Digital Badges

 

I've never put so much thought into badges as I have in the last week. OK, that's not exactly true. As a Den Leader for Cub Scouts I put a lot of thought into badges! Maybe that's why those little badges are what keep coming to my mind.  The boys were competitive and tried to see who could earn the most badges, some of the badges had to be earned outside of our meetings which made it challenging for all the boys to have a chance at those.  It was my job as leader to plan opportunities for some of the badges to be earned during our meetings.  I did have to consider the order in which they'd be earned.  For the most part, the Boy Scout badges were a positive experience for the kids, even though some collected their badges at a much faster rate than others, there never seemed to be hurt feelings from those who weren't earning bunches of badges.

To shift my thought process to digital badges in the educational world took some work.  I didn't know there was so much to consider or so much value for the learner in a digital badge!  I'm aware of badges as motivation, even for adults.  My Apple watch badges are very important to me!  Badges can create a framework so learners know where they've been and where they are going.  I'm interested in the notion of using badges for more than just a motivational tool. That's how I used them, well we called them stickers, as a student and as a teacher.  To think the badge design and development process can improve program design and subsequent learner experience is something I'm interested in learning more about.