Galley Proof 10/05/2019; 15:14 File: efi–1-efi190257.tex; BOKCTP/xjm p. 1 Education for Information -1 (2019) 1–18 1 DOI 10.3233/EFI-190257 IOS Press The use of Open Badges in library and information 1 science education in Estonia 2 Sirje Virkus 3 School of Digital Technologies, Tallinn University, Tallinn 10120, Narva mnt 25, Estonia 4 Tel.: +372 6199 582; Fax: +372 6409 481; E-mail: sirje.virkus@tlu.ee 5 1. Introduction 6 Educators around the world are changing the way they think about learning, teach- 7 ing and assessment in the digital environment, as well as the theories and practices 8 related to making claims about learning based on digital evidence; three elements 9 have combined to form new digital pathways for learning: (1) self-organizing learn- 10 ing groups, (2) open badges, and (3) changing conceptions of higher education (Gib- 11 son et al., 2016, p. 115). 12 This paper discusses the planning and implementation of Open Badges in library 13 and information science (LIS) education at Tallinn University (TU) in order to foster 14 and personalise student learning. The first part gives an overview of the concept and 15 nature of Open Badges, the second describes the use of Open Badges in the Study 16 Area of Information Sciences (SAIS) of the School of Digital Technologies of TU. 17 2. Literature review 18 2.1. What are Open or Digital Badges? 19 The use of Open Badges is relatively new and innovative in higher education, and 20 made possible by recent technological developments. There are several definitions 21 of Open or Digital Badges. For example, Mozilla Foundation (Mozilla Foundation, 22 2012, p. 3) defines Open Badges as “a symbol or indicator of an accomplishment, 23 skill, quality or interest used to set goals, motivate behaviours, represent achieve- 24 ments and communicate success in many contexts”. Gamrat et al. (2014, p. 1136) 25 note that digital badges are “online representations of learning experiences and ac- 26 tivities that tell a story about the learner’s education and skills.” Grant (2016, p. 3) 27 defines Open Badges as “digital image files that contain metadata, and their origins 28 are inseparable from the ethos of open source code and software protocols”. Liyana- 29 gunawardena et al. (2017, para. 1) define Open Badges as “a digital representation of 30 0167-8329/19/$35.00 c  2019 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved uncorrected proof version