Shaping the skills-based movement and skills ecosystem

Ardcairn’s founder, Grainne Hamilton, has shaped pioneering skills initiatives that have created a paradigm shift in how we cultivate and discover talent. Her work includes:

• Shaping development of the Open Badge standard that is credited with seeding the skills credentials movement
• Creating the concept and blueprints of Digital Badge Pathways with Mozilla
• Creating the blueprints for Cities of Learning UK with the RSA and DigitalMe
• Overseeing the transition of the Open Badge standard from incubation by Mozilla to stewardship by IMS Global (now 1EdTech) as a steering group member of the Digital Credentialing Initiative
• Steering group membership of the Open Badge Network, which provided the first policy recommendations for digital credentials across the European Union
• Founding the world’s first nationwide digital badges network in 2013 (Open Badges in Scottish Education Group)
• Defining functionality for one of the first skills credential platforms in the world (the OBA)
• Leading the design and implementation of City & Guilds’ first digital badges (the Ampersand Awards)
• Partnering with Coventry University and East Sussex College to design and implement their first skills credential programmes

Grainne continues to inform policy, adoption and interoperability of skills credentials through her writing and contribution to global and national task groups, including the Digital Badging Commission and Credential Engine.