Learning Passport

Here I research the idea of creating a portable, secure, learning passport.

A key objective is to enable ubiquitous learning by using mobile technology to enable teachers and students to study anywhere regardless of the availability of internet connectivity or even electricity.

This enables nomadic teaching and Popup Classes to take place anywhere in the world simply by using a mobile phone. Perhaps it may also be useful to connect the mobile phone to an analogue radio, boombox or domestic wiki. Even better a video projector.

Alternatively a class could take place, by listening to an FM radio broadcast, or a live talk by a local speaker or teacher and the mobile phone is used to record student feedback, questions or summaries of a group discussion.

In this way face-to-face discussions in a local setting, can be connected to similar discussion happening elsewhere in the world. Remote experts can provide advice, or a research group in another country or city can pick up on the themes and learning - enabling a rich form af asynchronous discussion between the learning groups.

Education Relief Foundation ERF is an NGO based in Geneva. Their brief is to provide education in locations where provision is poor.

The basic idea is to create an open standard for a document, which you can host online or carry around as a single file on your phone, laptop, or USB stick, and that functions to store and present a record of all your learning experiences.

This document would function more or less as a wanderbuch or an apprenticeship log, which can be co-signed by multiple parties.

A good way of thinking about it would be as a standalone document that contains multiple open badges that are able to demonstrate the learning experiences and qualifications of the bearer.

A particular aspect of the proposal is to leverage the decentralised architecture of json-ld and portable linked profiles in order to create an active network of learning opportunities.

A learning passport that when hosted online (or in a mobile application), enables the matching of offers and wants in terms of leaning experiences, becomes more than simply a proof of qualification. It becomes a Living Document.

For instance a learning passport could be linked to an ongoing learning experience (as in Lifelong Learning).

As an Agile Student explores an area of knowledge, they would update their learning passport with linked data that describes the areas of knowledge they are currently exploring. Once they have completed this learning, it can then be checked of or "signed" by the agile tutor.