Abstract
This chapter follows the journey of Participate, and diverse organizations within its platform, utilizing a peer review micro-credential system through adult learner research, product development, and design iterations. Throughout the past eight years, Participate has developed and tested various peer review structures where learners and reviewers leverage chat functionality to provide real-time formative feedback and collaborate to build new ideas together throughout the micro-credential, not just at the end in summative review. This chapter covers the evolution of the design and development of digital credentials to support social learning, provide evidence of competencies and impact, and create the foundation for reputation building and trust in an online community of practice (CoP).
TopThe Research Behind Social Learning
In 2013, Participate (formerly VIF) provided an overview of one of the first digital credential systems for educators (Keane et al., 2013). Researchers observed in early phases of implementation that educators regularly learned from one another. As learning between these educators expanded beyond the classroom, it became essential to recognize specific competencies and expertise gained from professional learning communities, online courses, and other innovative, education-oriented environments. Open digital credentials are meant to recognize and capture learning. Integrated within a social learning context, Participate’s digital credentials capture collaboration and trust through embedded learning interactions and peer mentorship within the micro-credential itself.
One year later, Participate received a grant through the Digital Media and Learning (DML) competition focused on trust (Keane, 2016). The organization’s expertise and background in building online learning programs for educators and other adult learners sparked a redesign of the platform, and of the digital credential system, to support social learning and CoPs. The digital credential system needed to become the centerpiece of the platform that supported evidence-based theoretical frameworks of social learning.
Building knowledge and competencies in any field occurs through processes of co-construction (Vygotsky, 1978). When individuals work together, Vygotsky theorized, their understandings are deeper and more developed. Competency-building occurs when ideas take on new meaning and learners create something unique that they otherwise could not construct on their own. Similarly, Dewey (1916) observed that when students engaged in real-world, practical learning, they developed knowledge through creativity and collaboration. Dewey believed education is critical for participatory democracy; he championed the importance of connecting classroom, community, and learners' lived experiences. The importance of social development, collaboration, and social constructivism must be central to understanding learning and its close connection to identity formation. Social constructivism focuses on the nature of learning and the importance of cultural and social contexts. According to Vygotsky,
Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. (1978)
Key Terms in this Chapter
Value Cycles: A framework for evaluating successful communities to fully capture the impact of micro-credentials within CoPs. The value cycles (Wenger, Trayer, 2011 AU29: The in-text citation "Wenger, Trayer, 2011" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ) identify the indicators of an effective, successful CoP and the impact that organizations and members experience at each stage. These cycles: Immediate, Potential, Applied, Realized and Reframed are not intended to be linear but rather dynamic in nature. Communities can flow in and through these cycles during their lifespan.
Micro-Credentials: A subset of credentials that can be used in larger pathways that can build toward a larger credential or certification. They emphasize specific and more fine-grained skills and competencies and are often developmental with relationships to other micro-credentials and related credentials.
Landscapes of Practice: Encompasses various communities of practice to capture an overarching body of knowledge.
Community of Practice (CoP): Communities of practice are groups of people who come together over shared focus on a specific area of work or knowledge domain. The group works and learns regularly together and improve their practice through that continuous interaction(s). There are 3 domains of a CoP: domain, practice, and community.
Peer Review: Community members and mentors provide feedback to the credential earner throughout the entire learning process. The feedback between mentor and mentee is baked into the metadata of a credential, emphasizing its role in the development of competencies.
Open Badges: A type of digital badge that are verifiable, portable, and packed with information about skills and achievements. Open badges meet a specific standard that ensures portability between systems and bakes metadata into a badge for consistent issuing across platforms.
Social Learning: Social learning theory centers scaffolding and modeling in the learning process.