OPEN BADGES
Open Badges is a system of digital certificates or learning badges based on skills. It was developed by the Mozilla Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.
Upon successful completion of selected events or series of events, you will receive a digital certificate from us in the form of an Open Badge. You can collect this, integrate it into your digital profiles and share it. To find out which DTHG events you can earn Open Badges for, refer to the descriptions of the individual offers.
HOW DOES THE OPEN BADGE SYSTEM WORK?
Usually, participation in advanced training or the completion of examinations is documented with certificates or confirmations of participation. In most cases, only a brief list of topics covered in the training or examination is provided – if at all. These lists often contain only the contents that were discusses and not the skills acquired by participants.
The Open Badge system, on the other hand, focuses on what participants learned in a training and also on the new skills that they acquired. The badges reflect a person’s interests and passions and help them display these in a systematic manner.
To make the system internationally applicable, Open Badges works purely digitally: A PNG image file storesthe acquired knowledge and skills as metadata in optional data blocks, so-called chunks. This image file can be used digitally by the badge holder to show the skills they have – regardless of where the badges were acquired. Open Badges are verifiable and can add a unique validity to CVs, personal websites and other digital portfolios.
The Open Badges system is based on the three steps of earning, collecting and sharing.
Badges are earned by attending (advanced) training events.
All badges can be collected and organised in one digital place. Many hosting tools are free and vary in features, such as the Open Badges Backpack. We recommend creating collections and grouping badges into categories.
Open Badges are meant to be shared. Collections can be shared with different target groups (clients, employers). This allows a user to present achievements individually.
All Open Badges are based on a common standard and can build on each other, regardless of whether they are issued by the same organisation or different institutions. The software used for Open Badges is free and open source. The badges can be issued by any organisation or individual. They are currently used mainly in the education sector in schools and universities.
ESCO
ESCO (European Taxonomy of Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) is the multilingual classification schema of European skills, competences, qualifications and occupations. ESCO is part of the Europe 2020 strategy and supports employer mobility within Europe. It is a freely accessible, open-source online platform that can be used to compare job, qualification and skill profiles in 25 languages.
The ESCO classification system identifies and categorises skills, competences, qualifications and occupations relevant for the EU labour market as well as education and training. It systematically shows the relationships between the different concepts.
Our Open Badges comply with ESCO standards.
