As part of a continuing collaboration with the Division of Professional Studies (DPS) to advance digital learning at UMBC, DoIT is pleased to announce that Instructional Systems Specialist Collin Sullivan will be "on loan" to DPS as Coordinator of Digital Credentialing. 

Specifically, Collin will be be working with UMBC@USG, applied master's programs, Shriver Center, and other academic affairs units to coordinate three major efforts:

1. Create a comprehensive catalog of microcredentials aligned with national best-practices;
2. Coordinate our efforts related to building a large-scale micro-credentialing operation. On this effort, he will continue to collaborate with his DoIT colleagues advancing work we have already begun; and
3. Coordinate our efforts related to creating and deploying UMBC's comprehensive learner record (CLR).

"As Vice Provost for DPS Chris Steele and I discussed these opportunities we both felt it was essential that DPS take the lead in moving these programs forward," says VP of IT and CIO Jack Suess. "For me personally, I am very excited for Collin, and this collaboration with DPS that fully aligns with the larger vision we had when we started this effort. This represents an opportunity to take the work that the Instructional Technology team has done to get us to this point and expand our impact on campus."

Since joining DoIT as a student intern supporting faculty use of clickers in 2015, Collin has shown a remarkable ability to quickly and effectively explore, refine, support and scale a variety of innovative student assessment technologies. In addition to his growing digital credentials portfolio and research, Collin has led or supported DoIT's explorations and use of Akindi for "bubble sheet" test scoring and exam question banks in Blackboard, and our pilot of Poll Everywhere. He also created UMBC's first TechFest, and helped make a compelling case for why and how UMBC might consider establishing a campus testing center. All of this while graduating with two bachelor's degrees in 2019 (Information Systems and Economics) -- and serving as SGA president his senior year -- earning his master's in public policy in 2021, and starting his Ph.D. in Technology, Learning and Leadership at the University of Maryland College Park this Fall.

Please join us in congratulating Collin on his new role. We wish him the very best and thank him for all he's done for DoIT and UMBC -- so far! ;-)

This summer Instructional Technology kicks off a webinar series designed to support those who want to learn, create, and issue digital badges that validate learner accomplishments, skills, and interests across a variety of learning experiences.

What are badges, you might ask? Badges represent microcredentials much in the way that a diploma represents a degree. 

Badging and microcredentialing have become increasingly popular in higher education and professional workspaces dating back to 2011. Digital badges are validated indicators of an "accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest that can be earned in many learning environments." Microcredentials can reflect a range of learning experiences, starting with single competencies and progressing to meta-badges or micromasters. 

Badging and microcredentials represent a shift from static educational records and transcripts to online, digital, and portable credentials that summarize a learner's achievement, skills, or competencies (Selingo, 2017). Badges may be issued across programs and categories that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Curricular 
• Co-Curricular 
• Competency-based
• Skills Preparation
• Professional Development
• Training

Driven by employers and industry certification programs, there are increasingly more partnerships with higher education to create shorter-form micro-credentials that can ultimately stack into a learner's lifelong learning experience (Braxton et al., 2021). 

Skill acquisition for the 21st century workforce may mean that learners are interested in particular knowledge, skills, or abilities in specialized or niche topics. Badging these accomplishments is a step toward ways in which higher education can explore or offer flexible, digital "credentialized packages" of learning and mastery. As a result, there has been increasing focus on skills-based learning, experiences that produce rich and higher-order skills, and a learner's ability to demonstrate acquisition of new competencies (Baker & Jankowski, 2020). 

Badging 100 is the first in a series of workshops designed to ensure individuals who wish to issue badges are comfortable with the process and understand what a badge entails. The Badging 100 workshop learning outcomes include:

• Define what a badge/microcredential is and explain its utility. 
• Describe how badging efforts promote equity in higher education.
• Recall real-world use cases of badging at UMBC and abroad. 
• Explain the three main components of badging at UMBC: learn, create, issue.
• Identify metadata required for badges.

Badging 100 will be offered this summer. Who else in your office, department, discipline or program needs to come on this journey with you? More information about registration will be shared on the Instructional Technology myUMBC group. 

References:

Baker, G. R., & Jankowski, N. A. (2020, June). Documenting learning: The comprehensive learner record.(Occasional Paper No. 46). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment.

Braxton, S., Sullivan, C., Wyatt, L., & Monroe, J. (2021). Capturing Student Achievements and Learning at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Digital Badging & the Comprehensive Learner Record. IGI Global.  

Selingo, Jeffrey J. (2017), The future of the degree. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/us/en/files/The-Future-Of-the-Degree-2017.pdf