Sharing a new collection of resources covering the history of digital badges in Pittsburgh, plus key considerations and design principles for developing high-quality digital badges for learning.

It isn’t Pittsburgh’s first conversion into a living campus, but it is the largest. After a trial run last summer, and armed with a new grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the Sprout Fund tweaked and expanded Cities of Learning to ready the initiative for 2015.

Back in November, more than 400 educators, artists, students, and learning experts came together for the Pittsburgh Learning Pathways Summit. There, they exchanged ideas and envisioned pathways that would harness the region’s diverse learning opportunities. Now, seven working groups are looking for feedback from fellow subject-matter experts.

Experts say the learning kids are doing on their own time, outside of schools, needs more attention. How do we recognize this learning? How do we take better advantage of the new kinds of information and online collaboration available to today’s young people? One possible answer that got some traction in 2014 is Open Badges.

Most of that out-of-school learning goes undocumented. So how can we track which skills kids pick up when they’re away from the classroom? And once they’ve mastered those skills, how can we get better at helping kids build on them? Educators and students will explore these questions and more on November 21 at the Pittsburgh Learning Pathways Summit. They will gather with librarians, artists, and researchers to explore innovative concepts, like digital badges and connected learning pathways, as a continued step in connecting in- and out-of-school learning.

We talk a lot about learning networks and pathways on this blog. But we often get the question, “What does a network actually look like? Is it a concrete thing or just an abstract idea?” As we approach the Pittsburgh Learning Pathways Summit on November 21, we thought it might be a good time to answer that question, and describe what we mean by Learning Pathways.

As we head back to school, helping kids develop character traits like persistence and confidence may be just as critical as the “hard” STEM skills when it comes to success down the line.

Today is National Summer Learning Day. We’ve launched Pittsburgh’s City of Learning initiative to ensure learning doesn’t stop when school lets out.

Citywide campaign expands access to educational opportunities for children and youth in Pittsburgh and connects learning to real world opportunity through the use of Digital Badges.

This summer, Pittsburgh will joining other Cities of Learning in a groundbreaking initiative to pair summer learning with digital badges. Apply now.

Experts say summer programs that focus on enrichment instead of just remedial skills may make a difference when students come back to class this fall.

A new credentialing method for showcasing talents and learning expands.

The Digital Media and Learning Badge Development Research Competition is making a call for proposals! Learn how to gain $75,000-$250,000 for your research!