COLORADO COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM BADGE CONSORTIUM

Colorado Community College System is forming a consortium of 2 /4 year higher education institutions, business and workforce to create a digital badging ecosystem to address stakeholders (education, industry/business and workforce) needs.

CCCS is hoping to build a comprehensive badge ecosystem where digital badges convey value through micro-credentialed learning.

THE JOURNEY BEGAN…LATE 2013▪ An fortunate set of circumstances▪ TAACCCT grants▪ Colorado Workforce asked for other types of credentialing▪ Colorado Industry demanded shorter turnaround training▪ In 2012, Colorado State University (CSU) committed to developing a digital

badge program that would allow them to address the learning needs of a broader audience. The pilot program was a non-credit professional development program that unbundled on-demand and competency based.

▪ An unfortunate set of circumstances▪ Public school system implemented badges wanting them to articulate up to

the community colleges▪ Workforce was experiencing large incumbent workers needing retraining

EARLY 2014…ONE SMALL STEP FOR COLORADO▪ Collaboration, Collaboration, and More Collaboration▪ Higher Education▪ 13 system 2- year colleges, 2 non-system 2-year colleges and 2 four –year institutions

▪ Industry Partnerships▪ 3 Businesses to pilot accepting badges as well as issuing badges based on agreed upon criteria▪ Other ways to acknowledge expertise where applicable aligning with prior learning and

articulations between the CCCS and four-year institutions▪ Workforce Partnerships▪ State agency wanting alternatives to:▪ Credentialing▪ for-profit trainings▪ Fast turnarounds

▪ Negotiate, negotiate and more negotiations▪ Development of a trust network where education/industry/business/workforce agree on the

recognition and acceptance of digital badges and the validation of badges is comprised of standards, evaluation and evidence.

VISIONING ON HOW TO START...2015

▪ Every badge issued or accepted is tied to: specific standards/or competency, evaluation and evidence of micro-learning.

▪ Created an OPEN Technical Math for Industry MOOC based off the core competencies of the 2-year MAT 108 Technical Math course▪ Open for all and however provided an incentive for Colorado residents▪ provided a loop to lure participants to higher educational institutions in the

state with challenge test for credit

▪ Vision is that the MOOC would be developed which could be the model for a system wide badging initiative

TARGETED BADGES

▪ Badge competencies were targeted at CTE courses to accelerate students into and through programs

▪ Examples:▪ Welding AAS has a MAT108 requirement ▪ Stackable welding certificates building up to the AAS no MAT108

requirement. With badging math competencies, the value of the certificate increases since industry wants students to have certain MAT108 skills in the field.

▪ Certified Nursing Program has no math requirement, but to be successful need to understand ratio, proportion, percent, and units of measure.▪ Badge those areas of the MOOC, then their “application” into the program

is ranked higher due to the math badges▪ Machining requires basic trigonometry and advanced geometry▪ Stackable certificates do not require math course, students will be able to

show math competency required for most entry level jobs

THE ACCELERATION OF THE COLORADO BADGE MOVEMENT...LOOK OUT…HERE WE COME▪ Demand from Industry▪ Shortage of qualified workers

▪ Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance▪ Economic development

▪ Executive Branch of Colorado state government

▪ CSULogic is licensable software supporting integration with a wide range of networks and applications, enabling deployment across sectors and industries outside of Colorado State University

CSULOGIC BADGE MANAGEMENT PLATFORM▪ Automation of badge delivery and integration with existing systems while remaining agnostic to

learning management systems and student information systems.

▪ Mozilla OBI Compliant – not reliant

▪ Competency based

▪ Leverages proprietary big-data, text mining, and content analysis tools that allow us to evaluate and identify needed refinements to our curricula, making it possible to keep our curricula relevant and responsive to learner needs.

▪ The badge management solution has three core functions: badge development, badge awarding, and badge communications.

▪ Summer 2014 successful pilot of the Colorado State University OnlinePlus digital badge platform in non-credit programs

▪ Public-Private Partnership▪ Adaptable for education, industry and workforce badging

POTENTIAL BADGING PROJECTS FALL 2015

▪ Apprenticeships

▪ TechHire▪ Colorado Technology Association

▪ CAMA

▪ BASIC

▪ Nursing

CC BY AND ATTRIBUTION▪ This Workforce Solution, CCCS Badge Consortium” presentation by Brenda

Pereapresentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work created under the Department of Labor, TAACCCT3 grant, permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.cccs.edu/partnering-for-success/trade-adjustment-assistance/taa-coetc/