The document discusses the value and implications of digital badges as credentials in education, emphasizing the need for rigor in badge design and assessment. It distinguishes between lightweight and weightier badges, arguing that while lightweight badges may offer incremental value, they risk diluting the perception of badges as legitimate credentials if not backed by meaningful assessment. The authors propose solutions to enhance the credibility of badges and encourage discussions within the badging community to improve their effectiveness and visibility.

1. Enough with Weak Sauce Badges!
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Image by Shutterstock
Daniel L. Randall & Richard E. West

2. Badges as Legitimate Credentials
“When you first said badges, I had
such a bad impression of what
that would mean.”
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3. Merit Badges and Digital Badges
Boy Scout Merit Badges
Digital Badge
- Acknowledge accomplishment
- Display skills gained
- Motivation
- Enable feedback/teaching from
adult mentors
Typically not sharable -
Acknowledge accomplishment -
Motivation -
Gamification -
Enable feedback on specific skills -

4. Open Badges
Open Badges
Same Affordances as Digital Badges, Plus:
- Uses Open Badge Infrastructure (OBI)
- Display badges via web
- Metadata (Criteria and Evidence links)

6. Open Badge Information

7. Mozilla Backpack

8. Backpack Collection
Multiple collections can
be created.
Collections can remain
private or can be made
public and shared.

9. Badgers Talking with Badgers
Joseph (2014) argued the
badging community needs to
talk less with skeptics and
more with each other—
talking about how to improve
the badging movement.
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Svenwerk on flickr

10. Value of Badges
CC BY-SA Class Hack http://classhack.com/post/39932478440/indianajones
A badge is only as good as:
The Rigor attached to it.
The process used to evaluate
the learner’s work.
It’s usefulness to students
and/or stakeholders.
How can we increase Badge Value?

11. Badge Types
Global vs. Local Systems
Badge “weight”
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12. Badge Systems
Local badge ecosystem - intended only for the person’s learning
space
Global Badge ecosystem - stretches beyond learning space; allows
badges to be used as a credential
“Badging systems can be designed to offer both types of values—
value within an organization and value to those outside it—but,
the required features and networks are different” (Joseph, para 6).
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Notthesame!

13. Badge Weight
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By Flickr user winnifredxoxo

14. Lightweight Badges
Badges issued for:
• attendance
• creating a login
• simply existing as a learner.
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16. Argument for Lightweight badges
• Casilli (2014) argued that accretion, or the
layering effect of badges over time, produces
value.
• Value to emerge in unexpected ways from the
accumulated effect of many different lightweight
badges.
• Thus, lightweight badges may not be as
meaningful individually, but taken together
they paint a fuller picture of the individual’s
interests and activities (Knight, 2014).
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17. Badge Inflation
CC BY-SA Class Hack http://classhack.com/post/50915858999/carpetbadging
Mass awarding of
badges with little or
no assessment of
work.
Or criteria so easy
and short everyone
earns the badge.
“Carpet Badging”

18. Counter Argument: The Challenge of Lightweight
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Accretion? Who’s got time for that?
Demotivating
Focusing on the wrong thing

19. Accretion
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How many have kept
every completion
certificate they have
earned?

20. Accretion
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Jordan Crowe on flickr

21. DeMotivating
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22. Misplaced Focus
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23. The Problem with Lightweight Badges
Poor Public impression of badges
If the badging community does not show how open
badges and their assessment processes can be
rigorous and meaningful, then the badging
movement may fade away.
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24. “Weightier” Badges
• Digital Promise
• Supporter to Reporter
“Substantial motivational power for students”
(Tran, Schenke, & Hickey, 2014)

25. Badges as Legitimate Credentials BYU

26. Lots of Credentials in Formal Education
• Degrees only awarded after a long period of
time or a great deal of experience
• Transcripts have lots of information, but how
useful is that information?
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27. How Valuable are Transcripts?
• What does 200 mean? Is it equal to or less difficult than a 400-
level class?
• Course name: what skills are covered?
• What does the grade B mean?
– Average on everything?
– Did really well on some things and poorly on others?
• If so, what things did they do well?
Course # Course Name Grade
CS 200 Web Programming B

28. Badges as Micro-credentials
• Receive recognition for smaller chunks of learning
• Easier to communicate skills to employers and other
interested parties
• Metadata makes data open, providing greater insights
into person’s skills (viewer could even re-grade the
submitted project if they wanted to)
• Removing metadata weakens the potential of badges
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29. Badges and Informal Learning
• Receive recognition skills gained in informal and non-traditional
settings
• Combined with badges issued in formal education, badges
provide a fuller picture of a person’s skills
• Vetted badges issued by others could be accepted by a professor
or university, allowing the student to spend more time of topics
they do not know, or provide a shorter path to graduation
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30. Proposed Solutions to Bolster Badging BYU

31. Badges and Gamification
• Use something other than badges to gamify
learning (points, levels, ranks, upgrades,
etc.)
• Reserve badges for achievements and skills
that have value outside of the learning
environment
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http://www.iamprogrez.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/infographic_The_business_
of_gamification.png

32. Badges and Gamification – 2 Types of Badges
• First type of badges (lightweight) is only used in the learning
environment; are not exportable
• Second type (weightier badges) recognize significant work and
learning; these are exportable
• Less desirable option, because
– 2 Badge types could create confusion
– Continues to proliferate lightweight badges
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33. Rigor of Badge Creation
• Criteria for earning the badge must
have weight.
• Number of criteria and difficulty of
each criterion.
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34. Rigor of Badge Assessment
• Assessment process should provide learners with specific,
formative feedback that allows learners to reach the level of
mastery.
• This is not only important for learning, but also gives the
badge more credibility as a legitimate credential.
• If the criteria are rigorous, but the assessment process is not,
it can still result in lightweight badges.
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35. Badge Consortiums
• Universities, professional organizations, and other trusted
groups could join together to issue badges
• Could ensure badges issued through consortium had weight
• Greater number of badges issued, increasing brand
Recognition
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36. Randall, D. L., Harrison, J. B., & West, R. E. (2013). Giving credit where credit
is due: Designing Open Badges for a technology integration course.
TechTrends, 57(6), 88–95.
Davies, R., Randall, D., & West, R. E. (2015). Using Open Badges to Certify
Practicing Evaluators. American Journal of Evaluation, 36(2), 151–163.
doi:10.1177/1098214014565505
West, R. E., & Randall, D. L. (in-press). The Case for Rigor in Badges. In L.
Muilenburg & Z. Berge (Eds.), Digital Badges in Education: Trends,
Issues, and Cases. Routledge.
Daniel L. Randall
dan.randall26@gmail.com
Richard E. West
rickwest@byu.edu

37. ?
Contact us with Questions
Thank You
Daniel L. Randall
dan.randall26@gmail.com
www.danrandall.com
@dan2randall
Richard E. West
rickwest@byu.edu
www.richardewest.com
@richardewest