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[View the call for proposals at
http://dmlcompetition.net<https://exchange.oit.duke.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=zT6MV8iK3EOVhVDxRTnQ97LEDf4tUM8IlHtDhN6gnbVT-amqNvzI0Shxcynb5niODZceCU2cico.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdmlcompetition.net>
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In March 2012, the Digital Media and Learning Competition on Badges for
Lifelong Learning (supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) awarded 30
development grants to support the creation of digital badges and badge
systems that contribute to, identify, recognize, measure, and account for
new skills, competencies, knowledge, and achievements for 21st century
learners wherever and whenever learning takes place.

We seek research proposals that support and inform the design, development,
and deployment of the digital badges and badge systems in any of these
categories:

1. The Digital Media and Learning Badges for Lifelong Learning general
category,
which supported the development of badges and badge systems across a
diverse range of content, institutions, and approaches.

2. Project Mastery awards focusing on the efficacy of badging systems for
learning at Gates Foundation supported Project Mastery sites (School
District of Philadelphia, Adams County School District 50, Asia Society).
Project Mastery projects promote learning that is mastery based and Common
Core aligned. The aim is to support new learning and knowledge, real-world
outcomes like jobs, credit for new skills and achievements, and whole new
ways to level up in their life and work.

3. Teacher Mastery badge projects that track and promote feedback regarding
the competencies, skills programs and subjects over which teachers acquire
expertise. These include systems for recognizing and rewarding some of the
capacities, skills and content needed to effectively teach math, literacy,
or digital literacy skills and/or to effectively teach to the Common Core
State Standards.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The Badge Development Research Competition seeks empirical and theoretical
research focusing on one or more of the following questions:

How have ranking, badging, reputations and achievement systems been used in
games, clubs, competitions, and other forms of interest-driven activities?
What design principles and guidelines might we glean from past and existing
cases that can inform the development of badges for learning?

What role have accreditation and certificates played inside and outside of
formal degree programs, including areas such as core curriculum, work
skills training, arts, crafts, and other trades? More specifically, how
might badging help to address some of the challenges currently facing
teacher assessment and credentialing?

How have learning institutions, groups, and individuals produced, utilized,
and exploited various credentialing and reputation systems? How has such
credentialing been changing with the shifts to a digital and networked
society?

How do badge creators define mastery? To what degrees are the competencies
represented by the badging system and individual badges
clear to the learners? In what ways is mastery assessed? Are learners given
productive opportunities to demonstrate mastery (in their application,
in producing
and not solely consuming knowledge, and in their participating in learning
and knowledge production)?

How do badging systems conceptualize and operationalize learning
pathways/trajectories?
Do badging systems offer opportunities for
learning connections and interactions with others, as well as for feedback?
For leveling up along the learning trajectory? How or to what extent are
novice to expert trajectories made available?

How is the badging system conceiving and operationalizing validation or
legitimacy of the learning taking place, and so too of the badges being
issued?

Proposed projects would need to consider these questions in ways that directly
address the needs and concerns of the DML Badge Competition winners. The
nature of the relationship to the Badge Development Competition can take a
variety of forms, including:

Collaborative design research with Badge Competition winners, where researchers
would be involved in the prototyping, testing, and
iteration of badge or badge platform development. Proposals of this nature
would need to include a letter of support from the
collaborating project or projects. Research with using the design,
development, and deployment process of one or more of the Badge Competition
winners, to examine the general effectiveness of badges and badging systems
to motivate, recognize, and assess learning. This can include analysis of
designs, or conducting interview or survey work with competition
winners. Proposals
of this nature would need to include a letter of support from the
collaborating project or projects. Research that studies or synthesizes
research on existing or historical badging, reputation, assessment, or
credentialing system in ways that can inform the design, development, and
deployment of the Digital Media and Learning Competition winners. This can
include developing theoretical insights, design principles, or conceptual
frameworks.

View the winning projects in the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition
and Teacher Mastery and Feedback Competition.

AWARDS RANGING BETWEEN $75,000 AND $250,000 WILL BE MADE.

EXPECTATIONS

Proposals must include an account of how your research plans to focus on,
illuminate, or give context to the Badge Competition grantees
(collectively or by looking at one or more of the projects) or define the
larger ecosystem and the role of the Digital Media and Learning Competition
within that ecosystem. Proposals choosing to focus on Project Mastery or
Teacher Mastery Badge projects should pay particular attention to how the
Common Core are integrated and assessed within the respective badging
systems. Proposals choosing to focus on Project Mastery projects will
be expected
to collaborate and coordinate with related research efforts led by RAND.
Access to the latter will be arranged for relevant qualifying
proposals. Awarded
funds may be used for salary replacement, for travel in support of data
collection, for modest graduate research assistance in support of the
project (no more than one-third of final budget), or for modest
technological support for the project. Proposals should include in their
budgets any incentives for research subjects, including Digital Media and
Learning Badge Competition winners, to participate in the research design
and/or research. Awarded research projects may have to complete IRB review,
and if so should include in their budgets any associated costs. The grantee
will also be responsible for organizing a public forum to disseminate
the findings
of the research. The grantee is required to produce one publication, which
could be a book, a MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning
Report, literature
review, or white paper. Support for both the public forum and activities
resulting in publication are to be included in the grant budget.

Research award winners are expected to attend two meetings: Digital Media
and Learning Competition workshop to be held for awardees at UC Irvine on
January 24-25, 2013;The Digital Media and Learning Conference in Chicago,
March 14-16,2013. Registration and travel costs for both are to be included
in the awarded budgets.

Participation at the events is a requirement of the award.

APPLICATION

The application process occurs in two stages, requiring an initial submission
of a Letter of Intent and, with authorization, a Final Application that
will be submitted for judging.

Letter of Intent
The Letter of Intent will be used to determine whether your proposed research
project meets the parameters of the call. Please include an abstract of
your proposal (250 word limit) briefly explaining your choice of potential
research partners (where relevant) to help us get a sense of the scope and
goals of your project. If determined that your proposed research is in line
with the CFP and goals of the Badge Development Research Competition, the
DML Competition Team will contact your requested research partner on your
behalf (where relevant). Please do not attempt to contact potential
research partners on your own. Each research partner has the
discretion to determine
which projects they want to work with. If your project is chosen as a
partner or seeks funding for research on badging and badge development
systems more generally, you will be contacted to follow up and provide
additional information and to complete a final application. Please note
that a letter of support from your research partner (where relevant) is a
requirement of the final application.

Final Application
If your Letter of Intent is accepted, you will be invited to submit a Final
Application which must include:

Proposal outline, including rationale and work plan, no more than 1500
words
Public forum outline, no more than 250 words
Budget and budget narrative for proposal
Budget and budget narrative for public forum
Letter of support from your prospective DML Competition grantee
research partner (if applicable)


DEADLINE

Letters of Intent are now being accepted.
They should be submitted in FASTAPPS by 5:00 PM PDT on August 27, 2012 for
priority consideration. While Letters of Intent will continue to be
accepted after the priority deadline on a rolling basis, we encourage you
to submit as early as possible to allow ample time to connect with
potential research partners. We can not guarantee that those applicants
that submit after the August 27th priority deadline will have sufficient
time to connect with and secure letters of support from potential research
partners.

Research applications that seek funding to pursue more theoretical projects
on badging will not be required to partner with a Badge Competition
project, and will not require a letter of support.

After completing the Letter of Intent, applicants will receive an email
with a link to the Final Application.

All Final Applications are to be completed at FASTAPPS by 5:00PM PDT on
October 1, 2012. Please note: you can save your application by clicking the
"submit" button at the bottom of the application form. All applications can
be saved and edited up until the deadline at 5:00PM on October 1, 2012. No
proposals will be reviewed before this
time.

This Research Competition on Badging and Badge System Development is supported
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is part of the larger HASTAC
Competition on Digital Media and Learning supported by grants from the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as well as from the Gates
Foundation to the University of California, in collaboration with Duke
University and the Mozilla Foundation. The University of California
Humanities Research Institute and Duke University's John Hope Franklin
Humanities Institute are the principal administering bodies of the DML
Competition on behalf of HASTAC.



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