Instructional design needs analysis for innovative pedagogy in open-badges learning

Open-badges learning (OBL) is an innovative pedagogy to demonstrate students’ knowledge, skills and achievement. This study intends to identify the needs analysis in exploring instructional design for OBL utilising Hutchinson and Waters’ (1987) needs analysis model. Mixed-method research was used which purposely involved five experts for an interview and 320 students were randomly selected to answer the survey. In the interview process, five themes emerged such as knowledge and readiness in designing the OBL, relevant instructional mapping of the OBL, design learning experience in OBL, technical support to design OBL and introduce OBL practice in higher education programs. From the survey, most of the respondents agreed that there is a need to explore OBL and they are ready to utilise OBL in their learning. Further study could investigate the effectiveness of OBL, the aspect of motivation and engagement in OBL and factors influencing to implementation of OBL in educational programs.