Kerri Lemoie, CTO of Achievery, will join us next week from Providence, RI, to discuss her team’s work with digital credentials, micro-credentials, Open Badges, and API functionality to integrate Open Badges into Open edX. Read on to learn more about how they got started!
How does working with Open edX relate to Achievery’s mission?
Achievery provides trusted digital credentials that recognize and verify skills gained anywhere. These credentials are earned online and offline and represent personalized learning pathways for millions of people building their own reputation through stackable credentials. We are one of the most active companies in supporting the development and adoption of the open standards of Open Badges, which is an initiative of the Mozilla and MacArthur Foundations. As strong supporters of this movement to better recognize all kinds of learning, we are incentivized to help get Open Badges adopted on a widely used open platform like Open edX.
How did you first hear about the Open edX initiative?
Achievery works in the online learning space, so we’ve been aware of Open edX since its inception. We have been working on a partnership between George Washington University, University of Indiana, and IBL Studios to integrate Open Badges into Lorena Barba’s “Numerical” MOOC since October 2014.
What’s been your focus in your work with Open edX?
Creating a way to provide micro-credentials (Open Badges) that reflect actions taken by students, such as the successful completion of weekly quizzes, peer mentoring, or other customizable triggers defined by professors.
What are some other projects you’ve worked on on Open edX or in the EdTech industry?
Achievery is proud to support Digital Promise’s “Educator Microcredentials” initiative, which is redefining how teacher professional development works. These are research-backed practices to improve the teaching profession. We also support the Online Model United Nations in their e-certification initiatives that span the globe. We’re also actively participating in the development and support of the Open Badges Directory, the search engine for Open Badges.
What inspired you and what keeps you inspired to work in the EdTech space?
Like many programmers, I’ve learned in a wide variety of contexts, from training at Amazon to using StackOverflow, online forums, and peers, and often just putting my head down and tackling tough projects. A lot of people in the world don’t have official credentials but have a ton of proof demonstrating mastery. We’re passionate about building better ways to support all types of learning in different environments.
Follow Kerri and Achievery on Twitter.
