</IoC Accreditation and Blockchain-verified Badges>
IoC Accreditation Standard
Led by The Open University, and including support from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, the IoC has established a process for a novel accreditation for Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The new IoC Computing Accreditation Standard recognises degree-level courses that focus on learner’s competence, in addition to academic knowledge.
This helps to address the misalignment between skills provision and industry needs, resulting in poor employability for learners and a continued skills gap for employers. The new standard is a way to recognise learners have the digital skills needed for the workplace.
Created using the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), which is a global IT skills framework recognised in over 200 countries, graduates with the IoC Accreditation Standard will meet the requirements of both the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) outcomes statement and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) subject benchmark statement.
For more details on Accreditation Standard, please visit the IoC Standard web pages.
IoC Blockchain-verified Badges
IoC Badges are a crucial element of our toolbox to transform computing education. This form of micro accreditation allows us to give credit for learning wherever and whenever it occurs. We have already issued badges across a range of IoC learning events as well as providing a fine-grained credit map for our new IoC Computing Accreditation Standard.
Our use of blockchains for recording purposes mean that IoC badges can be verified easily and securely without loss of privacy.
We are using the Open Badges specification as the foundation for the badges issued through our badging API and website. We have extended the Open Badges Specification to enable blockchain token-based verification of Badges. In addition, IoC badges are aligned to a new accreditation standard we are developing based on the SFIA model.
What is an Open Badge?
“Open Badges are verifiable, portable digital badges with embedded metadata about skills and achievements. They comply with the Open Badges Specification and are shareable across the web.
Each Open Badge is associated with an image and information about the badge, its recipient, the issuer, and any supporting evidence. All this information may be packaged within a badge image file that can be displayed via online CVs and social networks. Thousands of organisations across the world issue badges in accordance with the Open Badges Specification, from non-profits to major employers to educational institutions at all levels.”
– openbadges.org
For more details visit the Open Badges website.
Contact us if you want to be involved…
The Institute of Coding (IoC) is committed to supporting Universities and organizations through the process of designing, managing and issuing their IoC badges. We will work collaboratively with you to setup and run badging for IoC related events.
For more detailed information on what is involved in Issuing IoC badges, please read our Badge Issuer documentation.
If you are interested in issuing IoC Badges for an event you are running, please email us at ioc-badges@open.ac.uk or visit the Open University’s badging page.