I’m pleased to say that two closely-related articles I’ve written about working ‘open’ have been published over the last few days.
As of this month, I’ve started writing for The Nasstarian, a new blog from Nasstar, one of the UK’s largest managed IT service provders. They’ve given me free license to write about things of interest to their readers. The first one I’ve written for them is about the ‘unexpected benefits’ of working open for businesses.
My latest DML Central article takes this approach and focuses in on what this means for education. I’m indebted to Bryan Mathers for the wonderful ‘elevator’ image, and to Matt Thompson and Laura Hilliger for comments on an earlier draft.
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This week I’ve been:
- Sending out Issue #234 of Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel, my weekly newsletter loosely focused on education, technology, and productivity. It featured, among other things, links on fixing education, the future of work, and advice from Steve Jobs. Many thanks to Makers Academy for sponsorship!
- Recording and releasing Episode 66 (‘Fixing education’) of Today In Digital Education, my weekly podcast with co-host Dai Barnes. This week we discussed whether it’s possible to ‘fix’ education (main topic) as well as returning to the theme of meritocracy, ways to rebalance our relationship with technology, Microsoft’s Surface devices, small talk, and… Facebook. You can join the community to discuss this episode of TIDE in our Slack channel!
- Postponing the masterclass and workshop I’d planned to hold in London on December 7th due to RMT strike action. By next week, I should have a confirmed date for January, so watch this space!
- Catching up with Graeme Boxwell from Newcastle University. We had a great conversation about Open Badges, blockchain, and learning analytics.
- Spending time with my family as it’s half-term for my wife and children. We had a great time searching for Great North Snowdogs around the Tyne & Wear Metro system on Thursday! In true Team Belshaw fashion, we walked over 10 miles — including our five year-old, who’s a proper little trouper!
- Facilitating sessions with my We Are Open colleagues at the Mozilla Festival. It’s my first MozFest since leaving the organisation in April 2015, so it’s been good to catch up with people. Dai Barnes kindly took the photo accompanying this post after the session I ran with Sarah Horrocks and Bryan Mathers.
- Writing:
Next week, I’ll be recovering from MozFest on Monday and then working out of Campus North in Newcastle on Tuesday, catching up with things. On Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be finishing off Chapter 2 of #uppingyourgame: a practical guide to personal productivity and writing for a publication which I should then be able to tell you about. On Friday, I’m leading a We Are Open thinkathon for Sunderland City Council.
I’ve got some spare capacity up to Christmas. My consultancy, Dynamic Skillset focuses on edtech strategy as well as digital skills and credential. It’s part of We Are Open co-op. If you think I or we can help you, please do get in touch!
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Today it’s been announced that Mozilla will transition development of Open Badges to the IMS Global Learning Consortium, a non-profit that maintains and develops technology standards in education. Alongside this announcement comes the long-awaited refresh of openbadges.org, the dissolution of the Badge Alliance, and the continued harmonisation with the work of the W3C Open Credentials work.
Having had this news previewed to me a couple of weeks ago, I can’t say it’s a huge surprise. Mozilla, with financial backing from the MacArthur Foundation incubated Open Badges and ensured that it was kept going. However, it’s been the enthusiasm and dedication of the community that has ensured its success.
Although I couldn’t make it to Bologna for the ePIC conference this week, I am at the Mozilla Festival this weekend. Both there, and over the next few months, I’m looking forward to working with the community to ensure that there’s a ‘human’ side to badges, to complement Open Badges as a technological standard.
This is a new dawn for Open Badges, a new chapter in its successful, history. There’s so many people who have been, and continue to be, part of the story — certainly far too many to list here. But you know who you are, and today, as we celebrate the continued viability of a movement built upon a technical standard, I’m raising a glass to you all.
Image via Sweet Ice Cream Photography
