Grading soft skills with open badges

Abstract

The paper presents how the concept and technology of Open Badges are applied in the GRASS project for acknowledging, grading, awarding and recognizing learners' efforts and achievements in developing their soft skills (like self-regulation, leadership, collaboration, skilled communication, problem solving and innovation). Specifically, the paper describes a 4-phase model, called SAGRADA that was developed to support the process of awarding badges in the context of the GRASS project. The core of the SAGRADA model is a set of metrics, carefully developed for specific practical application cases following well-known pedagogical approaches. The metrics enable measuring and tracking learners' efforts in developing their soft skills. The paper also presents a specific application case based on the SAGRADA model, including the preliminary results of the first observational study, and plans for applying learning analytics methods and techniques in further activities of the GRASS project.