Open Badges at SXSWedu

by James Willis 

SXSWedu, one of the premiere educational technology conferences, will be held in a few weeks (March 9 - 12). With a very full schedule, we are happy to see several prominent panel discussions on open badges.


Kathryn Coleman, Mark Riches, Serge Ravet, and Tim Riches are presenting a panel on Badge The World, which "seeks to document the many innovative Open Badge projects that are underway throughout the world." They will be discussing what has been learned via case studies of projects in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

SXSWedu

Jonathan Finkelstein, Larry Johnson, Michael Shawn Cordero, and Tracy Petrillo's talk, "License 2 Skill: Building Digital Credential Value" will address very salient issues in the badges world, including how organizations are using badges, how badges have "currency," and how badges have importance in the workforce.

SXSWedu will be held at the Hilton Austin Downtown in Austin, TX

Jake Schwartz, Mary Jo Madda, and Matthew Pittinsky are leading a panel on "Socializing Credential Innovation" where they will explore the possibilities of how badges are and will continue to affect the professional world. Specifically, they will be focusing on the so-called "social Internet" and the impact its having on badges.

All of the sessions on badges at SXSWedu promise to discuss very relevant topics in the open badges development. We would like to attend, but we're unable to squeeze in any more travel prior to the DML Conference in Los Angeles, CA (they are sponsoring our work on badges in higher education). We would be interested in collaboratively writing some project summaries for our new project, Open Badges in Higher Education.