#OpenEpic 2017
Once again this year, for the second year running, Bestr and Cineca support the OpenEpic international congress, which is now in its 15th edition.
Within the highly appreciated context of Palazzo Gnudi and with the sponsorship of the Municipality of Bologna, researchers, universities, companies and institutions from all over the world bring their personal experience and vision on the subject of open recognition of competencies and the technologies that can support it.
The 25th October has been declared Open Recognition Day and will therefore be devoted to disseminating the concept of open recognition to anyone who may benefit from it: educators, institutions, companies, members of the public. The day starts with an introductory Workshop and, in parallel for anyone who is already familiar with the Open Badge technology, the presentation of the 10 challenges the community wishes to set itself for developing Open Badges and the use of them. The two itineraries (Introduction to Open Badges on one side, challenges for Open Badges on the other) will continue for the whole day.
Open recognition of competencies in Italy and Europe
In a plenary session, Andrea Simoncini and Alessandra Biancolini, from ANPAL, the National Agency for Active Employment Policies will illustrate the direction taken by the legislator in Italy on the subject of Open recognition of competencies, a route towards transparency and flexibility.
The closing activity will be the presentation and public launching of the Erasmus+ project entitled MIRVA - Making Informal Recognition Visible and Accessible, in which Cineca is one of the partners
The standing of open recognition of competencies on the European level will be examined over the following days.
Thursday 26, a framework for university Open Education will be presented by Yves Punie, who is a member of the European Commission for science and knowledge; while Bert Jehoul di Selor (Agency for State Recruitment in Belgium) will present a tool for connecting the Open Badges to the European framework of competencies in ESCO, also on the basis of Europass.
Friday 27, the presentation will be held for OpenAgri, the all-Italian European project on urban innovation, and Diploma Supplement will also be discussed.
Open Badges in universities
Use of Open Badges in the universities is varied and growing, as shown by the numerous experiences and reflections included in the programme.
On Thursday 26 October, in the afternoon, Paolo Cherubini, from the University of Milan Bicocca, will illustrate the decision to issue Open Badges for degrees, while Prof. Monica Fedeli, from the University of Padua will share her institution's decision to issue Open Badges in order to enhance extracurricular competencies and the desire for growth in teachers, but also to activate administrative streamlining and benefits for both university administrative offices and the students themselves. Both these experiences are ongoing on the Bestr platform of Cineca.
Other contributions in the university context include that previously mentioned on university Open Education by Yves Punie, who is a member of the European Commission for science and knowledge (Thursday 26); a proposal for review of the Diploma Supplement towards greater digitalisation of European universities (Friday 27); a reflection on the employability of students by the UNSW of Sydney, Australia (Thursday 26) and an experiment on applications of Open Badges in Dutch universities (Friday 27).
Bestr and OpenAgri: refreshing the territory by adding value to competencies
On Friday 27, another European project will be presented, in which Cineca is one of the partners and where Open Badges play an important role. OpenAgri is a project with which a partnership led by the City of Milan, with Cineca among the partners, won the Urban Innovative Action contract, with a project aim of reclassifying the peri-urban farming area of Cascina Nosedo and setting up a wide-ranging set of competencies constructed through purpose selected innovative projects and given value by Open Badges on Bestr.
BORD and the growth of the Open Badges
The last edition of ePic saw the presentation of the Bologna Open Recognition Declaration, which has so far been undersigned by 49 Organisations, including Cineca and Bicocca, and 179 individuals. This year discussion will continue on open recognition of competencies and the tools that will support it, 10 challenges for Open Badges will be analysed, to ensure that they will be increasingly capable of supporting the scenarios that companies, institutions and members of the public consider necessary.
How to attend
Entrance to the congress is subject to payment, which is essential to sustain the congress itself. The single 25th is accessible for a reduced fee.
In either case registration is required, on https://www.conftool.net/epic2017/