Using Open Badges in professional development of teachers is an extension to traditional teacher professional development initiatives. Existing teacher ICT Skills frameworks set a clear baseline for developing skills criteria and professional development goals for teachers globally. At the same time Badges offer an interesting new paradigm to self-directed learning and micro certification through validation of existing skills. Even though the majority of badging initiatives focus on issuing badges to mark completion of a course, previous projects focusing on teacher ICT skills validation have been executed and researched in Finland, offering a good contextual basis for our similar research that focuses on Rwanda.
The objective of this research project done in Rwanda with the cooperation of the Rwanda Education Board was to test the badging approach and further examine the triggers that lead to learning / badge application. The research was done during a project targeting a group of teachers in Rwanda during the spring of 2020. The research covers a badge-driven teacher professional development process that focused on skills validation. The research was conducted through quantitative data collection through surveys prior, during and after the project. The results show a positive perception of a badge driven professional development programme by the participants and suggests continuing developing further badging initiatives.
More information
Project website: https://reb.skillsafari.io/
Research paper: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/340878/Jarvinen_Satu_Stockley_Pete.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
