This study evaluated the use of digital badges to develop the skills of online tutors. Surveys were sent to tutors in a math coaching program in Sweden. The tutors felt that the professional skills described in the badges were important. Younger tutors and those at certain hubs reflected on their coaching abilities more often. While badges could increase reflection and motivation, tutors also expressed concerns about increased monitoring, competition with peers, and a focus on badges over coaching. The limitations seemed more prominent than the benefits of badges for tutor development.

1. Digital badges for in-service
training of online tutors.
Dr. Stefan Stenbom, Dr. Simon Benjaminsson,
Dr. Stefan Hrastinski, Dr. Marti Cleveland-Innes
KTH Royal Institute of Technology,
Sweden

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4. This communication reflects the views only of authors, and the commission cannot be held
responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.
Funded with support from the European Commission, within project
Grading soft skills: GRASS, No. 543029-LLP-1-RS-KA3-KA3MP
Grading Soft Skills (GRASS)
a 3-year EU research project (2014–2016)
Eight application cases in four countries.
Students soft skills
●various countries/contexts
●different student levels/ages.
Using digital badges

5. This communication reflects the views only of authors, and the commission cannot be held
responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.
Funded with support from the European Commission, within project
Grading soft skills: GRASS, No. 543029-LLP-1-RS-KA3-KA3MP
Partners:
University of Belgrade (Serbia)
First Grammar School of Kragujevac (Serbia)
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
Väsby New Gymnasium (Sweden)
University of Limerick (Ireland)
Coláiste Chiaráin (Ireland)
University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Landsurveying School (Croatia)

6. This communication reflects the views only of authors, and the commission cannot be held
responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.
Funded with support from the European Commission, within project
Grading soft skills: GRASS, No. 543029-LLP-1-RS-KA3-KA3MP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1OzQG-CKlk

7. Soft Skills
Category of Soft Skill Specific Soft Skill
Ways of working
(Intra – Personal Development)
enthusiasm, positive attitude, inquisitive,
persistence, self-regulatory, professional
Ways of Working with others
(Inter – Social Participation)
collaboration, communication, negotiation,
conflict resolution, teamwork, networking,
managing divergence, leadership, emotional
awareness
Ways of thinking
(Intra – Personal Development)
problem solving, critical thinking, synthesis,
evaluation, divergent and lateral thinking,
strategic thinking, analysing
Ways of Thinking with others
(Inter – Social Participation)
creating, refining and negotiating meaning,
confidence to be different, differentiation of
contributions, exploration, cumulative discourse,
disputational judgement

8. Digital Badges

10. Math Coach
• Started in 2009.
• Open 5 pm–8 pm, Mon–Thu during semesters.
• Coachees are pupils aged 12–19 in 10 different
municipalities.
• Coaches are Math teacher students.
• Municipalities pay for coaches' salaries (it is free for the
pupils to use).
• 28 926 conversations, all are archived.

11. Community of Inquiry.
Garrison et al. (2000). Used with permission.

13. The purpose of this study is
to evaluate the use of digital badges
as a tool to develop the professional
skills of online tutors

15. Implementation
http://www.mattecoach.se

16. Method
Survey sent to all coaches in the program
Review of
• The actual professional skills.
• The concept of digital badges in this context.
• Demographic data
Responses: N = 35 (of 44, 79.5 %)

17. The importance of the professional skills
I believe it is important that a coach has the competence the
badge describes.
Friedman Test
χ2(5) = 17.495, p = 0.004
7 point Likert scale

18. Coaches Understanding
I understand what I have to do in order to be awarded this
badge.
Friedman Test
χ2(5) = 8.991, p = 0.109
7 point Likert scale

19. Benefits
Benefits of introducing digital badges for in-service
tutor training.
• Increased reflection on your coaching abilities.
• Acts a motivator to perform better.
• Verification of achieved abilities.
• Reminder of the material from the pre-service
course

20. Limitations
Limitations with introducing digital badges for in-
service tutor training.
• The coaches felt an increase surveillance of
their work and anxiety over to possibly be
denied a badge.
• Concerns about internal competition between
the coaches that can lead to decreased
cohesion.
• A risk that the coach focus more on getting a
badge than to provide sound coaching.
• It takes time from helping pupils.
• The badges had no real value for the coaches.

21. Correlation with demographic data
age, gender, university, type of teacher program, experience
Significant correlations
• Younger coaches reflected more often (-,411*)
• Coaches at one hub reflected less often than coaches on
the other hubs (-,399*)

22. Conclusions
The professional skills
• The professional skills seem to be revalidated.
The badging process
• The drawbacks/limitations seem to be more prominent
than the benefits.

23. Further readings
Garrison, D., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based
Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education. Internet and Higher
Education, 2(2–3), 87–105.
Gibson, D., Ostashewski, N., Flintoff, K., Grant, S., & Knight, E. (2015). Digital badges in
education. Education and Information Technologies, 20(2), 403-410.
doi:10.1007/s10639-013-9291-7
Hrastinski, S., Stenbom, S., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (in press). Tutoring online tutors:
using digital badges to encourage the development of online tutoring skills. British
Journal of Educational Technology.
Jovanovic, J., & Devedzic, V. (2015). Open Badges: Novel Means to Motivate, Scaffold
and Recognize Learning. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 20(1), 115-122.
doi:10.1007/s10758-014-9232-6
Stenbom, S., Jansson, M., & Hulkko, A. (2016). Revising the Community of Inquiry
framework for the analysis of one-to-one online learning relationships. The International
Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(3), 36-53.