Using Digital Badges to Increase Student Success Digital Credentials LinkedIn Pathways Sharon O’Reilly & Linda McGee, Accounting Program, Gateway Technical College

Using Digital Badges to Increase Student Success Intro to Digital Badges & Digital Credentials What can Badges Show? Examples of Badge Use in Education Gateway Technical College Badge Initiative Our thoughts on Badge Benefits Our badge initiative … it takes a team A Look at a Current Student in LinkedIn Results What’s Next

Digital Credentials Recognize Achievement Allow learners to display and share their competencies Show what the learner did to earn the credential Verifiable Allow Learners to Stand Out Allow employers to find skilled potential employees with valid credentials

Open Badges Who did it? What did they do? Who says they did it? Open Badge: an evolving open standard to recognize and verify learning - Originated from Mozilla in 2011 The standard has been transferred to IMS Global Learning Consortium Who did it? What did they do? Who says they did it? And when ….

There can also be a 3rd party hosting service working with issuers

What can Badges Show? Achievement Competence Participation Soft Skills Membership Organizations, Teams Progress Experience Credentialing

Badge Examples

Soft skills

Madison College School of Professional and Continuing Education

IBM Digital Badge Program https://www.linkedin.com/pulse /ibm-digital-badge-program- wins-training-magazines-2017- david-leaser/

New World of Work (NWoW) 21st Century Skills “NWOW program provides free video, curriculum, assessment, and digital badge resources to California community colleges and their partners, including secondary institutions, workforce boards, and employers. NWoW collaborates with employers, workforce development boards, educators, and research organizations across the country to build college/career-ready, 21st century employability skills. ” https://medium.com/read-write-participate/21st-century-skills-badging-a-bridge-from-education-to-the-workforce-350f8ac688c4 Pilot in 2016, recommended for adoption among all 114 community colleges in 2017

Skills

Industry Certification

Helping our students with employment, while in school and after

Gaining Traction “Badges seem to be gaining the most traction in career readiness, particular for so- called "middle skills" jobs that require more than high school degree but less than four-year college degree. Increasingly, these jobs need an associate's degree plus something extra. “Some career paths have formal certifications. “Burning Glass, a company that tracks job skill requirements, has found that career paths lacking these certifications tend to see "degree inflation" over time: “Employers now require bachelor’s degrees for a wide range of jobs, but the shift has been dramatic for some of the occupations historically dominated by workers without a college degree. For example, 65% of postings for Executive Secretaries and Executive Assistants now call for a bachelor’s degree. Only 19% of those currently employed in these roles have a B.A. This is true even where “the skill sets indicated in the job postings don’t include skills typically taught at the bachelor’s level” http://mfeldstein.com/digital-badges-gaining-traction/ June 7, 2017

Gateway Technical College Badge Initiative Goals: Student Motivation Student Retention Student Recognition Student Employment Program Recognition & Recruitment Badges / Digital Credentials LinkedIn Integration into our program

Our Thoughts on Benefits for Students Increase motivation and satisfaction as students earn and can display accomplishments on their way to earning the Associates Degree Display accomplishments on LinkedIn, heavily used by employers and recruiters. Accomplishments are verified –not just “listings” on a resume or LinkedIn profile Real time market labor insights Obtain better employment while still in school – help bridge the wage gap between a high school diploma and earning a degree Help students articulate the skills they have mastered Helps students understand, and show, the connection between learning and career pathways. Learners are in charge of their own credentials – can choose to display, promote (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, personal website, email), remove “On average, LinkedIn members with certifications receive 6x more views to their profile” https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/11/20/showcase-your-professional-certifications-on-linkedin-in-one-click

Benefits for Employers Verified badges for Gateway Certificates show the skills the earner has demonstrated and employers want Employers can easily see what it takes to earn the badge Employers can verify that a potential employee has in fact earned what they say they have earned (without requesting a transcript) since the badge is certified by Acclaim. Employers and others interested about the badge can click on the badge and find out more about the certificate or diploma and Gateway. Employers are starting to search for new employees by finding digital badge earners. This is particularly true in IT with Oracle, IBM and others.

Benefits for Gateway Retention and increased student satisfaction Additional marketing as interested parties view badges. Increase Gateway Technical College brand. Gateway gets analytics (# of badge views etc.) Build excitement & recruiting aid Potential increase in enrollment as students view potential “next steps” and enroll in courses to obtain additional certificates / badges

Accounting Program & Digital Badges Program at Gateway Began work in May 2016 Badges first issued January 2017 for Fall 2016 Accounting Program Earners Additional Business programs added in Spring 2017 It takes a team!

Executive Sponsor: Zina Haywood, Provost Registrar Academic IT (Technology selection, implementation) Marketing Later … Administrative Support

Gateway Selected Acclaim (a Pearson Company) to be our Badging Partner Acclaim handles the “back end processes”, badges are hosted on their site, analytics

BIT Digital Badges Correspond to Curriculum Pathway Certificates Technical Diploma Internal Certificates

Overview of Badge Issuance Process The Registrar’s office issues badges after Certificates are awarded Students are notified by Acclaim that they have a digital badge to claim Gateway emails students badge information Students claim their badges and can share to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, via email and can embed in a personal website Gateway follow up with students who don’t accept badges

Badge Launch Purpose Timing Create Accounting Program LinkedIn Group, encourage students to join (Discontinue Use of Listserve) Encourage professional use of LinkedIn, Networking with other Students and Alumni, Disseminate important information 3 Months before launch Inform students about badges (listserve, LinkedIn group, classes, Blackboard) Make sure students are aware of badges, encourage them to apply for Certificates 1-3 months before launch Pre-notification email Inform students earning badges that they will be receiving an email from Acclaim, benefits of badges, how to claim their badge 1-2 days before badge program launch Follow up with students who have not accepted their badges Ensure students are aware of badges and how to claim, encourage acceptance 1-2 weeks after badges are issued

A Look at a Current Student in LinkedIn Scroll down to her certifications section

Find the certificates she has earned By clicking on See Certificate potential employers and others can see more about the badge.

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Links to the HLC website and the ACBSP website

In Katie’s Words The badges have helped verify the skills that I have obtained within my schooling. In LinkedIn you can add whatever skill sets you feel you possess but the badges help verify that you actually have earned those skills. Another aspect that I enjoy about the badges is that they help add skills to your LinkedIn profile. When you earn certain badges they suggest skills that go along with those badges I think this is helpful because when choosing your skill sets on LinkedIn sometimes you don't always think of the most appealing and accurate skills. I feel like I've gotten more job offers since adding the badges to my LinkedIn profile and I think they will be helpful when I'm looking into advancing my career.

Results – Badges issued Timeframe Number of Programs Initial Badge Acceptance (within 1 week of awarding) January 2017 for Fall 2016 1 43% May 2017 for Spring 2017 September 2017 for Summer 2017 3 85% (2 weeks) Total 61%

What’s Next for Us Remaining Business Programs Fall 2018 Market the badge program! Continue to work with students on LinkedIn Profiles Expand to other areas at Gateway Measure success

References There is a tremendous amount of badging information on twitter #openbadges http://badge.news/ offers a bi-weekly newsletter http://openbadges.org Training News, Badge Benefits, https://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/badge-benefits IBM Digital Badge Program Wins Training Magazine’s 2017 Silver Medal Award, 9/28/17, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ibm-digital-badge-program-wins-training-magazines-2017- david-leaser/?published=t http://mfeldstein.com/digital-badges-gaining-traction/ ,June 7, 2017 Digital badges on education: past, present and future, Conference Paper, July 2017, (Paper with references re: retention, motivation research) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318116742_Digital_badges_on_education_past_prese nt_and_future Badge breakthroughs, Micro-credentials awarded for in-demand skills give employers deeper detail about a student’s abilities, 6/7/2017, https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/badging- breakthroughs 21st Century Skills Badging: A Bridge from Education to the Workforce, 10/20/17, https://medium.com/read-write-participate/21st-century-skills-badging-a-bridge-from- education-to-the-workforce-350f8ac688c4