⚠️ Evidence Points are in Beta and are subject to change.
At Mindstone, we're on a mission to create a dynamic, engaging, and insightful learning experience that transcends the traditional boundaries of formal education. With this vision in mind, we're thrilled to announce the Beta release of Evidence Points.
What are Evidence Points?
Evidence Points (EPs) are a new, innovative way for you to visualize and quantify your learning progress. Every time you engage in any learning activity on Mindstone, such as reading, highlighting, or taking notes, you will earn EPs depending on the quality, relevance, and performance of that activity.
All EPs you earn are linked to specific skills that are identified in the content you are engaging with. We use AI to identify the most predominant skills that can be developed by reading and engaging deeper with a content piece.
Key Takeaway
We want to put the power in your hands to unlock opportunities of all sorts by being able to evidence your continuous learning. We believe that with Evidence Points, we're one step closer to making every moment of your learning journey visible, measurable, and, most importantly, rewarding.
How does it work right now?
We're starting with the basics: reading, listening, and watching content (e.g. passive learning). EPs provide clear, progressive feedback that will help you understand exactly where and how much you're growing and what you need to focus on.
Each piece of content has a maximum amount of EPs you can earn by engaging with it. Mindstone uses AI to score every piece of content to determine its overall value. This score is used as the base for the maximum amount of EPs that can be earned. You can see this amount on the preview view of any piece of content.
As you engage with content you will earn EP based on the depth and duration of your engagement with that content. Once you're finished, mark the content as "Done" to collect the EP you have earned and see which skills you've developed.
In this sense, each EP earned is evidence of your continuous learning journey, and a clear testament to the knowledge gained, skills honed, and the investment you've made in your personal and professional development.
How are you scoring content?
This scoring underpins our EP calculation for passive learning. Currently, we score all content on 12 distinct dimensions, ranging from the complexity of the content, its relevance to the identified skills, to the source's credibility, and many others.
This method ensures the content's intrinsic educational value is accurately reflected in the EPs earned. By leveraging these multiple dimensions for scoring, we can provide a more detailed, accurate, and fair distribution of EPs.
Establishing EP earned for passive learning will provide us with a solid foundation. As we further expand our EP system, we'll be incorporating more active skill development, helping you bridge the gap between understanding concepts and applying them.
But surely “just” reading doesn’t lead to learning?
We understand that reading and other forms of passive engagement constitute just a small fraction of learning. Research shows that passive learning, while beneficial, only slightly correlates with comprehensive skill development and mastery. It's active learning that plays a pivotal role in deepening understanding and improving information retention. This is why we are always working towards incorporating more active learning into Mindstone, like EP for taking quality notes, engaging in discussions, and answering questions related to the content at hand.
The introduction of EP, and the focus on passive learning initially, is just the start of this ambitious journey. As we evolve and expand this system, we aim to transform the way you learn, moving from the current predominantly passive learning model to one that incorporates and encourages active engagement. We're committed to providing an environment that supports all facets of learning and help you make the most of any amount of time you have to learn.
Why Evidence Points?
This new system is our first step toward developing a universal language for learning. By documenting and showcasing your daily activity, you gain a clearer picture of your progress and development that you can actually share with others. We call them Evidence Points for a very specific reason: it emphasizes our commitment to give you concrete, tangible proof of learning.
We have a core belief that learning is not just about absorbing information, but about developing and demonstrating skills. This is why, in the future, some activities - or "evidence" - such as active learning, will be stronger than others. By using a point system, we are able to show the granular development in your skills and allow you to receive acknowledgement for varying degrees of engagement.
Evidence Points, therefore, offer more than just a quick feedback; they provide a solid indication of your learning footprint.
What value will Evidence Points bring?
We envision a future where EP plays a crucial role within a broader learning ecosystem.
As you accumulate EP, you will gain the ability to visually articulate your learning journey in a way that is universally understood. This transparency fosters a richer interaction within the entire ecosystem, enabling organizations of all types to recognize and reward active learners. With EP you will be able to stand out in multiple forums by providing a quantifiable measure of your commitment to continual learning and skill development.
What might this look like?
EPs can unlock new possibilities that stretch across the societal fabric. In education, we can use EP to identify and nurture the talents of students who demonstrate a strong commitment to learning beyond the classroom. For businesses, EP could serve as a metric in the hiring process, indicating a candidates skills and propensity and proactivity for learning. Non-profit organizations and governmental bodies can use EP to identify and reward people who are dedicated to upskilling and personal development. And events and communities can use EP to reward those who actively engage with content and in discussions, and ensure a quality of participation.
Ultimately, EP represent a new language of learning, a valuable resource that will open doors to a variety of opportunities for people from all walks of life.
What's coming up next?
While this is a Beta release, and subject to refinement, we're excited about the possibilities it offers. We see this as just the beginning and promise to continually enhance and expand the feature to make it an integral part of your learning journey.
In the coming weeks, we'll be releasing more features that provide insights into your EP totals, the skills you're developing the most, as well as incorporating more active learning opportunities to earn EP.
What's the community's role?
This being said, we can't do it alone. We believe in the power of collective intelligence and envision EP to be a community-moderated effort in the long run. We believe that by empowering you to take part in moderating and adjusting the EP system, we will foster a more dynamic, fair, and inclusive system.
We want to ensure that the EP system stays relevant and adaptive to the changing landscapes, but also give a stronger sense of ownership to the Mindstone community. We hope that by giving you all a say in how, in the future, EPs are balanced and scores are made we can create a system that accurately reflects the shared values and objectives of our diverse user base.
We welcome any comments or suggestions you may already have about Evidence Points. We will also be publically releasing the Mindstone scores of content and make them available for feedback in the coming weeks.