Open Badges 3.3 - Hashing the recipient attribute

The last of three screencasts on the basic requirements for setting-up a server to be a badge issuer. In this screencast I look at hashing the earners email address with the slat value. This hashed value is then used in the recipient attribute of the json file. This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: Do you feel confident with a server side programming language like PhP or Python? If not, do you have access to programmer resources to assist?

Open Badges 3.2 - Configuring for the json content-type

The second of three screencasts on the basic requirements for setting-up a server to be a badge issuer. In this screencast I look at configuring the web server to support the json content-type. This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: Do you feel confident with your basic server administration skills? If not, do you have access to server administration resources to assist?

Open Badges 3.1 - Importance of a stable URL

The first of three screencasts on the basic requirements for setting a server to be a badge issuer. In this screencast I provide an overview of the basic server and configuration needs to issue a badge manually, and discuss the importance of a stable URL for the origin, criteria and evidence json attributes. This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: Manually issuing a badge is not the only approach to accomplish this task? Can you think of one (maybe two) other ways to issue a badge using the OBI?

Inquire, Paraphrase, Acknowledge, Advocate

So I was reading through the information streams created around this years OSCON. And it looks to be an outstanding event... focused on the impact the open movement has had at many levels and in many realms. All good! I am so happy to be a part of it and grateful to be a part of the Open Badges initiative with Mozilla Foundation. A lot of my current activity is with building community in and around the implementation of the Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI). So what really resonated with me are the four traits for a good community as lifted by Tim O'Reilly from David Eaves keynote. The four traits are; Inquire, Paraphrase, Acknowledge, Advocate. But what does all this mean to community building? So I looked up each and what could each community member do to assist in building a strong sustainable and healthy community.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roland/7436172034/

• Inquire - To seek information by asking a question; curious; probing.
  Always be asking questions and seek information to understand each community member and their positions and context.
  
  
• Paraphrase - A restatement of a text or passage in another form or other words, often to clarify meaning; clearness; rewording.
  Confirm that you have understood, add strength to another community members words by showing your understanding as it related to a particular issue within the community. Even restate within a different context as it relates to the community.
  
  
• Acknowledge - to show or express appreciation or gratitude for. to acknowledge a favor. To express thanks or gratitude for. To admit the existence, reality, or truth of.
  Let people know they are welcome in the community by acknowledging their contribution, engagement and presence. Confirm their contributions by tying them back to current and emerging truths within the community and its shared knowledge.
  
  
• Advocate - to support or recommend publicly; plead for or speak in favour of. to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly.
  Speak out for all the good work the community is doing. Choose the topics of interest to you, within the community, and speak passionately of them. Assist in keeping all things moving forward; network, engage, understand, promote, and share. Be positive... advocate.

References:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
http://dictionary.reference.com/
https://twitter.com/timoreilly/statuses/225622408231534592
http://www.oscon.com/oscon2012/public/schedule/detail/24859

Open Badges Step 2.3: Technical Prerequisites - Server Infrastructure

The last of three screencasts on the technical prerequisites for integrating with the Open Badges Infrastructure. In this screen cast I discuss the server infrastructure required for each of the three roles of; issuer, earner, and displayer. I mostly spend my time describing the server needs of the issuer, where the displayer is quite similar to the issuer, especially if it becomes a fat displayer. And by fat I mean it offers a lot of displayer services related to badges and their earners. Again, the earner requires the least infrastructure, but can require more if we begin down the road of federated backpacks. More on the federated backpack in a later screencast.This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: If the server infrastructure for the issuer is mostly about storing and managing earner, evidence, criteria and badge information, what information needs to be stored and managed by the displayer? Compare and contrast the server infrastructure needs of the issuer and the displayer.

Open Badges Step 2.2: Technical Prerequisites - Technology Stack(s)

The second of three screencasts on the technical prerequisites for integrating with the Open Badges Infrastructure. In this screen cast I discuss the technology stack(s) required for each of the three roles of; issuer, earner, and displayer. This discussion is more of a logical view of the technologies you need. The idea being we are building on ideas from the non-technical perspective. Getting deeper into the technology will come in later screencasts.This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: Why does the issuer require the most technology? Can the earner get away with having no technology beyond internet access and a facebook account? Can you think of a reason why a displayer would require more technology than the issuer?

Open Badges Step 2.1: Technical Prerequisites - JavaScript

The first of three screencasts on the technical prerequisites for integrating with the Open Badges Infrastructure. In this screen cast I discuss the basic javascript you need to know to manually issue badges. I also touch upon the prerequisites if you move beyond manually issuing badges and integrate with an LMS or other server application. This screencast is a part of a step-by-step guide built to support the onboarding of the non-technical OBI implementer.

Reflective Activity: If you are going to integrate badge issuing with your learning management system (LMS) or other server application, do you need more than just JavaScript?

WebGL Interview 2

My learning in the open journey in building learning resources for the Mozilla Ignite initiative continues. 8 days back I had the amazing opportunity to speak with Mozillians Benoit Jacob, Ben Moskowitz and Bobby Richter, the conversation created the following pocast. This podcast was a discussion about some of the ideas forming from the Ignite challenge and we discussed what would be required to implement these ideas using WebGL within the superfast-superwide GENI network. The purpose of this podcast was to further identifying technologies and approaches so we can create focused learning labs, and set up experiments that others can follow and use as learning resources.

WebGL Interview 1

My learning in the open journey in building learning resources for the Mozilla Ignite initiative continues. 10 days back I had the amazing opportunity to speak with Mozillians Ben Moskowitz and Bobby Richter, the conversation created the following pocast. This podcast was a blue-sky discussion about using WebGL within the superfast-superwide GENI network. The purpose of this podcast was to start identifying technologies and approaches so we can create focused learning labs, and set up experiments that others can follow and use as learning resources.

Open Badges Step 1: Claim your first badge

In this screencast I look at some of the technical resources available for introducing someone to the open badges infrastructure (OBI). The screencast is a part of the Introduction to Open Badges Step by Step guide. The main theme of this screencast is to claim a couple of badges and to look at a number of badge issuers.

Reflective Activity: Once you have earned, claimed and displayed a few badges take some time to reflect upon the three main roles of open badges; the issuer, the earner and the displayer.

Open Badges Step 0.4: P2Pu Open badges 101

In this screencast I look at Peer 2 Peer Universities Open badges 101 course. The screencast is a part of the Introduction to Open Badges Step by Step guide. The main theme of this screencast is to encourage people to familiarize themselves with and complete the course.

Reflective Activity: How could Peer 2 Peer University issue badges. Should they give badges for completing individual challenges or for complete courses? What other badges within peer based learning could P2Pu issue?

The followers have spoken

Well it looks like my poll asking for assistance on which half-finished blog post I should complete next has provided me adequate results. Other than the injection of posts regarding open badges and ignite learning labs I will spend my next while completing the following posts, in this order;

1. Traditionalists, Reformers and Outliers - 54% voters
2. Computer Science taught as an Art - 45% voters
3. Digital Me (Mozilla + Life-Long Learning) - 36% voters
4. Using smart phones within a connectivist approach - 36% voters

What fun!!!

Help me complete my half-finished blog posts

After reading a couple of posts on Boris Mann's blog, in particular; "The Posts That You Don't Write". I got thinking about all the half written blog posts I have. My blogging style is to write down ideas for blog posts as unpublished blog posts. As the ideas pop into my head I create the post, add notes and references, loop around, and often finish them off. This can take months, sometimes over a year... most of the time they get finished (or deleted). Currently, I have over 20 blog posts like this, some are almost finished some are not. So I wondered, what would happen if I put this out to vote.

 Which of these half-finished blog posts should I complete?