ReOPEN Learn

Accreditation is the process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies (such as UKAS); hence they are sometimes known as "accredited certification bodies".[1] The accreditation process ensures that their certification practices are acceptable, typically meaning that they are competent to test and certify third parties, behave ethically and employ suitable quality assurance.

Metadata are Information contained within a badge that defines it:
Includes name, description, and links to other important details like the badge’s criteria, evidence and issuer information.
The metadata for an awarded badge is defined in a badge assertion.

More information

Badge Design Canvas is a useful instrument for designing open badges. It has been developed by DigitalMe in UK and can be downloaded here

Badge Earner is a person who has met the necessary requirements to earn a badge.

More information

Endorsers are organizations with the expertise to analyse the quality of specific badges, including how the badge is defined, the competencies it represents, its standards alignments, the process of assessing the badge earner, and the qualifications of badge issuer to structure and evaluate the learning achievement represented by the badge.

Digital Badges in Education: Trends, Issues, and Cases edited by Lin Y. Muilenburg, Zane L. Berge

A badge Issuer creates, offers, and awards badges. 

More information

The consumer is someone viewing a badge awarded to an earner. 

More information

Computer assisted assessment, term from the early ages of e-learning, now called e-assessment

Continuing professional development (CPD) is the intentional maintenance and development of the knowledge and skills needed to perform in a professional context. This could mean honing current skills, it could mean developing them to a new level, or it could mean learning new ones that will allow an employee’s job role to expand or prepare them for potential promotion.
CPD obligations are present in most professions. Most companies and organisations now prioritise them because they ensure a constantly developing workforce.

More information

New forms of open education such as Massive Open OnlineCourses are challenging higher education with respect to recognition of credits and recognition of prior learning and experience; a university may recognise learning outcomes achieved outside the curriculum context, e.g. certifying that the learning outcomes achieved and assessed outside the institution satisfy its requirements, thus awarding a learned credits for non-formal and informal learning.

The curriculum gives learners a clear indication of what is expected of them in terms of performance, conditions and standard (if applicable).

More information

A digital badge is a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest that can be earned in many learning environments 

More information

We define formative e-assessment as the use of ICT to support the iterative process of gathering and analysing information about student learning by teachers as well as learners and of evaluating it in relation to prior achievement and attainment of intended, as well as unintended learning outcomes, in a way that allows the teacher or student to adjust the learning trajectory. (Pachler, et al., 2009, p. 1)

More information

ECTS stands for European Credit Accumulation and Transfer System. It is a learner-centred system for credit accumulation and transfer, based on the principle of transparency of the learning, teaching and assessment processes. Its objective is to facilitate the planning, delivery and evaluation of study programmes and student mobility by recognising learning achievements and qualifications and periods of learning.

More information

ECTS credits express the volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload. 60 ECTS credits are allocated to the learning outcomes and associated workload of a full-time academic year or its equivalent, which normally comprises a number of educational components to which credits (on the basis of the learning outcomes and workload) are allocated. ECTS credits are generally expressed in whole numbers.

More information

Organized, guided by a formal curriculum, leads to a formally recognized credential such as a high school completion diploma or a degree, and is often guided and recognized by government at some level. Teachers are usually trained as professionals in some way.

More information

Formative assessment, also referred to as 'assessment for learning', is an integral part of teaching and learning. It does not contribute to the final mark given for the module; instead it contributes to learning through providing feedback.

Formative assessment supports the individual to assess their own learning process through reflection with the objective of improvement and to thus contribute to his/her formation. It requires feedback to the learners and may, but will not always, contribute to summative assessment. For formative assessments it is recommendable to use methods that support and facilitate the direct observation of students work and their abilities in situations resembling demands that could occur in real life, e.g. case based learning. Used in this way, assessment is an important potential driver for learners’ motivation and encouragement (in Camilleri et al, 2012: 13).

More information

This type of learning is never organized. Rather than being guided by a rigid curriculum, it is often thought of experiential and spontaneous. From the learner's standpoint at least, this is non-purposive learning which takes place in everyday life contexts in the family, at work, during leisure and in the community.

Learning outcomes are statements that describe significant and essential learning that learnershave achieved, and can reliably demonstrate at the end of a course or program. In other words,learning outcomesidentify what the learner will know and be able to do by the end of a course or program.

More information

A micro-credential is something a learner can earn. Micro-credentials are like mini-degrees or certifications in a specific topic area, e.g. a badge.

More information

1. A massive open online course (MOOC) is a free Web-based distance learning program that is designed for the participation of large numbers of geographically dispersed students. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/massively-open-online-course-MOOC 
2. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are online courses designed for a large number of participants that can be accessed by anyone anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection. They are open to everyone without entry qualifications, and offer a complete course experience online for free. They are led by subject matter experts from higher education or industry and hosted by learning management systems or dedicated MOOC platforms. Two forms of MOOCs have emerged. In cMOOCs, learners are encouraged (though not required) to contribute actively via blog posts, tweets or other social media posts that are aggregated online by course organisers and shared with all participants via email or newsletters. The “c” stands for “connectivist” and the course approach is typically that learners pursue their own learning outcomes with a focus on community and connections. xMOOCs, on the other hand, resemble traditional courses and more traditional higher education teaching methods are used. Pre-recorded video lectures and scalable forms of assessment are provided to learners who can interact in pre-set forums in a single platform rather than creating and/or sharing distributed content on the Web outside the platform.

Organized and may or may not be guided by a formal curriculum. This type of education may be led by a qualified teacher or by a leader with more experience. Though it doesn’t result in a formal degree or diploma, non-formal education is highly enriching and builds an individual’s skills and capacities

More information

Open distance learning

Open Badges are verifiable, portable digital badges with embedded metadata about skills and achievements. They comply with the Open Badges Specification and are shareable across the web. Each Open Badgeis associated with an image and information about the badge, its recipient, the issuer, and any supporting evidence.

More information

The Backpack is a tool for earners to collect, share and display the badges they have been awarded. Earners can import badges into the Backpack and issuers can offer to push the badges they award to the Backpack.

More information

The Open Badges Infrastructure is a set of software tools and specifications to support badging systems. These tools define the structures used in Open Badges and facilitate creating, issuing and displaying them.

More information

Open Badges Specification describes a method for packaging information about accomplishments, embedding it into portable image files as digital badges, and establishing resources for its validation.

More information

Open education is a modern approach to a changing world, allowing everyone access to education and knowledge, giving teachers tools to make education effective and engaging for all students, providing students with more options, and ensuring that education is relevant and up to date.

More information

The term generally refers to activities that either enhance learning opportunities within formal education systems or broaden learning opportunities beyond formal education systems. While there is no agreed-upon, comprehensive definition of open learning, central focus is commonly placed on the "needs of the learner as perceived by the learner"

Forms of open learning are: online learning, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Open
Educational Resources (OER), work-based learning, self-directed learning, individual
learning pathways, continuing professional development

Prior learning assessment & recognition (PLAR) is a process that gives you the opportunity to obtain academic credit for one or more courses in a certificate, diploma or degree. You will need to demonstrate that you have acquired the necessary skills and knowledge through life experiences.

More information

Academic credit portability is the transparency and simplicity of moving academic credits earned at one institution to another - prior course and credits are recognized with comparable value. Lack of academic credit portability is a major issue across higher education given the changing enrollment patterns of today's college students.

More Information

Proctoring or Proctored Test is defined as a mechanism to ensure the authenticity of the test taker and prevent him/her from cheating via a proctor is present during the duration of the test.

More information

The maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product. In education this implies the inclusion of the quality of teaching, resources, assessments, etc., as well as the quality of the institution.

More information

RPL is method of assessment (leading to the award of credit) that considers whether a learner can demonstrate that they can meet the assessment requirements for a unit through the knowledge, understanding or skills that they already possess and so, do not need to develop these through a course of learning.
It enables the recognition of achievement from a range of activities using any valid assessment methodology. Provided that the assessment requirements of a given unit or qualification have been met, the use of RPL is acceptable for accrediting a unit, units or a whole qualification.Evidence of learning must be both valid and reliable.

More information

Summative assessment demonstrates the extent of a learner's success in meeting the assessment criteria used to gauge the intended learning outcomes of a module or programme, and which contributes to the final mark given for the module. It is normally, though not always, used at the end of a unit of teaching. Summative assessment is used to quantify achievement, to reward achievement, to provide data for selection (to the next stage in education or to employment). For all these reasons the validity and reliability of summative assessment are of the greatest importance.

More information

Validation of learning outcomes

Confirmation by a competent body that learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and/or competences) acquired by an individual in a formal, non-formal or informal setting have been assessed against predefined criteria and are compliant with the requirements of a validation standard. Validation typically leads to certification.

or

Process of confirmation by an authorised body that an individual has acquired learning outcomes measured against a relevant standard. Validation consists of four distinct phases:

• identification through dialogue of particular experiences of an individual;
• documentation to make visible the individual’s experiences;
• formal assessment of these experiences; and
• certification of the results of the assessment which may lead to a partial or full qualification.

Source: Cedefop, 2008; Council of the European Uion, 2012.

The ‘x’ stands for eXtended or the eXtension of the core curriculum. The xMOOC is an expert centered MOOC, in which this expert directs the knowledge to be gained. The difference between this type of MOOC and a traditional online course is that, this is Massive and it is Open. The xMOOC is based on the traditional classroom structure. The role of the course instructor (expert) is to create and coordinate the curriculum. He/she also sets the outcomes of the course from the onset. Often, the course involves lecture videos, pre-set and computer marked assignments, and automated system feedback. The learner is responsible for completing the set tasks as directed by the instructor, in the required time. xMOOC have a strict set duration, and at the completion of the course, a certificate or badge is issued indicating the pass mark. The aim of the xMOOC is to efficiently deliver content to larger audiences.

Source: http://teachingandlearning.org.za/mooc-types-the-xmooc-cmooc-and-rmooc/