Recognition of non-formal learning in open education:

where do we stand, how far can we go?

Andreia Inamorato dos Santos, Ph.D

Open Educational Resources: impact and outcomes. Fondation maison des sciences de l’homme, Paris 8-9 December 2014

JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies

@aisantos

European Commission,

Joint Research Centre

(DG JRC)

Institute for Prospective

Technological Studies (IPTS):

Research institute supporting EU

policy-making on

socio-economic, scientific and/or

technological issues

ICT for Learning and Skills

http://essie.eun.org/

• >50 publications on IPTS eLearning website

• Principal client: DG Education & Culture

Team

What:• ICT for modernising and innovating E&T in Europe

• 21st century skills for digital economy and society

Research strands

• Opening up Education, OER & Science 2.0

• Innovating Learning and Teaching

• Key Competences and 21st century skills

http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eLearning.html

Team from left:

Yves Punie: Project LeaderPanayotis Kampilys: researcherAndreia I. Santos: researcherJonatan Castaño: researcherRiina Vuorikari: researcher

http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eLearningPublications.html

JRC IPTS – DG EAC studies on iCT and Open Education TIMING

DIGICOMPAnusca Ferrari, Yves Punie

2010-2012

Scale CCRPanagiotis Kampilys, Barbara Brecko, Yves Punie

2011-2013

OEREUChristine Redecker, Jonatan Castaño, Yves Punie

2012-2014

OpenEduAndreia Inamorato dos Santos, Jonatan Castaño, Yves Punie

2013-2015ongoing

COM4EDUPanayotis Kampylis, Riina Vuorikari, Yves Punie

2014-2017ongoing

#iptsedu

I. Open Education – policy context – drivers for IPTS research

II. OpenEdu Project on open education institutions & OpenCred study in recognition of non-formal learning

Distance Universities

Open Source Software

Open Content (1998)

MIT OCW (2001)

Creative Commons

(2002)

1st cMOOC(2008)

1st Stanford xMOOC(2011)

MIT edX

Coursera

Udacity

Open Virtual Universities (OUNL, OUUK, UOC…

OER Def. (UNESCO

2002)

Increasing number of open access papers and journals

UK Finch report

Cert

ific

ation

Open badges

OpenLearn(OUUK)

1st EU MOOC platform

Before 1990 1990-2000

OERu

2001-2007 2008-2011 2012 2013

OU

OER

OA

MOOCS

Open Education

[…] However, open education is not limited to just open educational

resources.

It also draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible

learning;

and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to

benefit from the best ideas of their colleagues.

It "may also grow" to include new approaches to assessment, accreditation

and collaborative learning.

The range of opens"

European Policy Context

http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.europe-2020-flagship

Educational targets

•Reducing Early School leaving

•Increasing Higher Education Attainment

Additional Aims

•Making LLL and mobility a reality

•E&T quality and efficiency

•Equity, social cohesion, active citizenship

•Creativity and innovation

Opening up Education (Sept. 2013)

• Is not only about OER, MOOCs, content and learning resources

• Is not only about Technology-Enhanced Learning

• It is…

• part of a broader trends towards "openess"

• about widening access to education and learning (not only

formal),

• new ways of learning, assessing, recognising, and delivering

21st century competences

=> Vast, ambitious, difficult agenda

Summarising OE…

#iptsedu

I. Open Education & policy context

II. The OpenEdu project on open education institutions and OpenCredstudy on recognition of non-formal learning

OpenEdu Project (Dec 2013-Dec 2015)

• …explores institutional strategies on opennes in

higher education with the aim of supporting the

design of suitable policies at a European level

• IPTS on behalf of DG EAC

• http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/OpenEdu.html

OpenEdu Project: studies

Moocknowledge (OUNL and partners, Netherlands)

Focus on OpenUpEd MOOC learners (quantitative)

OpenCred (University of Leicester, UK)

Focus on recognition (qualitative)

OpenSurvey (ACA – Academic Cooperation Association, Belgium)

Focus on instituional engagement with Open Education (quantitative)

Representative survey: Spain, UK, Germany, Poland, France

OpenCases (University of Bath, UK)

Focus on institutional strategies on open education (qualitative)

FUN, OpenClassrooms, ALISON, FutureLearn, TORQUE, OERu, and less

known cases

Recognition of learning is…

a process of granting official status to learning

outcomes and/or competences, which can lead to the

acknowledgement of their value in society (UNESCO

2012)

Open Education Recognition Routeswork in progress (OpenEdu project)

Thinking about the future…

• Newborns of today will be 17 years old in 2030 but will

they/how will they "graduate" in 2035?

• We expect the world to be somehow different by then

The OpenCred study

• The OpenCred study is part of the OpenEdu project.

• It investigates the current status of recognition of non-

formal, open learning within the EU Member States. The

study identifies models and frameworks that are being

used by institutions and employer bodies for the

recognition of non-formal, open learning, and also to

ascertain the perceptions of learners who have benefitted

from such recognition.

The OpenCred Study Team

• Gabi Witthaus (ILI, University of Leicester)

• Mark Childs (ILI, University of Leicester)

• Grainne Conole (ILI, University of Leicester)

• Bernard Nkuyubwatsi (ILI, University of Leicester)

• Andreia Inamorato (IPTS, European Commission)

Yves Punie (IPTS, European Commission)

Study design - qualitative

Desk research

• 6 interviews (HE institutions, employer bodies and learners)

• 6 months

• http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/OpenCred/ISUNITWEBSITE-IPTS-JRC-EC.htm

• “If open education is to promote democratisation of

education and social and economic mobility, then it

must provide pathways to more widely accessible

credentials”.

• OpenCred study, 2014

What has the greatest impact on formality of

recognition in open learning?

Answer: robustness of assessment

Pic by Karl Baron on Flickr (CC-BY), reuse from Withauss 2014

Formality of recognition L0-3Level Descriptors

0 No formal recognition

1 Unauthenticated completion certificate or badge showing proof of

participation or completion

2 Authenticated certificate issued by provider (educational institution or

employer) that is accredited/ recognised in its own national context but no

information included on the nature of the course, the nature of the learner’s

achievement or the nature of the assessment process used.

3 Certificate providing exemption from a specific entrance exam

Authenticated certificate from an accredited/recognised institution with some

information included on the nature of the course, the nature of the learner’s

achievement and the nature of the assessment process used.

Certificate conferring fewer than 5 ECTS credits

Formality of recognition L4Level Descriptors

4 Certificate conferring a minimum of 5 ECTS credits

Certificate providing exemption from a specific module/course or part of

qualification at the issuing institution

Certificate which ‘(a) formally and clearly states on whose authority it was

issued, provides information on the content, level and study load, states that

the holder has achieved the desired learning objectives, provides information

on the testing methods employed and lists the credits obtained, according to

a standard international system or in some other acceptable format, (b) is

demonstrably and clearly based on authentication [i.e. student’s identity is

verified] and (c) states that the examinations have been administered under

supervision and specifies the nature of this supervision.’ (NVAO 2014, p.9)

What other aspects of open learning have

an impact on recognition?

Affordability for learners

Pic by epSos.de on Flickr (CC-BY), reuse from Withauss 2014

Affordability for learnersLevel Descriptors

0 More than €200

1 €80-€200

2 €25-€80

3 €1 to €25

4 No cost to learners

Eligibility for assessment/recognition

Pic by Hamburg Sankt-Georg.info on Flickr (CC-BY-NC)

Eligibility for assessment/recognitionLevel

Descriptors

0 No assessment

1 Only members of a specified group/ profession are eligible for completion certificates or badges (This is common practice in in-house CPD programmes offered by employers, and programmes run by employer bodies for members of a professional association.)

2 Open learners may obtain completion certificates or badges, but credit-bearing examinations are only available to registered students.

3 Examinations are available to all, but only students enrolled on a specified programme are eligible for academic credit. (This means that potentially a different institution could recognise the learning achievement of an open learner.)

4 Everyone is eligible for assessment and recognition.

Assessment-recognition matrix

Witthaus, Childs, Nkuyubwatsi, Conole, Santos & Punie (2014 submitted)

The OpenCred Recognition Framework

0

1

2

3

4

Formality ofrecognition

Affordabilityfor learner

Robustnessof

assessment

Eligibility forassessment/recognition

Typical MOOC with little or no recognition

0

1

2

3

4

Formality ofrecognition

Affordabilityfor learner

Robustnessof

assessment

Eligibility forassessment/recognition

E.g. the CARNet MOODLE MOOC; MOOCs on the French FUN platform

MOOC offering full recognition, but only enrolled students

are eligible

0

1

2

3

4

Formality ofrecognition

Affordabilityfor learner

Robustness ofassessment

Eligibility forassessment/r

ecognition

E.g. the University of Nicosia’s Digital Currencies MOOC

MOOC offering full recognition; assessment is paid for by

learners

0

1

2

3

4

Formality ofrecognition

Affordabilityfor learner

Robustness ofassessment

Eligibility forassessment/r

ecognition

E.g. University of Osnabrück MOOC on Data Structures and Algorithms

Insights from the study – catch 22

• “Robust assessment is central to recognition of open learning.

The need to pay for robust assessment leads institutions to

either pass on the cost of assessment to learners, or require

learners to enroll at the institution – in both cases reducing

the openness of the assessment and recognition process” .

• OpenCred study, 2014

Insights from the study

• “ Recognition of open learning is limited to

components of programmes rather than full

qualifications. No evidence of individuals receiving a

full credential for open learning has been found to

date” .

• OpenCred study, 2014

To think further…

HE institutions to recognise each others’ credentials

(need for clearer course and assessment description in

MOOCs, ECTS mapping, learner identity verification

mechanism, trust)

Interinstitutional collaboration to foster open educational

practices

Thank you for your attention!

Research Fellow: Andreia Inamorato dos Santos

(andreia-inamorato-dos.santos@ec.europa.eu)

@aisantos