Introduction:

This text gives the specifications for the badge, listing all its technical aspects. This is how you earn it.

This badge is a research prototype designed to Open Badge standards. It carries no credits and is not accredited or verified by me or my University employers. However, the badge has real value, being endorsed by Creative Skillset. It will be awarded only by the criteria and stipulation below, upon evidence presented. My limited resources mean it will be publicised and marketed locally for HE staff AND Students as a test bed but those teaching anywhere in the UK will be able to claim it.

The purpose of this badge from my action research perspective is to observe the dynamics and incentives of Open Badges at work, and come to informed propositions regarding how badges might (or might not) be useful within an Higher Education Institution to promote and reward behaviours surrounding employability.

 

 

What do I mean when I talk about ‘Industry’?

This for the purposes of this Badge, this is shorthand for The Creative Industries. It’s someone who works in a business, or is self-employed or a sole trader, making a living in a creative discipline aligned to your course subject, and whose primary means of support is not education. To earn the badge you should be working with these kinds of people.

All very well, but what can I do with my badge. How will earning it help me?

Show it wherever you have an online presence. Your are essentially given a badge that contains metadata hardwired to the criteria below, the endorser, and your evidence so its important to realise its not just a graphic, its a signpost to its veracity, and its linked only to you. You cant just rip a graphic off this site for instance and pop it on yours because it wont contain the necessary metadata.

You can display your Badge on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, or your own Blog. You can use Twitter and other platforms to point people to it. You can copy the link to the badge and broadcast it anywhere including in an online CV.

If you want more info on Open Badges, see my previous posts here and here, or read up about displaying Badges here.

 

How you earn the HE Industry Dialogue Badge: The CRITERIA

There are three criteria that need to be met. You will need to present evidence to fulfil these.

1. Demonstrate you have involved relevant industry/employer stakeholders in some kind of sustained and beneficial interaction with your course at your HE institution

(We want to see evidence of some positive dialogue with industry representatives that has had a lasting effect on a course you are involved with. This could be evidence of an industry-led brief, partnership in organising an industry event and its positive aftermath, sustained negotiations and discussions over new technology or processes). It cannot be a one-way activity or in isolation, like reading up on new technologies or giving a lecture- there has to be positive verifiable exchange)

Examples of how you might qualify:

• Evidence that you involved industry reps in the modification of a module or unit

• You arranged a workshop or brief with an industry company

• You arranged structured industry shadowing

 

2. Show you have a current and supportive understanding of your particular industry’s skills issues

(We want to see interaction and evidence of your familiarity with the industry’s skills issues. This might be the way you have framed your course rationale, or written course materials, or partaken in activities within the industry. Show you understand the skills issues of your particular industry. Maybe a character reference from a company, or your successful role at a careers fair, or how you helped a company with their recruitment. How can you show us you understand your particular industry’s skills ‘pain points’?)

Examples of how you might qualify:

• Your own written mapping of a chosen module with industry data. (You might want to use data or commentary from a Trade Association or Creative Skillset research, for instance) that show your curriculum is contemporary with addressing current industry issues

• Show your recent involvement in doing industry work outside your teaching

• How you advised someone regarding job role

 

3. Give a personal written assessment of the impact of that interaction and how it might be built on in the future

(Produce under 500 words on what effect industry dialogue has had on your course and/or the student experience, and how it might be built upon going forward. No value is attached to this criteria of how large or small the change; nor if it is positive or negative. Little things matter. This criteria is non-binding but demonstrates you have considered future possibilities)

Examples of how you might qualify:

“How I might build on my course’s Industry Liaison Group”

“A suggested proposal for Industry Open events in my faculty”

“How I might improve industry trips for students”

The Badge EXPIRES after 1 year (365 days) from being awarded. Depending on the success of this test bed it may be possible to update it beyond this limit.

 

What evidence do I need to produce?

What artefact will show the criteria has been met? We have made this interpretative- you find the best way of supplying evidence rather than us dictating the format

• Written documentation including email threads
• Photographic evidence with supporting text
• Recordings
• Industry assertions and advocacy/references
• Written self-assessment/narrative up to 500 words that points to evidence
• Publicity, articles in press or media

So how do I go about earning my Industry Dialogue badge?

The idea is that you are explaining what you already do, not creating more work. Think through how you can show sustained dialogue that has had a real impact on your students understanding and experience of industry. It’s that simple.

The most effective way to earn this badge is to understand the behaviours it hopes to encourage- more industry involvement in courses, enriching student experience of employment in the creative industries.

Creative Skillset want the process to have rigour. Your submission will be assessed by an independent industry panel. This is to insure independence. If the panel decides not to award the badge there will be feedback, and if it is an issue with the evidence you supplied, you can re-apply. You could put this evidence on Dropbox, WeTransfer or other online sites for our assessors to review.

You can engage in a dialogue with HE.Industry.Dialogue@gmail.com who is leading this Badge prototype action research project but be aware badges are only awarded by an independent group of three industry assessors.

Once evidence is received an assessment should happen within 21 days, and the badge awarded immediately.

“What Level is this Badge? How many credits? What’s its value?”

Whilst Open Badges can represent credits and be aligned to levels, I am researching something very different here. You need to decide on whether the Badge has value to you, your work and your credentials. You and your organisation may want to consider that Creative Skillset have endorsed this badge and that is hardwired into the metadata. Creative Skillset are endorsing your work. If your university is interested in the Tick, or showing how industry facing you are, this HE Industry Dialogue Badge is a very public way of rewarding your achievement.

For queries or to apply fulfilling the criteria above, go to HE.Industry.Dialogue@gmail.com