Digital Poster
Angela Elkordy
Doctoral Candidate/Fellow
Eastern Michigan University
Biography
Angela Elkordy is a doctoral candidate and Fellow in the Educational Leadership program (Instructional Technologies cognate) at Eastern Michigan University. Ms. Elkordy’s area of research is educational leadership and the innovative implementation of technologies to enhance learning and professional practice in K-12 learning contexts, particularly for under-served groups.
Abstract
In the past year, there has been significant curiosity about the idea of digital badge ecosystems as supplemental or alternative credentialing; badging systems have been proposed to measure, recognize, communicate and reward the acquisition of skill sets, competencies and content knowledge.
Particularly pertinent for this year’s conference theme are the discussions regarding learning and assessment. At the nexus of this discussion, in higher education and K12 contexts, is the increasingly permeable and artificial partition between formal and informal learning. Much of this learning, particularly for teens, is self-motivated and interest-driven. As a former K12 teacher and administrator perplexed and concerned by the lack of recognition for, at times very sophisticated informal learning by teens, I am interested in the potential of digital badges, particularly for preteens and teens. Often the skills teens are acquiring are digitally-mediated and socially based, which are greatly needed in our knowledge-based, global workplace, but are neither regularly taught nor assessed in formal learning environments.
Thus, my dissertation research focuses on learning and assessment using digital badge schema for teens. The purpose of the design-based study is to research the design and implementation of robust digital badge schema for mastery learning, bridging informal and formal learning contexts; the Connected Learning model is the conceptual framework. Outcomes of this study are solutions to problems of practice as well as theory which will inform the use of digital badge schema as an educational intervention in similar contexts.