Mozilla Open Badges

Last updated
The Open Badges Project
Open Badges - Logo.png
URL openbadges.org
Launched15 September 2011;13 years ago (2011-09-15)

Image files that contain verifiable information about learning achievements, Open Badges are based on a group of specifications and open technical standards originally developed by the Mozilla Foundation with funding from the MacArthur Foundation. [1] [2] The Open Badges standard describes a method for packaging information about accomplishments, embedding it into portable image files as a digital badge, and establishing an infrastructure for badge validation. [3] The standard was originally maintained by the Badge Alliance Standard Working Group, [4] but transitioned officially to the IMS Global Learning Consortium as of January 1,2017. [5]

Contents

History

In 2011, [6] the Mozilla Foundation announced their plan to develop an open technical standard called Open Badges to create and build a common system for the issuance, collection, and display of digital badges on multiple instructional sites. [2]

To launch the Open Badges project, Mozilla and MacArthur engaged with over 300 nonprofit organizations, government agencies and others about informal learning, breaking down education monopolies and fuelling individual motivation. [3] Much of this work was guided by "Open Badges for Lifelong Learning", an early working paper created by Mozilla and the MacArthur Foundation. [7]

In 2012, Mozilla launched Open Badges 1.0 [8] and partnered with the City of Chicago to launch The Chicago Summer of Learning (CSOL), a badges initiative to keep local youth ages four to 24 active and engaged during the summer. [9] Institutions and organizations like Purdue University, MOUSE and the UK-based DigitalME adopted badges, and Mozilla saw international interest in badging programs from Australia and Italy to China and Scotland. [10]

By 2013, over 1,450 organizations were issuing Open Badges and Mozilla's partnership with Chicago had grown into the Cities of Learning Initiative, an opportunity to apply CSOL's success across the country. [10]

In 2014, Mozilla launched the Badge Alliance, [10] a network of organizations and individuals committed to building the open badging ecosystem and advancing the Open Badges specification. [11] Founding members include Mozilla, the MacArthur Foundation, DigitalME, Sprout Fund, and Blackboard. [12] More than 650 organizations from six continents signed up through the Badge Alliance to contribute to the Open Badges ecosystem. [13]

In 2015, the Badge Alliance spun out of Mozilla and became a part of MacArthur Foundation spin off, Collective Shift - a nonprofit devoted to redesigning social systems for a connected world. [14] [10] Later that year, Collective Shift partnered with Concentric Sky to develop Open Badges 2.0. [15] That same year, Concentric Sky launched the open source project Badgr to serve as a reference implementation for Open Badges. [16] [17] The Badgr Server is written in Python using the Django framework; [18] source code is available under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License. [19]

In early 2016, IMS Global announced their commitment to Open Badges as an interoperable standard for digital credentials, [20] and in late 2016, Mozilla announced that stewardship of the Open Badges standard would transition officially to IMS Global. [5]

In late 2018, Mozilla announced that it would retire the Mozilla Backpack program that enabled users to collect and showcase their Open Badge credentials and migrate all users to Concentric Sky's open source Badgr platform. [15] [21]

Technical details

Open Badges are designed to serve a broad range of digital badge use cases, including both academic and non-academic uses. [22] The core Open Badge specification is made up of three types of Badge Objects: [23]

Assertion
Represents an awarded badge. It contains information about a single badge that belongs to an individual earner.
BadgeClass
Contains information about the accomplishment(s) a specific badge recognizes. As the same badge may be awarded to many earners, there may be many Assertions that correspond to a single BadgeClass.
IssuerOrganization
Contains a collection of information about the entity (e.g., person, organization) which issued a badge.

Beginning with version 1.1, valid JSON-LD must be used for Open Badges. [23] Version 1.1 also adds Extensions, [23] a structure that follows a standard format for collaboratively extending Badge Objects so that any issuer, earner, or consumer can understand the information added to badges. Any issuer may define and publish Extensions to include new types of metadata in badges. Any other issuer may use the same extensions to publish similar information in a mutually recognizable way. [24]

An exploratory prototype draft xAPI vocabulary has been defined so that Open Badges may be referenceable from Experience API activity streams. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning object metadata</span> Data model

Learning Object Metadata is a data model, usually encoded in XML, used to describe a learning object and similar digital resources used to support learning. The purpose of learning object metadata is to support the reusability of learning objects, to aid discoverability, and to facilitate their interoperability, usually in the context of online learning management systems (LMS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozilla Application Suite</span> Discontinued Internet suite

The Mozilla Application Suite is a discontinued cross-platform integrated Internet suite. Its development was initiated by Netscape Communications Corporation, before their acquisition by AOL. It was based on the source code of Netscape Communicator. The development was spearheaded by the Mozilla Organization from 1998 to 2003, and by the Mozilla Foundation from 2003 to 2006.

IMS Learning Design was a specification for a metalanguage which enables the modelling of learning processes. The specification was maintained by IMS Global Learning Consortium.

The IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification (QTI) defines a standard format for the representation of assessment content and results, supporting the exchange of this material between authoring and delivery systems, repositories and other learning management systems. It allows assessment materials to be authored and delivered on multiple systems interchangeably. It is, therefore, designed to facilitate interoperability between systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HASTAC</span>

HASTAC (/ˈhāˌstak/), also known as the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, is a virtual organization and platform comprising over 18,000 individuals and more than 400 affiliate institutions. Members of the HASTAC network actively contribute to the community through an open-access website, by organizing and participating in HASTAC conferences and workshops, and by collaborating with fellow network members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HTML5</span> Fifth and previous version of HyperText Markup Language

HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML Living Standard. It is maintained by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), a consortium of the major browser vendors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux Foundation</span> Non-profit technology consortium to develop the Linux operating system

The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit organization established in 2000 to support Linux development and open-source software projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Theo Goldberg</span> South African social scientist (born 1952)

David Theo Goldberg is a South African professor working in the United States, known for his work in critical race theory, the digital humanities, and the state of the university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interactive Advertising Bureau</span> American advertising business organization

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is an American advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry. The organization represents many of the most prominent media outlets globally, but mostly in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Do Not Track (DNT) is a non-standard HTTP header field designed to allow internet users to opt out of tracking by websites—which includes the collection of data regarding a user's activity across multiple distinct contexts, and the retention, use, or sharing of data derived from that activity outside the context in which it occurred.

Digital badges are a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in various learning environments.

Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, with only minor exceptions. The community is supported institutionally by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and its tax-paying subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIDO Alliance</span> Industry consortium working on authentication mechanisms

The FIDOAlliance is an open industry association launched in February 2013 whose stated mission is to develop and promote authentication standards that "help reduce the world’s over-reliance on passwords". FIDO addresses the lack of interoperability among devices that use strong authentication and reduces the problems users face creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Surman</span> Canadian internet activist

Mark Surman is a Canadian open internet activist and the president and executive director of the Mozilla Foundation. He is a leading advocate for trustworthy AI, digital privacy, and the open internet. Before joining the Mozilla Foundation, Mark spent more than 15 years leading organizations and projects promoting the use of the internet and open source for social empowerment in many countries around the world.

The Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) is a research and development centre at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. The centre defines inclusive design as that which "considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference." The research centre is directed by Jutta Treviranus. In 2011 the centre launched a Master of Design in Inclusive Design.

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard developed by 1EdTech formerly known as IMS Global Learning Consortium at the time of creation. It enables seamless integration between learning systems and external systems. In its current version, v1.3, this is done using OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and JSON Web Tokens. For example, a Learning Management System (LMS) may use LTI to host course content and tools provided by external or third-party systems on a website without requiring a learner to log in separately on the external systems. The LTI will also share learner information and the learning context shared by the LMS with the external systems.

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) is a non-profit industry consortium headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and formed to develop open, royalty-free technology for multimedia delivery. It uses the ideas and principles of open web standard development to create video standards that can serve as alternatives to the hitherto dominant standards of the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).

Concentric Sky is a software development company located in Eugene, Oregon. The company was founded in 2005 by Wayne Skipper, and grew to nearly 90 employees prior its sale to Instructure in April 2022. In 2015, Cale Bruckner was promoted to President of the company. Skipper continued to serve as CEO until the company's sale. Concentric Sky is the maker of Badgr and is a well-known contributor to the development of open technology standards focused on improving outcomes for learners and workers.

Online credentials for learning are digital credentials that are offered in place of traditional paper credentials for a skill or educational achievement. They are directly linked to the accelerated development of internet communication technologies, the development of digital badges, electronic passports and massive open online courses (MOOCs).

References

  1. ↑ Ash, Katie (2012-06-13). "'Digital Badges' Would Represent Students' Skill Acquisition". Education Week. ISSN   0277-4232 . Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  2. 1 2 Surman, Mark (2011-09-15). "Mozilla Launches Open Badges Project". The Mozilla Blog. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  3. 1 2 "Open Badges Explained: Revolutionizing Skills Recognition | Sertifier". 2023-10-20. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  4. ↑ "Open Badges Standard". Badge Alliance.
  5. 1 2 "IMS Global, Mozilla Foundation, and LRNG Announce Next Steps to Accelerate the Evolution of the Open Badges Standard" (Press release). Lake Mary, Florida: IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. 2016-10-28.
  6. ↑ "Who Owns Digital Badges? A Company's Patent on Credential System Raises Questions - EdSurge News". EdSurge. 2019-03-12. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  7. ↑ "Open Badges for Lifelong Learning" (PDF). Mozilla Wiki. 27 August 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 November 2013.
  8. ↑ Ong, Josh (2013-03-14). "Mozilla Launches Version 1.0 of Its Open Badges Certification Standard". TNW | Insider. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  9. ↑ "Horizon Report 2015 K-12 Edition" (PDF).
  10. 1 2 3 4 Surman, Mark (29 January 2016). "Mozilla's Continued Commitment to Open Badges". Mozilla Learning. Mozilla Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016.
  11. ↑ jade (23 June 2014). "Welcome to the Badge Alliance!". Badge Alliance. Archived from the original on 27 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "About the Badge Alliance". Badge Alliance. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "Mozilla's Continued Commitment to Open Badges". Mozilla Foundation. 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  14. ↑ "MacArthur Spins Off Digital Media & Learning Work with $25 Million Seed Investment". MacArthur Foundation. 6 October 2015.
  15. 1 2 Surman, Mark (2018-08-15). "An Update on Badges and Backpack". Medium.
  16. ↑ "Badgr Server Readme". Github. Concentric Sky. 27 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "IEEE Consortium for Learning Engineering is Attracting Leading Charter Members". edcircuit.com. edCircuit. 30 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "concentricsky/badgr-server". GitHub. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "badgr-server/LICENSE". GitHub. 9 April 2015.
  20. ↑ Abel, Rob (16 February 2016). "IMS Global Learning Consortium's Commitment to Open Badges for Education". IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  21. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-04-24). "Credly raises $11.1 million to issue and manage digital badges". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  22. ↑ "Digital Badges vs. Open Badges". Badge Alliance. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  23. 1 2 3 "Open Badges Technical Specification (version 1.1)". Open Badges Specification. Badge Alliance. 1 May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  24. ↑ "Open Badges Extensions". Open Badges Specification. Badge Alliance. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  25. ↑ "Open Badges xAPI Vocabulary". Open Badges Specification. Badge Alliance. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.