We have to question the tyranny of the degree,” says David Wiley, an associate professor of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University. Mr. Wiley is an outspoken advocate of so-called open education, and he imagines a future where screenfuls of badges from free or low-cost institutions, perhaps mixed with a course or two from a traditional college, replace the need for setting foot on a campus. “As soon as big employers everywhere start accepting these new credentials, either singly or in bundles, the gig is up completely.” The idea is already well established in some computer-programming jobs, with Microsoft and other companies developing certification programs to let employees show they have mastered certain computer systems.

‘Badges’ Earned Online Pose Challenge to Traditional College Diplomas

New article about the badge concept. Mozilla’s Badge initiative has been on my radar for a while, and I’d love to implement it here on campus. I have a few ideas where we could start using a badge system to reward learners and student workers here in Instructional Technology, but my questions right now are more technical. I’m so excited to see so many organizations interested in badge certification; for us, it’s a great solution for showcasing technical knowledge and soft skills students are picking up around their traditional certification/degree programs.

Source: chronicle.com

We need to teach the world to code. Not just future engineers and web developers (although this is essential). But also teachers, journalists, filmmakers, artists, scientists and curious kids. These are the people who make much of the web. They need to understand code.

This has been the premise behind much of what we have done with Mozilla Drumbeat: people who make stuff on the internet are better creators and better online citizens if they know at least a little bit about the web’s basic building blocks. Even if they only learn a little HTML, the web gets better.

Creating a web literate planet (proposal)

From Mozilla’s blog series on how they plan to support “web makers” and bring them into the Mozilla community. Their Hackasaurus and School of Webcraft projects are an inspiration! 

Source: commonspace.wordpress.com