The document discusses digital badges as an alternative credentialing system to traditional diplomas and certificates. It provides an example of a digital badge schema and examines both threats and opportunities digital badges pose to higher education institutions. The document also reviews conversations around digital badges in education and highlights several platforms that issue digital badges.

1. Credentialing: Diploma, Certificate, or Badge?
Sheryl Grant
HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation
Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition
ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship
October 15, 2012
New York, NY

2. Credentialing: Diploma, Certificate, or Badge?
Sheryl Grant
HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation
Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition
ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship
October 15, 2012
New York, NY

3. Unpacking Badges

4. Unpacking Badges
ITHAKA
2012

5. Unpacking Badges
{
"badge": {
"version": "0.0.1",
"name": "ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship Learning
Path",
"image": "https://ISSConfPart//img/index/badge.png",
"description": "ITHAKA Alternative Assessment",
"criteria": "http://ITHAKA.org/en-US/",
“description”: “presented at a scholarly conference”,
"issuer": {
"origin": "http://ithaka-badges.org/",
"name": "ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship",
"org": "Badge Authority",
"contact": "person@ithaka.org"
"recipient": "sheryl.grant@email.edu", # not valid as of beta
release
}
}
}

6. Unpacking Badges
{
"badge": {
"version": "0.0.1",
"name": "ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship Learning
Path",
"image": "https://ISSConfPart//img/index/badge.png",
"description": "ITHAKA Alternative Assessment",
"criteria": "http://ITHAKA.org/en-US/",
“description”: “presented at a scholarly conference”,
"issuer": {
"origin": "http://ithaka-badges.org/",
"name": "ITHAKA Sustainable Scholarship",
"org": "Badge Authority",
"contact": "person@ithaka.org"
"recipient": "sheryl.grant@email.edu", # not valid as of beta
release
}
}
}

7. Unpacking Badges

8. Unpacking Badges

9. Unpacking Badges

10. Unpacking Badges

11. Unpacking Badges

12. Unpacking Badges

13. Threats & Opportunities
“Who needs a university anymore?”
“Employers look at degrees because it’s a quick way to
evaluate all 300 people who apply for a job. But as soon as
there’s some other mechanism that can play that role as
well as a degree, the jig is up on the monopoly of degrees.”
David Wiley

14. Threats & Opportunities

15. Threats & Opportunities

16. Threats & Opportunities
• What if higher ed lost its grip on the credential business?
Huffington Post, September 23, 2011
• Forget the college degree, earn digital badges instead
CBS Moneywatch, October 3, 2011
• Credentials, the next generation
New York Times, November 4, 2011
• Badges earned online pose challenge to traditional college diplomas
Chronicle of Higher Education, January 8, 2012
• Digital badges threaten colleges’ monopoly on college credentials
US News, January 20, 2012
• Why get a pricey diploma when badges tell employers more?
Forbes, January 26, 2012
• Beyond the college degree, online educational badges
New York Times, March 4, 2012
www.scoop.it/badges-for-lifelong-learning

17. Threats & Opportunities
“Institutions will always try to preserve the
problem to which they are the solution.” –Clay Shirky

18. Threats & Opportunities
“Institutions will always try to preserve the
problem to which they are the solution.” –Clay Shirky
vs.

19. Potential for Badges
Conversations and Collections:
o Badges in Higher Ed Group on HASTAC.org
o Questions about badges in higher ed
o Badges for Lifelong Learning on Scoop.it
o Badges and higher ed articles on Scoop.it
o Mozilla’s Open Badges
o #dmlbadges and #openbadges on Twitter

20. Potential for Badges
Reading:
• Not just degrees
• Colleges use digital badges to replace traditional grading
• Seven things you should know about badges
• A future full of badges

21. Potential for Badges
Platforms:
o ForAllBadges*
o Badg.us*
o BadgeStack*
o Purdue Passport*
o BadgeForge
o Youtopia
o P2PU