The Owlfred Chronicles

Many of you have been with us since the beginning.  Together we’ve experienced monumental growth in users, and from our end, we couldn’t be prouder of you—contributors from around the world who online-huddle over questions and problems!  And, judging by the laudatory titles, badges and points you have earned, you’ve built a reputation for yourselves as engaged learners and helpers.  You are the living evidence of a new movement of learning where we all have a part in expanding, applying, and sharing our educations. You have shattered classroom walls, adding to the foundation of a new culture of learning.

At the beginning, we at OpenStudy had a “simple” goal: Make the world one big study group, a global learning network of diverse learners bringing to the study table a breadth of insights and knowledge impossible to duplicate in a brick-and mortar classroom. Your participation on Openstudy represents the changing culture of education:  students become heroes and role models to each other; a grassroots movement of online learners bridging time zones, physical location, and socioeconomic status, one-helping-many and many-helping-one through a universal quest to learn.

On our end, we’ve learned many things through the first year of OpenStudy. In analyzing half a million collaborations amongst our community, we found a symbiotic cadre of regular learners and frequent contributors. We discovered that many participants nimbly switched roles from student to teacher and back again in the peer-to-peer relationships. What could be the motivating factors that bring people back again and again in different roles to OpenStudy?

We think that the answer lies in the new culture for learning that you helped build, a sense of fun and belonging for our OpenStudy users unified by a common purpose to help, problem solve, and work as a team.  We saw users develop relationships amongst a global set of peers. And through those relationships and interactions, each user’s participation could be reliably quantified.  Each participant’s problem solving skills, teamwork, and level of engagement could be mapped and generated into an individual scorecard that reflects a new, more relevant definition of “smart.”

Today we’re releasing SmartScore, a score we believe measures what “smart” means on OpenStudy, what it should mean everywhere today, and what it will mean in the workplace of tomorrow.  SmartScore measures and motivates social behaviors and social skills valuable in a knowledge-driven, team-oriented economy, like the one we call home on OpenStudy.

SmartScore is a snapshot of your high-performing skills in core categories of teamwork, problem solving and engagement—-areas in which you applied learning and development that delivered significant results to the learning community. Much is embedded in the three core categories: A willingness to help others; an ability to collaborate, communicate, and build relationships among the team; the willingness to contribute to finding solutions; and dedication to a task or group.  The data displays as both a point-in-time and longitudinally on your SmartScore, allowing for demonstrated growth.

The SmartScore is a lustrous addition to any resume or transcript for our cadre of OpenStudy pioneers. Use it to underscore your value as a knowledge worker and your individual level of social learning behavior skills.

We invite you to be the first in line for this exciting product as we proudly promote and launch SmartScore!

What’s your SmartScore?

Chris Sprague

CEO, OpenStudy