What is a badged course?
While studying Looking globally: the future of education you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge.
Badged courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission to promote the educational well-being of the community. The courses also provide another way of helping you to progress from informal to formal learning.
To complete this course you will need to be able to find around 24 hours of study time over a period of about six weeks. It is possible to study the content at any time, and at a pace to suit you. However, to get the most out of the discussions and interactive activities, we recommend that you aim to engage with these by following the week by week schedule.
Badged courses are all available on The Open University’s OpenLearn [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] website and do not cost anything to study. They differ from Open University modules because you do not receive support from a tutor. However you will benefit from interactions with other course participants and are provided with useful feedback from your responses to the interactive quizzes.
What is a badge?
Digital badges are a new way of demonstrating online that you have gained a skill. Schools, colleges and universities are working with employers and other organisations to develop open badges that help learners gain recognition for their skills, and support employers to identify the right candidate for a job.
Badges demonstrate your work and achievement on the course. You can share your achievement with friends, family and employers, and on social media. Badges are a great motivator, helping you to reach the end of the course. Gaining a badge often boosts confidence in the skills and abilities that underpin successful study. So completing this course should encourage you to think about taking other courses.
The badge for this course Looking globally: The future of education can be used as part of the first assessment of the Open University Masters module EE830 Educating the next generation within two years of gaining the badge. The Masters programme recruits for an October start each year, starting in 2018. You will need to have accessed your My OpenLearn profile and downloaded your badge as a PNG file or your statement of participation as a PDF to submit your badge for use towards EE830.
