Ungrading, Open Recognition, and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) are distinct yet related ways of improving the assessment of learning. At a time when assessment is in the spotlight due to advances in AI technologies, it’s worth exploring their similarities and differences — as well as how they can be used together.
Let’s explore this further using one of my favourite metaphors: walking in the mountains ⛰️
Ungrading is akin to focusing on the process of learning, rather than the outcome. It’s like a Sherpa guiding a climber up a mountain, emphasising the skills and knowledge developed along the way rather than simply reaching the summit. Through ungrading, educators can provide personalized feedback and support that allows students to reflect on and improve their learning journey.
Open Recognition, in contrast, is like providing multiple paths to the summit. It’s like creating a mountain range with different peaks, each representing a different set of skills or knowledge. This approach allows individuals to showcase their competencies and achievements in ways that are recognised across different contexts, such as earning badges that demonstrate their skills.
RPL is like mapping out the best route to the summit. It’s like a mountaineering guide who takes the time to understand each climber’s abilities and experiences, and then tailors a plan that meets their specific needs. Through recognising prior learning, individuals can receive credit for their existing knowledge and skills, and identify the most efficient and effective way to reach their goals.
So, in summary, while ungrading emphasises the process of learning, Open Recognition offers multiple paths to its recognition, and RPL focuses on customising the learning journey. By using (and potentially combining) these approaches to assessment, educators can improve the quality of learning and recognition in a variety of contexts.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, including the current moral panic around AI, it’s becoming increasingly important for educators to not only embrace technology but to actively integrate it into the learning experience. The concept of digital literacies, often mistaken as a mere proficiency in using digital tools, is in fact a multifaceted construct that extends far beyond basic technological skills.
Digital literacies are made up of skillsets, but also mindsets—ways of thinking about the world.
As educators, we must recognise that digital literacies encompass a wide range of abilities, including confidence, creativity, and communication. These skills empower learners to navigate the digital world responsibly, ethically, and with a sense of curiosity. In order to foster a generation of digitally-literate citizens, we must embrace a more holistic approach to teaching and learning.
Imagine the digital world as a vast, interconnected ocean. Digital literacies are the sails, rudder, and compass that guide our learners as they embark on their digital voyage. Without these essential tools, they would drift aimlessly, lost in the overwhelming waves of information.
To achieve this, we can start by incorporating digital literacies across the curriculum, encouraging students to explore, analyse, and create digital content in a meaningful way. We must also emphasise the importance of digital citizenship, teaching learners to respect the online community, engage in healthy online behaviours, and uphold the values of privacy and security.
By nurturing a culture of digital literacies, we are not only preparing our students for the challenges and opportunities of the digital world but also equipping them with the skills to thrive in an ever-changing, interconnected society. Through collaborative efforts and open-mindedness, we can reshape the educational landscape and cultivate a future that embraces the true potential of digital technology.
Remember, digital literacies are not just about using technology – they’re about understanding, adapting, and effectively engaging with the digital world around us. It’s time we take the necessary steps to ensure our learners are prepared for whatever the future holds, setting sail with confidence on their journey through the boundless digital ocean.
I’m going to start this week’s update with a bit of an admission. A post I’ve shared and has got plenty of traction, especially on LinkedIn, was written in the following way:
Ask ChatGPT to write a blog post about a particular topic
Ask it to add in a metaphor
Ask it to rewrite it “in the style of Doug Belshaw”
Copy/paste to LinkedIn, add a link, and emoji, and italicise one of the words
Add relevant image, then hit ‘post’
Is there anything inherently ‘wrong’ about this? The only reason it can write in a somewhat similar style to me is because it’s been trained on a huge corpus of data that’s included my writing.
Although it wasn’t focused on this particular episode, Niall Winters asked an interesting question when I mentioned I’d found ChatGPT useful in my work this week.
I was surprised by the question. I’m not sure why or when it would or should be expected in my line of work to acknowledge this? I don’t really see it as much different to having an assistant doing some research. After all, if people can’t tell the difference between my writing and ChatGPT imitating my writing, then doesn’t that free me up to do other things?
Here’s another example. I know a bit of HTML and CSS, but have never really used much JavaScript (JS). So it was amazing to me when I discovered this week that it’s possible to create simple games using HTML, CSS, and JS using ChatGPT. I’ve created a couple which are moderately fun to play and which were entirely created by me providing prompts. ChatGPT provided the code, and iterations upon it. You can find the games via this blog post.
I’m not particularly interested in the moral panic around AI, but I am interested in getting manual, repetitive tasks done more quickly. I’m also very interested in an assistant that can help me be more creative, as has been the case with some of the work I’ve done this week, as well as the games I’ve created.
Here are the posts I’ve published this week. You’ll have to decide which ones were pretty much fully written by ChatGPT, which were the ones where I used it as an assistant, and which were written entirely by me. Answer at the end of the post.
On Wednesday night, Anne and I ran a session as part of Open Education Talks on entitled Integrating Open Recognition into program and course designs. The linked post not only contains the slides, but also a pre-recorded version of our 15-minute session. It uses Anne’s experience attending The University of Lapland for five months as a lens for how Open Recognition useful augments microcredentialing.
This has been the third and final week of Laura being away. Much as I’ve enjoyed working with John and Anne, I’m looking forward to Laura’s return as she’s my main partner in crime. On Friday afternoon I created a long etherpad of all of the things she needed to be caught-up on, and then recorded a Loom video talking her through it.
I’ve been working on client projects with and for Greenpeace, Participate, Passbolt, Sport England, and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. I’ve also been doing some work as a member of the Member Learning group of workers.coop. It’s looking like we’re going to have a bit more capacity earlier than we though, so from mid-April WAO is available for additional client work.
There’s been a fair bit of snow here this week, and our combi boiler decided to stop work on Friday. Thankfully, the broken part was easy to repair so we weren’t cold for too long. However, it has meant that all of our kids’ football training sessions and two of the matches were called off. They enjoy their sport, but they’ve also enjoyed the additional time they’ve had to hang out with friends.
Although we’ve booked to go away on holiday to Scotland for a few days in the Easter holidays at the start of April, we haven’t yet booked a summer holiday for Team Belshaw. Part of the reason for this is that we were planning to take our youngest out of school for a week after our eldest has finished his GCSEs. However, by the time we found out when that would be, everything is super expensive. And I mean like at least twice as much as I would expect it to be.
So that plan might be out of the window and we could just be taking him for a nice meal instead. That would mean that we could drive to the south of France for a couple of weeks during the school summer holidays. It’s still up in the air, to be honest.
Next week, Laura’s back and I’m expecting her to come in like a hurricane wrecking ball, even though I’m sure she’ll be very chilled after a few weeks in Costa Rica. I’m looking forward to finishing off work for one of our clients and doing some more planning for my Pennine Way expedition next month. Hopefully the kids’ sporting activities will be back to normal and it will be warm enough for me to run outside again.
Photo taken looking out from the top of our house taken by my wife, Hannah, and then edited by me. The first two posts in the list were written entirely by me. ChatGPT helped me with the third one, and I only really tweaked the last two.
