Speaker: Teresa Mackinnon, Technical support and team member, UNICollaboration
Please tell us about yourself
Teresa Mackinnon: Hello, my name is Teresa McKinnon. I was formerly associate professor at the University of Warwick. I'm now retired, but I still work with UNICollaboration, a not-for-profit organization supporting international collaboration for virtual exchange. I provide technical support, including Moodle platform management, and open badge development, and also tutoring for tool choices for virtual exchange. UNICollaboration is based in Belgium. Personally, I'm based in the Midlands in the UK, but we work entirely online and my colleagues are all over Europe.
Why did you choose Open Badges?
Teresa Mackinnon: I managed and collaborated on my own virtual exchange, an international collaboration over a 10-year period whilst working at the University of Warwick. I understood that getting engagement in virtual exchange from students and staff required support and encouragement along the way. It's a long and sometimes difficult journey. Badge adoption for UNICollaboration was influenced by work done in the Clavier virtual exchange, which was reviewed and described in an academic publication on virtual exchange. The European Virtual Exchange Initiative came along and that gave us the opportunity to create a virtual exchange-based UNICollaboration, a badge ecosystem, which allowed creation and issue of open badges at scale. UNICollaboration decided to continue to use open badges as they've proven their worth. We use badges now to recognize participation in virtual exchange at a range of levels and also to provide membership badges for UNICollaboration members. We wanted an open badge system, because we want maximum visibility and portability of those badges. Providing such microcredentials in a digital format allowed us to guard against the weaknesses of paper certification and to recognize skills acquired in digital interaction in VE. Their use supports, critically, the work of virtual exchange. There are challenges, of course, because we're working internationally and there is a lack of familiarity internationally with open badges, a lot of variability. So we provide support for adoption in a range of ways. All our trainees hear about and find out about badge use during training and have the opportunity to ask questions. Information is shared openly through a recognition page on our website, and this also includes downloadable information in a range of languages and video recordings on the process of badge collection and sharing. Badge issuing is also signaled to trainees by their trainers just before the badge emails go out to ensure that trainees look out for the message, which sadly sometimes ends up in spam. But again, that's a digital skill to manage. In terms of value, the open badges offer steps to continued engagement in virtual exchange, so pathways to new skills and collaboration.
Tell us about your badge system?
Teresa Mackinnon: In terms of the types of badges we offer, our membership badges, it's very handy that we can adjust the expiry date for those according to the membership, terms that, people have joined us with. But perhaps the more interesting aspect of our badge use is our badge typology, which was described by our research by the Open University, and that has been published openly by myself and my colleague Mirjam Hauck. We chose Open Badge Factory as our partner because they're the best fit for our purposes, and also being based in Europe is very important for us. Open Badge Passport has been very well received by our members, as a way of collecting and displaying and sharing, for free, the badges that they collect. Within Open Badge Factory, we're able to export reports and statistics that are useful to inform our work. Cost is, of course, important to us because, we're not for profit, but Open Badge Factory proved to be a really helpful partner in supporting our development. So far, UNICollaboration has issued over 1800 badges since 2020. And our top badge that has been picked up, is a participant badge, which goes to students or staff who've taken part in our webinars or in our face to face events. It's very clear, that we can, demonstrate the criteria that have been filled by those participants. So they go on to share them. Over 65% of our badges are shared on LinkedIn profiles. Some people add their badges to their email signature or share on their social media presence.
What's a good example of a key badge in your system?
Teresa Mackinnon: Clearly, the focus of our mission in UNICollaboration is the normalization of virtual exchange in higher education. So our flagship badge has to be the first step, that virtual exchange participant badge, which is issued to anyone who participates in a virtual exchange experience. And the sharing of that badge through social media or on their own websites or however people choose to share facilitates international connection. And this leads to the formation of a network of practitioners, and of course, of interested students who can even go on, to build their own virtual exchange. Many people who start with us as participants in virtual exchange experiences go on to design and lead a virtual exchange themselves. At UNICollaboration, we also recommend the use of a self-managed digital portfolio to take your skills with you, and show them, such as, the use of Mahara and e-portfolio, but there are plenty of others, and this helps people explain and demonstrate why they found participation in virtual exchange, to be useful. They can collect their badges and describe their learning experiences, and evidence their professional development.
Best Practices? What's next for you?
Teresa Mackinnon: Along with my colleague Mirjam Hauck from the Open University, we researched and published on the implementation of open badges in virtual exchange. Our work identified the importance of a carefully designed badge ecosystem. and its alignment with the online context of virtual exchange as key to continued learning and progression. Badge award provides stepping stones. The badges need to be awarded at exactly the right point, and their immediacy and recognition encourages participation and ultimately building community. Managing and displaying badges also reinforces digital skills, helping to build confidence and increase online presence. There is a short overview of the place of open badges in modern languages pedagogies. It's available openly in the links, at the end of this presentation. But what really counts is what you do with your badges. A badge is a powerful tool for demonstrating competencies and experiences as long as you do something with it. Open Badge Passport provides a free wallet for managing your badges and sharing them online. You can use your account to connect with other badge earners and to find new opportunities and skills which use open badges as recognition. UNICollaboration is currently involved in a European Erasmus Plus project called CVEinAI. Looking at the role of critical virtual exchange and the role it can play in supporting students and staff with the challenges faced by the rapid development of artificial intelligence in education. AI use is examined through a social justice and inclusion lens. This current project includes 21 partners and reaches HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) in 13 countries, including partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the project will last 3 years. I hope you take a look at, some of the links I'm going to share and the video and, do by all means, contact us if you want to know more.
