About Carla Casilli

Hello there, I’m Carla Casilli, currently co-facilitator for the Connecting Credentials working group focused on the question of a common language for credentialing. Previously I have played the roles of Interim Executive Director of Digital Credentialing at IMS Global, Director of Design + Practice at the Badge Alliance and Director of Badge System Design + Implementation at Mozilla. More about each of these activities below.

Welcome to my blog about Open Badges, digital credentials, education, workforce, community, systems and design thinking, and badge system design. Here is where I try out ideas, find support for others, and work in the open. Please note that in my writing I am considering the entire open badges ecosystem—and that means shepherding and encouraging many different uses and interpretations of open badges—not all of which are in favor at any given time.

I work with the community to build the open badges ecosystem through leading initiatives, speaking, blogging, researching and writing; through consulting on the development of badge systems; through communicating experiences about badges and badge systems; and through exploring where badge systems not only might lead but where they are currently heading. (Badge futurist? Emergence and epiphenomena, anyone?) I’m interested in understanding the potential of open badges, their varied audiences, their areas of influence, and the people and data that they represent.

As the Director of Design + Research at the Badge Alliance, in addition to a variety of other activities, I guided an international group of educators in the rapid, collaborative writing and editing of the Campus Policy Framework for Open Badges. As the Director of Badge System Design + Implementation at Mozilla, I oversaw the Web Literacy Standard work (now new and improved and called the Web Literacy Map), built the conceptual framework for Mozilla badges, and designed the Chicago Summer of Learning badge system, the very first of the Cities of Learning (now being led by LRNG).

My formal education includes an undergrad degree in both Graphic Design and Professional Writing from Carnegie-Mellon University (where I learned to code), a certificate in Media Psychology from UCLA, and a graduate degree in Media Psychology and Social Change from Fielding University. Prior to my badges endeavors, I have worked as a simplified communications designer, an information designer, a Plain English writer, a UX +UI consultant, a project manager, a creative director and a small business owner. I staunchly believe that learning is lifelong and that some of our most influential learning experiences take place in informal ways and in unexpected places.

I look forward to your opinions and welcome your thoughts.