Presenters: Drs. Thomas Koballa, Jr. & Tracy Linderholm Digital Badges, Community Engagement to Support Teacher Professional Growth and Certificate Renewal Presenters: Drs. Thomas Koballa, Jr. & Tracy Linderholm AACTE Annual Meeting 2017 Tampa, FL 1. Decide on instructional model 2. Must demonstrate effectiveness for them to be of worth to schools 3. Badges that could be bundles for course credits and graduate degrees

Digital Badging Project The Context The State of Georgia adopted a new teacher evaluation system, the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) Teachers are expected to have an individualized professional development plan Depending on the school district, some may limit teacher pay for advanced degrees, limiting professional development opportunities for teachers

Project Goals To develop professional learning for Georgia teachers (and eventually leaders) to provide them with an opportunity to be successful on the new evaluation system To develop content in a low cost, flexible format that produces observable results To create competency-based modules to allow an efficient, targeted form of learning

Process: Collecting information Gathered a team of faculty, administrators, and technology staff to create online modules Created an Advisory Board made up of teachers, curriculum leaders, and school administrators to advise the team Team attended a competency-based learning conference and attended regional meetings pertaining to TKES

Process: Developing guiding principles A sample of guiding principles used: Modules should emphasize the recalibration of teaching practices relative to the standards rather than changing teaching practices. Modules should be suitable for induction teachers as well as veteran teachers. Modules will be most instructive when they support the expectations of teaching and learning in public schools.

Modules – Reimagined! Two modules were drafted, placed in Folio (learning management system) and reviewed by the team The team hired a consultant to move the project forward and refine the product Consultant suggested the content was better packaged in the form of digital badges

What is a digital badge? A way of showing, electronically, competencies learners are able to perform Learners collect badges and select the competencies they need to build Why not certificates? Digital badges allow for evidence to be efficiently stored so that others may view it and allows for learners to select very specific competencies to develop

What is a Digital Badge? Badge Issuer, Badge Earner, Badge Consumer

Benefits of digital badges Begins with a problem of practice that is conveyed in the form of a “problem statement” Evidence that one has gained competence is easily stored in the digital badge Employers easily view pieces of evidence to show competency Badges can be collected and tailored to unique professional development needs

Teacher Evaluation (TKES) Performance Standards Understanding, Execution, Leadership Parallel continuum of TKES performance standards – ineffective, needs development, proficient, exemplary 3-5 badges for each standard. We’re starting with Standard 4: differentiated instruction and Standard 8: academically challenging environment

Standard 4: Differentiated Instruction Badges Module 1 – Communicating Your Rationale for Differentiating Instruction (Knowledge) Module 2 – Using Your Students’ Assessment Data to Differentiate (Execution) Module 3 – Remediating, Enriching, Accelerating to Further Your Students’ Learning (Execution) Badging Continuum - Understanding, Execution, Leadership Module 4 –Grouping Your Students to Maximize Their Learning (Execution) Module 5 – Supporting Other Teachers to Differentiate Instruction (Leadership)

Project Model of Instruction Problem of Practice Sets Context For Learning Assessment & Rubric Interact With Assessment Samples (Learner & Compare w/Expert) Diagnosis for Interacting With Instructional Materials Instructional Materials Menu of Learning Experiences Demonstration of Competence Assessed With Rubric In Learner's Classroom Context

Field Test Results

Field Test 9 practicing K-12 teachers participated in a 5-week long online session to complete the content for the differentiated instruction digital badge Final evidence of competency was a video teachers produced showing how they would explain the practice of differentiation to parents, teachers Faculty members evaluated if teachers had demonstrated competencies to earn the badge Digital badges were awarded electronically through Credly accounts; teachers could choose with whom to share the badge that included their videos

Field Test Results: Strengths Based on the results of a focus group and individual interviews with teachers, the following was learned: Most teachers found the digital badge experience to be convenient, time-efficient and appreciated the ability to learn at their own pace The format of the digital badges allowed teachers to balance work and family obligations The content of the digital badges seemed to be more relevant to teachers’ work than other professional development opportunities Concentrated effort on one topic allowed for deeper reflection and connection to classroom teaching Facilitated independent problem-solving on how to apply content to one’s situation (content not “one size fits all”)

Field Test Results: Weaknesses Too tailored to higher grades (e.g., high school level); in future provide video examples from many grades Video (final evidence of competency) was overwhelming to participants due to lack of experience with technology; would have preferred more choices of format for final project Final project needed clearer expectations Preferred to have a loose set of benchmarks, such as a weekly deadline, to keep on track

Demonstration of digital badge prototype https://georgiasouthern.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/293122/Home Want to learn more? Want to collaborate?