Digital and Open Badges:
Assessment Tools for 21
Century Teaching and
Learning?
A Poster Session for ISTE 2015
Raymond S. Pastore Ph.D.
Professor
Bloomsburg University
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
What are Digital Badges?
Digital Badges are graphic representations of:
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Achievements
• Abilities
• Accomplishments
History and Development
of Digital Badges
Physical badges have had an important role in
Girl and Boy Scouts.
Digital badges have been used many gaming
companies such as Xbox.
In 2011, the Mozilla Foundation develop
Mozilla Open Badges and the MacArthur
Foundation and Gates Foundation gave support
to projects utilizing digital badges.
Digital vs Open Badges
Open Badges is a new online standard to recognize
and verify learning. Mozilla Open Badges are not
proprietary — they use free software and an open
technical standard. That means that any organization
can create, issue and verify digital badges, and any
user can earn, manage and display these badges all
across the web.
From: About | Open Badges
Who is using Digital Badges?
Digital badges have widespread applications
and are used by persons in Education, Business,
Industry, and Government.
Examples of Digital Badges
Digital Badges and Assessment
Digital Badges are more than a grade.
Example: Chris received an “A” in Biology
They represent actual achievement.
Example: Click on the image below o see a list of
skills that Chris achieved in Biology this marking
period.
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•
•
•
•
•
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Experimental design
Light microscopy
Biochemical characterization
of cells
DNA extraction
Genetic transformation
Differential staining
Enzymatic assays
Spectrophotometry
Bacterial culture
Digital Badges for Credentials
Digital Badges can provide prospective
employers with SPECIFIC lists of skills and
competencies.
Creating Digital Badges
Digital badges can be created in common
applications such as Microsoft Word or
PowerPoint, and graphics program, or free
online web sites with templates.
Criticisms and Challenges
of Digital Badges
•
Students may focus on badges just as they do on
grades
•
Decisions will vary on how many badges, how to
organize them, and where to draw the boundaries of
content.
•
Should a course have one badge or multiple badges
and who will decide the standards and divisions?
•
Badges may be seen by students as rewards and take
away intrinsic motivation.
The Mozilla Digital
Badge Backpack
From:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges/FAQs#Open_B
adge_Infrastructure_.28OBI.29
“The Badge Backpack is Mozilla's core
repository for storing digital badge data.
Each earner can have his/her own Badge
Backpack, accessible only to him/her, where
s/he can view badges, set privacy controls,
create groups and share them.”
Digital Badges
and
Online Learning
Digital Badges are badges are being awarded to
students in MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses) and hybrid and online courses.
Digital Badges of the Future
Will badges replace or supplement:
Resumes
Transcripts
Diplomas
Certifications
More and more digital badges will appear on social
media, eportfolios, personal web sites, online job
applications
Resources
See: A History and Frameworks of Digital Badges in
Education
Nathaniel Stashewski and Doug Reid