Trusted Badge Systems Erasmus Project

Project Title

Trusted Badge Systems

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits)

Project Summary

The project “Trusted Badge Systems” aims at fostering the use of ‘Open Badges’ in European youth work in cooperation with the employment market. Open Badge is a visual representation of individual learning and achievements. Every badge contains meta-data which describes learning process, criteria and achievements of badge owner. They offer innovative ways to visualise learning pathways and document learning achievements. Badges are usually organised into badge systems helping to organise any learning and adapt it to the individual needs of target groups.

GENERAL AIM of the project: Cross-sectoral consortium of partners from Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain and Germany are aiming to integrate technological innovation of Open Badges and increase the quality of youth work field by creating unique digital non-formal learning recognition systems using Open Badges standard in the field of youth work. These badge systems will be created and endorsed in close cooperation with the representatives from the employment sector in each country.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
– To build/review comprehensive competence framework for the non-formal education programmes provided by partner organisations in cooperation with the representatives from the employment sector.
– To design and test Open Badge systems, allowing to recognise young people’s non-formal learning results
– To achieve endorsement of employers for the created badge systems and increase social recognition of non-formal learning in this way.
– To create seamless experience for young people to manage their own non-formal learning evidence by creating online systems of Education Quests and mobile application, allowing to issue, earn and manage Open Badges instantly and via mobile devices.
– To disseminate project results and build the base for the wider use of created and employers’ endorsed Open Badge systems across Europe and across various fields of education.

This project brings true innovation the recognition of non-formal by building digital tools using the innovative Open Badges technology. Another significant innovation is cooperation with the employment-related sector to achieve better endorsement of recognition systems using Open Badges. This project is bringing something that does not exists so far in the field of youth neither in other education fields.

Project will develop Open Badge systems specific to youth work programmes implemented by project partners. To achieve this the significant development of this project will be the production of two digital products:
1. Online system of Educational Quests
2. Mobile application will be developed for two major platforms Android and Apple iOS. It will enable young people to access their online profile of achievements; to review existing projects they are in and quests to be accomplished.

The project directly involves more than 600 youth workers and young people, more than half being youth with fewer opportunities. Through the range of dissemination activities online and live, this project will indirectly reach up to 50 000 people.

We expect that at least 80% thus majority of learning from the various programmes will have specific evidence of their learning achievements.

The “Strasbourg process” of improving recognition in Europe actually calls for most of the actions, which are planned in this project. Therefore in a long-term perspective the project will successfully contribute to reaching a better recognition of youth work and non-formal learning on all levels. The project will provide well developed badge systems with endorsement from employment sector. These systems will be accessible and available for re-used or adaptations by other organisations in Europe.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 170486 Eur

Project Coordinator

LIETUVOS NEFORMALIOJO UGDYMO ASOCIACIJA & Country: LT

Project Partners

• Stichting JeugdWelzijnsBeraad
• LIETUVOS PRAMONININKU KONFEDERACIJA
• ASOCIACION CAZALLA-INTERCULTURAL
• Asociación de Jóvenes Empresarios de la Comarca del Guadalentín
• Breakthrough Foundation
• Plattform e.V.
• Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Landesverband Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.