Research paper presentation for Fab13 at Santiago (http://www.fabfoundation.org).

1. Fab 13 – international fab lab conference – Santiago Chile
Digital Badges and Skills
Recognition in Fab Lab
Geoffroi Garon-Épaule, M.A., PhD Student
Researcher and PhD student in communication, UQAM (Montréal, Canada)
Entrepreneur – Human Capital valorization, Digital Pygmalion
Vice-president, Communautique (Living Lab + Fab Lab)
Research paper presentation | Santiago, Chile, August 2, 2017

2. Key message
• Lifelong learning and the development of new skills are needed to
contribute to a more interconnected, digital and increasingly
complex world.
• Today, learning takes place through new collaborative spaces and
open innovation (or third place). Fabrication laboratory (Fab Lab)
is a great place to develop new digital skills and 21st century skills.
• We need new tools to evaluate and recognize learning in context.
• Digital badges as a sociotechnical device or digital social system
fulfill this role by allowing credential to be generated via custom
and shareable digital files.
• These files provide access to a set of metadata describing a skill,
experience or achievement. The use of this type of
microcertification makes it possible to evaluate and develop the
skills acquired in formal and non-formal contexts.

3. Project
The research mandate granted to the Community
Informatics Lab at UQAM was designed to introduce the
first pedagogical, technical and formal milestones of an
open badge system that facilitates the recognition and
development of skills and acquired skills through training
and workshops of Fab Lab.
Hub for experimentation and
training in technological and social
open innovation
8
2011
First in Canada
2010

4. Theoretical Framework
Community Informatics design (Harvey, 2014) is a new field of applied
communication that proposes an original research intervention (a
methodology) for the domain of codesign, in the context of learning
organizations and smart cities (e-Services, online applications, platforms,
virtual communities, innovation ecosystems) aimed at intentional social
change. Applied science and a generic methodology which make it
possible to make the bridge between the designer who seeks solutions by
synthesis and the scientist by analysis.
Digital social systems are complex communication spaces in which
various types of subspaces are generated and evolved. It is a way of
modelling new collaborative spaces and sociotechnical systems. They can
take many forms and configurations such as: communities of practice and
learning, Living Lab, MOOC, Fab Lab, creativity hub, help platforms,
corporate portals, collaborative social networks, etc. Thus, we consider a
system of digital badges as a digital social system.

5. Methodology
We intervened in this exploratory research with an intervention
research methodology based on Community Informatics Design.
This methodological approach makes it possible to intervene directly
in the environment and to contribute actively to the development of
the project.
The period of the project was from October 2015 to November
2016. Despite a little scientific literature, we carried out a
documentary research and carried case studies in order to
document the uses of digital badges in various contexts. As part of
this research, we conducted several types of meetings and activities
to validate our research and advance the project. (Canada, France,
USA, China).

6. Results

7. Types of Competencies
Digital skills (Cefrio, 2016)
Three main families of competences form the digital skills:
• Technical skills: the ability to use technology effectively;
• Collaborative skills: the ability to collaborate and solve problems
in technological environments;
• Cognitive skills: the ability to select, interpret and evaluate digital
information.
Skills of the 21st century (Remake learning, 2015)
• Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking,
Design Thinking, Empathy, Openness, Persistence, Prototyping,
Research, System Thinking.

8. Digital Badges

9. Definition of digital badge
Digital badges is a digital file (web page) that is a visual
representation of a learning or accomplishment. It’s a tool that
confirms the evaluation of specific experiences.
They can be hosted, manage and shared across digital files
containing a set of encrypted metadata that describe skill,
experience or level of accomplishment.
The use of certifications and digital badges (Belshaw, 2015;
Davidson and Goldberg, 2009; Fleischman and Wallace, 2011;
Friesen and Wihak 2013; Garon-Épaule, 2015; Gee, 2011; Grant
2014, Shepard 2011; Thomas and Brown 2011) will enable
evaluation and valorization skills acquired in the formal and non-
formal context of co-design and to improve the digital literacy of
users, practitioners and citizens.

10. Netmath
https://www.buzzmath.com/badges

11. Netmath
https://www.buzzmath.com/badges

12. Makewaves

13. Mouse
http://www.mousesquad.org

14. Mouse
http://www.mousesquad.org

15. CADRE21
For Teachers wishing to engage in an active approach to
professional development, continuing education platform,
CADRE21 provides personalized learning opportunities. It enables
effective skills recognition through recognized digital badges. The
skills involved are threefold: ICT skills, teaching strategies and
classroom management. This provides flexible training, open and
modular, aligns with the international standards of skills and
standards. The CADRE21 supports the human capital development
of schools across the international Francophonie.

16. CADRE21

17. Badge numérique : l’écriture collaborative 1 - Explorateur

18. https://www-304.ibm.com/services/learning/ites.wss/zz-en?pageType=page&c=a0011023
IBM badge program

19. http://www.sept2016.humanresourcestoday.com/david-leaser
IBM badge program

20. https://www.youracclaim.com/org/ibm/badge/watson-analytics-conversation-ready
IBM badge program

21. • Microsoft
• Oracle
• Cisco
• Autodesk
• Adobe
• HR Certification Institute
Corporate digital badges

22. Advantages of digital badges
The main advantage of this technology is to recognize formal and
non-formal learning and generate confidence. There are also a host
of other benefits such as:
• Valuing a greater diversity of learning and skills
• Mapping learning pathways
• Motivate the level of learner engagement and retention
• Recognize the different paths leading to a badge
• Develop and enhance cross-curricular competencies and skills that
are often difficult to qualify (communicate, collaborate, creativity).
• Support the implementation and recognition of learning with
pedagogical approaches based on skills and projects (learning
experience).
• Increase the identity and reputation of learners
• Enabling learners to discover peers by interest in a community
• Increase the brand of an organization

23. The value is built around
relationships among the
different actors and the
ecosystem that support
digital badges.
Issuer : Create and awards
the badge
Earner : Receive and
communicate the badge
Consumer : Recognize the
value of the badge
Earner
Issuer
Consumer
Trust
ecosystem
Digital badge value

24. The standard Open Badges were created in 2011
by Mozilla to ensure that badges may belong to
the learner, to ensure safety, transfer to other
platforms and sustainability of these in time. Since
2017, IML Global manage the standard.
Technical aspect of digital badges

25. • The administrative component (dashboard) can
create badges, granting them to make effective
management and value them.
• The user component (portfolio) presents itself as a
portfolio in which students collect, manage and
categorize their digital badges and above display for
communicating and sharing (social media, website, etc.).
Digital badge system

26. • BackPack
• BadgeOS
• BadgeFactor
• Badgr
• P2PU
• Salava
Open
Platforms
Private
Platforms
• Acclaim
• Badgecraft
• Badgelist
• Credly
• Openbadge
Factory -
Passport
• Canvas
• edX
• Moodle
• Totara
LMS
Platforms
Digital badge platforms

27. Digital badges uses
• Motivate the learner in his learning.
• Value the learner's actions by adding value.
• Recognize learning and experiences.
• Certify the acquisition of knowledge, the
development of skills and abilities.

28. Uses of digital badge in Fab Labs

29. www.communautique.quebec
Motivate, valorize , recognize, certify
Digital badge prototype

30. www.communautique.quebec
Make a drone Make a 3D printer
Motivate, valorize, recognize, certify
Non-formal training
Digital badge prototype

31. Impacts of digital badges in Fab Labs
• to improve the evaluation process of training and
apprenticeships
• better articulate and credibilize the offer of training
offered in relation to market needs
• to foster the networking and connections between the
actors of education and the labour market
• increase and support the development of skills for all
and lifelong learning
• to encourage the inclusion of Communautique in the
various discussions on the formalization of the corpus of
competencies through digital badges
• contributed to the development of skills repositories in
Fabs Labs in Quebec and internationally

32. Impact of digital badges
• develop new skills and new jobs for the future
• to contribute to the development of a free software
platform of digital badge system
• transfer the tools and knowledge developed to other
types of organizations and areas
• better position for popular education groups in emerging
approaches to skill recognition and learning
• develop Québec expertise in digital badges and develop
relationships with international communities interested
in the subject

33. Future research
• Digital badges in the context of organizations that have a
Living Lab and a Fab Lab
• Creation of an open referential on the skills and uses of
badges in Fab Labs Network
• Digital Badges and Blockchain Technology

34. Geoffroi Garon-Épaule, M.A., Ph.D Student
@geoffroigaron - www.geoffroigaron.com
Researcher and Ph.D student in Communication, UQAM
www.lca.uqam.ca
Entrepreneur, Digital Pygmalion
www.digitalpygmalion.com
Vice-president, Communautique (Living Lab + Fab Lab)
www.communautique.quebec
E-mail : conseil@geoffroigaron.com
Phone : +1 514 773-3332
Thanks
This work shall be made available in
accordance with the Licence Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International.