OEPass European Multiplier Event in Berlin
The OEPass team held a strategy workshop on Future Scenarios for Digital Credentials and Open
Learning Recognition at the International Strategies Beyond Borders conference on December 10, 2019 in Berlin. The conference was organized by Hochschulforum Digitalisierung (HFD) and DAAD. Our partner Stifterverband is a leading player at HFD, therefore integrating the Multiplier Event into the strategy conference was a logical step. It gave us the opportunity to discuss and validate our results with a larger audience. Marie Ullmann and Florian Rampelt were on site for Stifterverband, while DHBW was represented by Jochen Ehrenreich and Raimund Hudak.
The workshop started with a presentation on open education, digital credentials and the strategic implications for higher education, followed by a short overview of the OEPass project. To find answers to the question of how open education through credentialisation could transform higher education by 2030, the project team determined five future scenarios:
- A wallet in your pocket (fully open)
- European scenario (hybrid – focus on standards)
- Fluidity between Higher and Continuing Education (hybrid – focus on collaboration)
- Higher Education Institutions as credentials clearing house and testing center (hybrid – focus on quality degrees)
- Higher Education Institutions resist open learning recognition (fully closed)
For the following discussion, the participants were divided into three groups:
- Group 1: Labour Market and Society 6.0 (employer perspective)
- Group 2: Learning in the Cyberspace – Higher Education Institutions in a Virtual World
(institutional perspective) - Group 3: A Brave New World – Technology & the Learner in 2030 (learner perspective)
Each group developed their own ideas in a three-stage process (10 minutes each) and shared them after each stage:
– “dreamer” – creative distruction;
– “critics” – inhibitors and barriers;
– “realistic”.
Finally, the participants were asked to select their top 3 scenarios using a scoring system. The result showed that Scenario 3: Fluidity between Higher and Continuing Education (hybrid – focus on collaboration) is considered as the most likely, followed by Scenario 2: European scenario (hybrid – focus on standards) and Scenario 4: Higher Education Institutions as credentials clearing house and testing center (hybrid – focus on quality degrees).
We would like to thank all workshop participants for the intense discussion. The workshop provided valuable input for validating and further refining the future scenarios.
DHBW
