ENCORE+. Interview with Phil Barker

The ENCORE+ project supports the uptake and innovation of Open Educational Resources (OER) for education and business. An improved understanding and strategy for enabling people to receive credentials for their learning with OERs has been identified as a key enabler for uptake. With this in mind, UNIR iTED team has conducted a series of in-depth interviews to explore innovative approaches to credentialising learning in the European OER ecosystem, the opportunities which they offer, and the barriers to their application. The interviews also contributed to an ENCORE+ report discussing the same topic.

Every two weeks up to January 2023 a new interview will be published here.

Interview #2: Phil Barker

Phil Barker worked in UK higher education for 20 years, including a number of projects on technical approaches to releasing open educational resources. His main focus was on the reuse of digital learning resources through their dissemination, description, selection of suitable resources for particular contexts, and evaluation of their use. He now works internationally for Cetis LLP independent consultants, and a large amount of his work is around describing credentials, and addressing the question ‘How does credentialing of skills fit into the education-to-employment ecosystem?’

In this interview he shares his insight into the relationship of OER and credentialing, with an emphasis on the role competences and assessment. The discussion covers the specifications and processes that are required, and also the pedagogic challenges which need to be faced. Being based in the UK, but carrying out much of his work in the USA, he offers a valuable perspective on international work being carried out in the field, particularly as it relates to employment.