Dramatic changes have occurred in how learning is recognized, accredited and validated. Digital Badges are a part of these changes and are set to make a big impact on education and certification programs in 2017. A flexible, structured Digital Badge Strategy applied to your planned and existing online learning programs will help to validate your badging initiative - ensuring that you meet your learning and organisational goals.
It is no longer a foregone conclusion that organizations, associations, employers, or individuals are happy solely with courses and training from traditional higher-level and training institutions. More and more it is specific industry-recognized skills and experience that are most valued. Diplomas, degrees, certification, and skills quickly lose their relevance and become obsolete. Often it is the intrinsic, on-the-job skills and best practices that are learned and applied that provide the most value and benefit. Associations and other professional training organizations are uniquely poised to lead change in education programs of the future.
Digital Badges provide a viable and recommended solution for bridging the gap between traditional education and the skills required for successful employment. Badges can be awarded as a form of micro-credentialing, and can be shared using the Open Badges initiative. You can readily align badges within your online learning environment to complement, and strategically add value to, your existing and planned online courses. Research on the benefits of digital badges shows a wide variety of opinion - from those strongly in favour, to those markedly less so. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, one thing is becoming clear:
“It is not enough to simply create a badge and let it out on its own into the wilds of your online learning ecosystem.”
As is the case for your online learning materials, badges need to be researched, validated, designed, and given your full support. This article shows you how to design a Digital Badge Strategy to justify the existence of your badges, from the perspective of your business goals, your online learning strategy, and the perspectives of the users who will value earning each badge. By putting a coherent digital badge strategy in place, you will ensure that each badge merits its place with concrete research and data.
There are a number of options available to you to design and put your strategy in place. This article looks at the Badge Design Canvas produced and provided by digitalme, a not-for-profit organisation funded by foundations and through project design and delivery. Having researched and measured a number of possible design strategies against predefined criteria, e.g. usability, consistency of use, and core coverage – this format came out on top.
The canvas is a simple, well-structured template for you to determine the various inputs required to create a digital badge. More importantly, you can use it to determine if a badge under consideration for development adds value to your organisation, planned eLearning initiatives, and users.
This template outlines a number of sections that should be carefully considered, researched and validated before completion. Gathering qualitative data to justify the creation of your digital badge is the most practical way of ensuring its longevity and acceptance.
The template addresses the following core needs for your Digital Badge Strategy:
All of the above aspects need to carefully considered. However, there are a number of key areas that should be researched and considered to help decide whether the badge is of value in the first place. If you are struggling to get the data needed to complete these, or find that the costs (resources, time, investment etc.) are outweighing the perceived value of the badge, you should reconsider continuing.
What are the different user types that will be directly associated with your badge?
These Individuals are receiving your learning and want to demonstrate a complete picture of their skills and accomplishments. Earners receive badges from issuers and display them to consumers (audience).
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Issuers are the individuals, associations, organisations, or groups that create credentials to demonstrate mastery of skills and achievements that are of particular value to that issuer. An issuer creates the set of competencies or curriculum and the assessments to determine if the earner has acquired the necessary skills. The issuer will usually be your association, organization, or a recognized entity within.
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Your target audience (consumers) will be your association, other organizations, groups, or individuals that have a need for, or interest in, users with the skills and achievements symbolized by your badge. In many cases, an issuer may also be the consumer.
Some questions you might want to ask are:
These are the platforms that your users (earners) will use to display their badge, e.g. your online learning environment, LMS/LCMS, social media, Mozilla Open Badges Backpack, etc.
Some questions you might want to ask are:
What benefits does the badge provide? What specific opportunities does it afford the various user types involved (Earners, Issuers, Consumers, Displayers) as described above?
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Some questions you might want to ask are:
What resources do you need to design & create your badge, and maintain/evaluate it in the future?
Some questions you might want to ask are:
Recognizing your Digital Badge Strategy Design can also help you to evaluate your current (or planned) online learning delivery platform (LMS or LCMS).
By completing a sample strategy template as outlined above (even for a fictional badge or a badge awarded by another organisation), you will have the information required to make an informed decision on your LMS/LCMS badging requirements and policies.
Some relevant questions for your LMS/LCMS might be:
Complete the digital badge strategy design template(s) to ensure that you have captured all the data relevant to your badge and its online learning environment. Your completed digital badge strategy template will now be your reference document for the development, publication and rationale of your digital badges.
If you would like to learn more about how Digital Badges are the Future of Association Education, talk to us at ASAE Technology Conference 2016, or send us a message. We will be exhibiting at Booth #615 and displaying the latest social learning and digital badge features of our award-winning TopClass Learning Management System.
This article was written by James Sheil, Lead UX and Design Architect, WBT Systems.