Digital+Badges

toc Digital badges are visual reflections of the completion of a task, mastery of a skill, or the meeting of some other established criteria. Badges can be awarded for virtually any activity, so badge systems can therefore be implemented in any number of ways in a classroom setting. Benefits of badges in education include improved student motivation and engagement, positive recognition of achievement, more specific feedback on progress, and the ability to reward skills or actions that are less easily graded.

Here is a student-made video that examines the potential value of digital badges.

=About= Badges have long been used non-digitally outside of education (Girl Scouts, military, video game achievement markers, etc.); now, digital badge systems are seeing wider and wider use in education, especially in online education. For example, educational sites such as Khan Academy and Treehouse award badges as measures of learner achievement and progress.

=Specific Tools= Implementation of a badge system depends on the purpose you wish badges to serve in your classroom. (...)

ForAllBadges
ForAllBadges is a badge management system for school-aged learners (K-12)

Mozilla Open Badges
Mozilla Open Badges is a free software program that lets users create badges for education and work.

Passport by Purdue
Passport by Purdue is ...

=Implementation Ideas= Badges could be used to supplement or replace a traditional grading system. For grading purposes, badges could also be assigned point values, creating a sort of hybrid system.

English

 * Students earn different badges for creative writing projects in different genres.
 * Students earn a badge for performing a scene from a play for the class.

Mathematics

 * Students earn badges for individual areas of knowledge, even as demonstrated by a test; this way, even if a student is not satisfied with an overall test grade, they can see which topics they did well in, or where they need improvement.

Science

 * Students earn a badge for participating in an optional science fair or similar project display.

Social Studies

 * Students earn badges for each historical period for which they can demonstrate an understanding of major events, influences, or important people. Get them to try for the complete set of history!

=Opinions & Feedback=
 * General**
 * Badge systems can be intimidating, especially at first, for both teachers and students. It is important to make sure the badges and the underlying framework are well thought out and explained clearly in order to see the full benefits of implementing badges.