Objective
Kaiser asked Ebizon NetInfo to build an Intranet Content Management System that would allow them to better able to manage the content repository in an efficient manner.
Ebizon Role
Ebizon built an intranet content management system for them for their Diablo center to be able to manage their content repository in a very efficient and user friendly manner. The reason for this was to have an encyclopedia where all research documents could be kept and searched.
Introduction
Society for Science & the Public won a joint grant in the fourth Digital Media and Learning Competition, held in conjunction with the Mozilla Foundation and supported by the MacArthur Foundation to build a Digital Badge System – a system that would support and inspire connected learning.
Story
Society for Science & the Public (SSP) envisioned a badging system to recognize achievement and participation of winners, participants, volunteers and judges in its premier high school science competitions held worldwide.
Business Challenge
With the vision to promote the understanding and appreciation of Science, Society for Science and the Public hold science fair and competition each year and accredit the participants, winners, volunteers and judges. However, the existing accreditation system needed some advancement:
- Need for universal and easily visible credential that can be shared across the web –Â The existing accreditation system was in the form of physical certification which had no existence on the web. There was a growing need for an electronic accreditation accessible from anywhere. The ultimate objective was to make the learning process more competitive, making all skills and achievements comparable on a global scale.
- Challenge in keeping the winners engaged –Â Society for Science and the Public organizes several competitions each year but there was no mean of keeping the winners and participants engaged once the competition was over.
- Challenge in defining the progression from one level of competition to other –Â Several competitions under Society for Science and the Public are held in multiple level of progression. There was no means of informing the winners of one level of competition that what are the next levels or competitions that they can prepare for and participate in.
Our Solution
Ebizon seamlessly worked with client team to do the detail assessment of the requirement. After the in depth understanding of the requirement and business cases, Ebizon’s technical team came up with the technical architecture and process flow of the system. Discussing and analyzing each use case with the client, Ebizon team came up with the technical implement of the proposed system.
With the launch of badging system, client wanted to bring its users on Blackbaud NetCommunity – most powerful online marketing and fundraising solution for nonprofits. The purpose was to have a users account on NetCommunity from where they could redirect them to the Badging system. The challenge faced here was – users should only sign up on the Blackbaud NetCommunity and when coming on the badging system, the account should be created on the badging system based on the information on Blackbaud NetCommunity. Ebizon responded to this request by implementing single sign on:
Each time user clicks on the badging system link on Blackbaud NetCommunity, user is redirected to the badging system. A check is performed if the account already exists on badging system, if yes user is logged in to his/her account. If no, account is created on the badging system.
Ebizon designed a powerful and user friendly management interface for the admin to manage the badge allocation in the system. Users can also manage their badges in groups in their backpack – central repository of their badges from where they can even choose to share it socially.
Result
We worked seamlessly with SSP team to do the detail assessment of the requirement.
In December 2012, the first set of badges was issued to volunteers, judges, and students (high school juniors) who participated in competition.
More than 2000 badges were successfully awarded to the winners, entrants, volunteers and judges of the competition within the first week of the launch.
The Open Badges project is intended to help recognize skills and achievements that are gained outside of the official school or work setting with the goal of improving academic achievement, economic opportunity, civic engagement, and opportunities for lifelong learning.