Although my focus is more on Open Recognition than microcredentials these days, I’m delighted that taking this badged course is part of the recommended workflow when pursuing postgraduate study through the OU. It’s a perfect use case, as otherwise I’d probably only have glanced at the preparatory materials.
Between work and preparing to move house next weekend I’m reasonably busy, but if I get any spare time I’ll probably have a look at the Mastering systems thinking in practice course on OpenLearn.
As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a fox (as opposed to a hedgehog). My natural tendency, therefore, is to create new things which reference old things. I’m making an exception here, and starting a new Systems Thinking category on this blog instead of an entirely new publication. Here’s the RSS feed for it.
This will mainly feature intellectual outputs from my upcoming MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice through the Open University. That begins on November 1st, so now I’m fully registered and have access to stuff, I’m getting myself prepared on Fridays.
It’s been 12 years since I finished my Ed.D. and the world has changed in many and various ways since then. One thing that I was pretty average at doing while working on my doctoral thesis was document and reference management, so I wanted to ensure that I was on top of that from the start.
The Open University’s Library website has some guidance on this, but I wanted to ask my network what they thought. The answer came back overwhelmingly in favour of Zotero. However, that’s not what I’m leaning towards and I thought I’d better explain why.
The iPad came out in 2011 and really helped me in the final stages of my thesis. I used to use the Papers app, which was pretty great. These days, being more aware of my migraine triggers, I use an e-ink Android tablet: a BOOX Note Air 2. At times when I can’t bear to look at a laptop screen or regular tablet like an iPad, I can still use that.
So, while I originally thought I wanted a completely web-based workflow, I actually need something that has an Android app that works well on tablets. I think I’ve found that in the shape of Paperpile, which is neither free nor open source. However, when it comes to my studies which I’m going to fit around my work and family life, I just need things that work. The Zotero app, for example, that I tried, was last updated by a hobbiest developer two years ago.
Annoyingly, the OU uses Microsoft 365 for email, calendar, and to-dos, but I’ll have to live with that. To keep things separate and all in one place, I’m using Microsoft To Do (which used to be Wunderlist before it was acquired). On my list of things to get done next week are to complete two free OpenLearn short courses:
These are both ‘badged open courses’ using Open Badges. It’s good to know that something I first got involved with in the year that I’ve finished my thesis is now an everyday part of the Higher Education landscape!
(Interestingly, just as I finished this post, I got an email from Navigatr announcing that OpenLearn’s badges will be available on their platform)
During the UCL Systems Thinking short course I did last week, I was introduced to three different systems thinking approaches. Partly because it’s the name of one of my favourite films, but partly because it notes the importance of context, I quite liked the ‘Seven Samurai’ approach.
Now, this is possibly less exciting than it sounds. It’s named as such because there are seven things beginning with the letter ‘S’. But still, it seems like a handy approach.
Given that I’ve just registered for the Open University’s MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice, I thought I’d have a go at using the Seven Samurai model. If nothing else, it will allow me to have a good laugh at myself in the months and years to come. Here goes…
Let’s begin with an image of the whole diagram in the abstract, just to get it out of the way. This, no doubt, looks extremely complicated and slightly horrific.
Let’s just break this down by going one step at a time. I may get this spectacularly wrong and, if so, I hope people reading this who know more than me can put me right.
I’m going to use as my example the Open Badges ecosystem, mainly because it’s one of the things I know most about, and it’s evolved during a time period where I’ve been paying attention to it.
The thing to keep in mind when looking at a Seven Samurai diagram is that it helps explain why the deployed system is not the same as the designed system. Also, new problems emerge when systems are deployed, and other systems are required to sustain the developed systems.
Problem 1 (P1) and Context System 1 (S1)
The original Open Badges for Lifelong Learning white paper did a good job of outlining a growing problem (P1) where learning happens everywhere, but isn’t visible:
Without a way to capture, promote and transfer all of the learning that can occur within a broader connected learning ecology, we are limiting that ecology by discouraging engaged learning, making critical skills unattractive or inaccessible, isolating or ignoring quality efforts and interactions and ultimately, holding learners back from reaching their potential.
The Context System here (S1) is all learners, of all types, everywhere on earth. The scope is huge.
Intervention System (S2) and Realization System (S3)
The whitepaper goes on to explain how the Open Badges Infrastructure (S2) can help with this problem:
Thus, badges can play a crucial role in the connected learning ecology by acting as a bridge between contexts and making these alternative learning channels, skills and types of learning more viable, portable and impactful. Badges can be awarded for a potentially limitless set of individual skills regardless of where each skill is developed, and the collection of badges can serve as a virtual resume of competencies and qualities for key stakeholders such as peers, schools or potential employers.
The Realization System (S3) around the Open Badges Infrastructure was the MacArthur Foundation’s grant funding, Mozilla’s technical expertise, and the enthusiastic international community that was growing around it.
Deployed System (S4), Collaborating System (S5), and Modified Context System (S1′)
The Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) was never fully finished by Mozilla, partly due to funding drying up. A templated, easy-to-use badging system called ‘BadgeKit’ was shelved, and idea of federated ‘backpacks’ where individuals could move their badges around didn’t come to fruition. In other words, the Deployed System (S4) fell short of the original dream.
This caused a problem. The international community that had grown up around the idea were keen for Open Badges to develop further. Some universities started experimenting with Open Badges as, essentially, short courses and/or marketing materials for their longer programmes. They, along with professional associations, became the Collaborating System (S5).
Open Badges was spun out of Mozilla, first finding a home at the Badge Alliance (2014) and then at IMS Global Learning Consortium (2017) — which is now known as 1EdTech. As such, the Context System (S1) was now different, becoming the Modified Context System (S1′).
Sustainment System (S6)
In this example, I think that the Sustainment System (S6) for Open Badges were particular voices within the community. Kerri Lemoie, Nate Otto, and Sheryl Grant for example. There were many others. I may have been one.
These community members performed roles such as continuing to work on successive versions of the Open Badges standard, fighting off attempts to water down the orginal vision. Others evangelised the standard and what could be done with it. Still others developed the actual systems that allowed people to issue badges.
Problem 2 (P2) and Competing System (S7)
The Deployed System (S4) being quite different to the design of the Intervention System (S2) led to some problems. (P2) The chief one was that individuals were not as in control of their badges as originally envisaged. Although it was technically possible to move your badges between systems, in practice each issuing platform became a silo.
There were other problems, as well. For example, Open Badges relied on email addresses that people no longer had access to after leaving institutions or organisations. The evidence behind them also was subject to ‘link rot’ as badges work like the web.
As a result, a Competing System emerged (S7) which reconceptualised badges as ‘microcredentials’. Although some of this uses similar infrastructure, there are different developments for example around NFT certificates, blockchain-based credentials, and LERs. These tend to foreground the organisation rather than the individual learner.
Conclusion
Well, that was fun! This was mainly for my own benefit, but maybe you learned something along the way. As I said above, if you’ve used this approach before, or have anything you’d like to point out to help my learning, please comment below.
