstate_edu/Documents/conferences%20grants/grants/microcredentials%20grant%20Kannan/Digital%20Badges%20and%20Microcredentialing%20edit%20pm.pptx?d=w88cb0067fc90407fa89fafc9e6496882&csf=1&e=BJXpP6

1. Share your ideas and practice of badge distribution and/or microcredentialing
2. What is a digital badge/microcredentialing?
3. How to create and award D2L digital badges for your class?
4. How to motivate the students in earning digital badges?
5. How it aligns with COSE’s strategic plan 2022/Husky Compact?

What we hope to achieve
• Create a community of digital badgers
• Catalyze professional development opportunity for faculty/staff

Literature and additional information:

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View this post on Instagram

At #convication2020, Dr. Kannan Sivaprakasam and Dr. Plamen Miltenoff discussed achievements from the @minnstateedu innovation grant #badges #digitalbadges and #microcredentials. For more info, pls visit http://burly/convocation2020. @scsu_soe @scsualumni @scsusopa @scsucla @scsucareer @scsumasscomm @scsustudentgovernment @scsucose @scsu_chemistry_club

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