OMO Scholengroep Helmond innovates with digital badges
This article is a translation and was first published in Van12tot18 of December 2019. You can publish this article with a reference to Vermeulen, P. (2019). Alles wat je in je mars hebt in je eigen hand. Van12tot18, 29(12), 30-31.
All your
skills , competencies and experiences neatly combined in
a digital safe to which only you have the key; and only you
decide who can see which part of your portfolio and when. Fully
GDRP proof! OMO Scholengroep Helmond has recently completed a very
appealing pilot and is now going live with students to test the
application. Young people will benefit from this innovation for the
rest of their lives.
“We
have been working on it in Helmond for a number of years,” says Wim
Pelgrim, teacher but above all digital pioneer and educational
innovator. “ Student results are now scattered across all kinds
of sources. That needed improvement: safely in their own hands. We
also see that a certain type of student finds it difficult to sell
themselves to a potential employer. That’s why we will start this
project with students of the Praktijkschool Helmond, a school for students with
an IQ between 55 and 80. Telling what they have to offer is often a bridge
too far for them.”
Open
Badges and blockchain
Youngsters
who participate will have access to an easy phone app. A safe in which
data is collected from all kinds of applications that are used within
the school. Today, students already have a lot of data about
themselves, but they rarely know about it. That data is visualized via
Open Badges. “Consider the badges we know from scouting,” Wim
explains. “On the uniform of a scout you see all kinds of insignia that tell
something about the skills: for example, you can see at a glance that someone
can tie good knots or has followed a course with the fire department. Also
everyone from Amsterdam, Singapore or Paris can understand these logos. An
efficient system that we are now digitizing for our students.”
We work
with the Open Badges standard. Think of our project with
badges that state: Collaboration level 3 , forklift truck
certificate , English level B1 . You name it, the
possibilities are endless. School subjects, competencies, skills… And if
a dean, career counselor or employer wants to know more about
a specific performance , they can simply click the badge. ”
The project
team guards against uncontrolled usage and – more importantly – gives high
priority to the safety of the innovation. Thanks to a combination of
open standards and blockchain technology , this is an extremely reliable
system. As the owner of the portfolio, you cannot independently add all
sorts of badges or raise levels. Every badge has a kind of digital
fingerprint that is stored on blockchain, so the parties involved can verify
the authenticity of the information. And moreover, the system has no
central storage , and is thus fully compliant with the GDPR.
Insight
into your talent
Pupils
can use their badges to share information with, for
example, an employer, who has temporary access to (a part
of) the safe. Wim: “What we are doing is unique in the
Netherlands. A uniform standard with which students can go to another
school or employers. An ideal starting point for conversations. Not
to mention all the latent skills: many students do not even see how
much they have grown. A mark for an exam is very specific, but how
strong are your social skills, for example? Or your problem-solving
capacity? We will help with one clear standard by means of which everything is clearly
presented. “
It is great
that we can help the students of the Praktijkschool Helmond with it, but this
system works for a much wider target group. Consider the international
benefits. Suppose a Chinese student comes here to study at Fontys University for
a year. How do you check his past? Maybe he designed his own
degree, in an extreme case. With our standard
you build in safety. Just show us your past!” The system
encourages lifelong learning. Childcare information? Calculation
application used in primary school? Secondary school portfolio
software? Did you take a relevant course or did you follow additional
training? Have a performance interview? Super: new badges.
“For us, it is about much more than just exchanging information about the profile of a student. Our students are not consciously working on their future. They only see the here and now, today. It is important for them to experience that present skills are taken to the next step in your life: your working career. You are aware that it has value. You can show badges in your app to an employer: look what I can do. “Wow, are you already on collaboration level 2? And how can we get to 3 here?” Our competencies and those of Senzer have been brought in line, more than ever we will soon be speaking the same language. At Senzer, for example, they can build on the skills of students during their time at our school. As far as I am concerned, it is a major improvement on many levels in comparison to the piece of paper with which someone now graduates. The possibilities are endless!” – Joost Jacobs, Education manager Praktijkschool Helmond
To work
The app is
now ready. During a launch event on January 13th at
Praktijkschool Helmond, a great moment of success within a lengthy
process. Vereniging OMO, to which OMO Scholengroep Helmond’s four
secondary schools belong, funded part of the project, in addition to SIDN
Fund and Factom. “But we can’t make this project a success on or
own,” Wim realizes. “We work with Sphereon,
a software company with a lot of experience in the field
of blockchain . Volution is also cooperating, an
organization that offers digital learning resources that support personalized
education. And then in Helmond we finally have a very nice partner in
Senzer, the employment office for the region, which daily helps
thousands of people with a meaningful job or social participation and
their software builder Matchcare.”
Various organizations within and outside of education have already shown
an interest in the project. How well does the system work
now? The first students will be testing in December and January. Wim
is curious about the feedback. “We will receive surprising responses, we
are sure of that. Things we haven’t thought of ourselves. Exciting,
we will undoubtedly learn a lot from the target group. Phase 1 has now
been completed; we are completely ready for the next. “
If you want to be present during the launch of the app on January 13th 2020 at Praktijkschool Helmond? Contact Wim Pelgrim: blockchange@wimpelgrim.nl
Author:
Perry Vermeulen
