Digital Badges for Professional Development: An Overview Tammy Macek November, 2015 Learning Module EDCI 575

What is a Badge? Our working definition of a badge: “a special or distinctive mark, token, or device worn as a sign of allegiance, membership, authority, achievement, etc.” (Dictionary.com) A Badge depicts something earned such as a/an: Achievement Accomplishment Credential(s) Honor Knowledge Merit Award(s) Skill(s) Winning (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd place) Badges were typically issued as physical tokens of that achievement Retrieved from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/badge The key word is a token of something learned and something earned – I Though we have all worn name badges for the purpose of identification, we are not including that in our working definition.

Badges History Thousand year history First appeared in 1782 Metal shield Coat of arms Boy Scout Merit Badges in 1910 Cloth Merit Badges earned Displayed on a Badge Sash Military Badges Identify personnel by rank and role Competition and achievements Image References: (2015) Collecting Merit Badges The ISCA Getting Started Collecting Series, p. 13. Retrieved: http://www.scouttrader.org/collecting/meritbadge.pdf (2015) Vanguard insignia. Retrieved: http://www.vanguardmil.com/collections/navy-breast-badges/air-crew

What are Digital Badges? “Digital badges are an assessment and credentialing mechanism that is housed and managed online. Badges are designed to make visible and validate learning in both formal and informal settings, and hold the potential to help transform where and how learning is valued” (2015, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)  A badge is a digital credential that represents an individual’s skills, interests, and achievements (August 2013, the Alliance for Excellent Education) What is a Badge? https://youtu.be/HgLLq7ybDtc This definition of Digital Badges was developed by the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation in conjunction with Mozilla Open Badges and the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a study of Digital Badges and how they can be used to improve education and expand learning opportunities at all ages. http://all4ed.org/reports-factsheets/expanding-education-and-workforce-opportunities-through-digital-badges/

What are Open Badges Badges that are issues using Mozilla’s Open Source software developed in 2013 in conjunction with a competition sponsored by the The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Badges have issuer information, skills, credentials built into the metadata. Open Badges are issued by an organization and be compatible with Mozilla Open Badges. Learners can earn open badges from various organizations, and collect them in their Mozilla Open Badges Backpack. Learners can display their badges across the web - i.e. on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook (2013) https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges

Badge Tools and Badge Systems Tools to Create Badges Tools to Display Badges Badge Systems CanvaBadges https://www.canvabadges.org/ Passport (Purdue) http://www.itap.purdue.edu/studio/ passport/ Credly https://credly.com Badgr http://info.badgr.io/ Makewaves https://www.makewaves/ Open Badge Designer https://www.openbadges.me Mozilla Open Badges and Backpack https://backpack.openbadges .org/backpack/login BadgeOS http://Badgeos.org

Earning a Badge - Process Who Issues Badges? Educational Institutions Professional Organizations Corporate Trainers Community Organizations Online Learning Spaces Learners Display Badges Mozilla Open Badges and Backpack https://backpack.openbadges.or g/backpack/login BadgeOS http://Badgeos.org Learners Earn Badges for: Achievements Skills Games Competition Share LinkedIn Facebook Twitter WordPress Blog

Earn a Badge for Professional Development Who issues Badges? Here are some examples: MOOC’s – CanvasNet, Udemy Lynda.com Quality Matters College or University class or continuing education Conferences Example: Center for Teaching Excellent at LCCC kicked off the Badges in a Professional Development workshop.

Collect your Badges in your Mozilla Backpack https://backpack.openbadges .org/backpack/login

Demonstration Earning a Badge in a Prof Development Course in Canvas The Badge is issued in Canvas and Displayed in Mozilla Backpack

References http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/badge John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2015) Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Retrieved Nov. 24, 2015 https://www.macfound.org/programs/digital-badges/ Digital Badges image retrieved from: https://www.macfound.org/press/publications/digital-badges- help-young-people-adults-demonstrate-skills/ Boy Scout Merit Badge Image: (2015) Collecting Merit Badges The ISCA Getting Started Collecting Series, p. 13. Retrieved: http://www.scouttrader.org/collecting/meritbadge.pdf Navy Badge Image: (2015) Vanguard insignia. Retrieved: http://www.vanguardmil.com/collections/navy-breast- badges/air-crew