Dana-Kristin Mah

Foundation of Digital Badges and Micro-Credentials

This edited volume provides insight into how digital badges may enhance formal, non-formal and informal education by focusing on technical design issues including organizational requirements, learning and instructional design, as well as deployment. It features current research exploring the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence of the utilization of digital badges as well as case studies that describe current practices and experiences in the use of digital badges for motivation, learning, and instruction in K-12, higher education, workplace learning, and further education settings.

Moving Forward with Digital Badges in Education

Digital badges are an emerging technology in education that symbol achievements, knowledge, skills, and competencies in various educational contexts and thus contribute to meaningful learning pathways. This edited volume presents a collection of works and findings on digital badges from multiple perspectives concerning education: theoretical approaches, design implementations of badging systems as well as various case studies and research findings, which give valuable insight into practical experiences and challenges in twenty-first century learning experience. This epilogue provides an analysis of the previous chapters with focus on three major themes that have emerged: (1) the impact of digital badges on learning and assessment, (2) digital badges’ design and technological considerations, and (3) stakeholders’ perspective on digital badges concerning acceptance. We aim to move forward with digital badges in education and therefore conclude with directions for further research on digital badges in different educational contexts such as K-12, higher education, and organizations.

Academic staff perspectives on first-year students’ academic competencies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the expectations, perceptions and role understanding of academic staff using a model of academic competencies (i.e. time management, learning skills, technology proficiency, self-monitoring and research skills). Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten members of academic staff at a German university. Participants’ responses to the open-ended questions were coded inductively, while responses concerning the proposed model of academic competencies were coded deductively using a priori categories. Findings Participating academic staff expected first-year students to be most competent in time management and in learning skills; they perceived students’ technology proficiency to be rather high but their research skills as low. Interviews indicated a mismatch between academic staff expectations and perceptions. Practical implications These findings may enable universities to provide support services for first-year students to help them to adjust to the demands of higher education. They may also serve as a platform to discuss how academic staff can support students to develop the required academic competencies, as well as a broader conversation about higher education pedagogy and competency assessment. Originality/value Little research has investigated the perspectives of academic staff concerning the academic competencies they expect of first-year students. Understanding their perspectives is crucial for improving the quality of institutions; their input into the design of effective support services is essential, as is a constructive dialogue to identify strategies to enhance student retention.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of School Development

An in-depth understanding of the complexity of factors influencing school organization and development is a prerequisite for successfully responding to constant change within schools, where teachers are expected to play an integral part. This study investigates pre-service teachers’ understanding of relevant fields of school development. A sample of 951 pre-service teachers participated in this study. Findings indicate that pre-service teachers’ understanding is rather low. Even a 6-month school-based training program does not provide a deeper understanding of factors influencing school development. A competency-based training program focusing on school development is suggested.