Learning is a journey on which we embark to realize certain personal or professional goals. These goals are long term in nature, usually bold and broad, there was the need to find solutions in open badging to deal with the need to combine micro-credentials into larger homogeneous building blocks and so pathways were invented.
In this post, we will discuss pathways and learning journeys and how they are expected to change how we learn and work. It all starts with the open badge, the visual tokens of achievement, affiliation, authorization, or other trust relationship, that is also sharable across the web. As open badge offer the most granular form of recognizing learning and development progress with infinite number of combinations of skills and abilities, it becomes necessary to define an overarching theme.
As open badge offer the most granular form of recognizing learning and development progress with infinite number of combinations of skills and abilities, it becomes necessary to define an overarching theme.
Since the early days of badging, the standards setters looked into the idea of pathways that could form a coherent learning program and significant milestone for formal and informal achievement. Pathways or learning journeys in the professional sense can also combine badges that form a specific career direction or a specialization.
Pathway Structure Varies
Pathways can have several structures with varying complexities depending on the educational program, career goals, personal interests, and experiences of the individual. Some pathways may be short while others may be lifelong. Pathways structure takes on many forms and badging for these pathways may take a linear or non-linear form. In some effort by those active in the Open Badges space, and during the2014 Open Badges Discovery project,four possible pathway structures were identified (linear, freeform, tiered, and clustered).
Linear Pathways
The linear pathway is a combination of badges that lead to one another, forming a certain sequence.
Clustered Pathways
In the clustered pathway scenario, the badges share a certain theme, like badges earned by the same university or employer, but those badges don’t require a certain sequence. They may even go in parallel.
Tiered Pathways
In the tiered pathway, badges may be grouped into certain tiers that lead to one another. For example, in a tiered pathway the student needs to complete certain core courses before signing up for the electives.
Freeform Pathways
This is the most complex form of pathways, and it comibes multiple forms of badge combinations.
Badgewell Pathways
Badgewell pathway apply an intelligent hierarchical structure supports multiple forms. Receiving an open badge can be thought as a step towards a particular pathway. Upon completion of the pathway, a milestone badge is automatically awarded. Our intuitive design of the pathway makes it easy for the badge issuer and recipient to track progress along the pathway.
Using Machine Learning With Pathways & Learning Journeys
As machine learning advancement continues, it is expected to disrupt how we plan and execute our personal and professional development goals. In a complex world with an abundance of information about the supply and demand of skills and qualifications, machines are better positioned to identify current and predict future shortage of talents. They may also be used to create personalized pathways towards certain career aspirations.