Chris Dillon works at Putaruru College as the TiC Digital Technology. The document discusses digital badges, which are online indicators of accomplishments, skills, qualities, or interests that can be earned in various learning environments. Chris Dillon implemented a digital badge system for Putaruru College through Edmodo, where teachers can create and award badges to students. However, badges on Edmodo have limitations as they are confined within the Edmodo platform. Mozilla has since launched Open Badges v1, providing a way to aggregate badges from multiple platforms and sources through personal backpacks. Overall, Chris believes digital badges have positively impacted learning by motivating participation and collaboration.

1. Name: Chris Dillon
Role: TiC Digital Technology,
Putaruru College
Digital Badges: an online standard
to recognise and verify learning
1
Woven skill badges (Source:
http://www.adafruit.com/category/70)
onemouse
onemouse
Chris Dillon

2. 2
Digital Badges: an online standard
to recognise and verify learning
Digital badges are a validated
indicator of accomplishment, skill,
quality or interest that can be
earned in various learning environments.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_badges
@onemouse
Badges have a long history: in the Military and Scouting,
and more recently digitally via “gamification” and
then Mozilla & P2P.org
Mozilla Open Badges https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges
Person 2 Person University https://p2pu.org/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P2PU
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Korean_Scout_Uniforms_2007.jpg

3. Digital Badges
3
Why Badges? Why now?
It was 2009 and hey I’m a geek
and I like badges!
http://www.nerdmeritbadges.com
On Twitter in 2011 Jeff Utecht was
talking about extrinsic recognition
of Google Apps skills
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/become-a-google-apps-ninja/
@onemouse
Edmodo.com was updating
and had come to the party
with teacher awarded badges
Nerd Badge Sash source: John Young
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikaro/3497605136/

4. 4@onemouse
Digital Badges
How I implemented Badges
Created an edmodo.com School domain
to share professionally with colleagues, and
administer locally:
• Teacher dashboard can create badges
(including animated .gif)
• Teacher community sharing of badges
…but…
• Badges are limit in that it is a “walled garden” with
no trackable metadata or exporting of Credentials
https://edmodo.com

5. 5@onemouse
Digital Badges
Further developments
Mozilla launched Open Badges v.1 out of beta in June
this year, providing a method for aggregating cross-
platform provider credentials via “Backpack”.
https://diy.org/
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges

6. 6@onemouse
Digital Badges
Further developments
Other resource providers are
beginning to implement
“gamified” environments…
http://www.codeavengers.com/
http://www.codecademy.com/
and provide widgets
to share Open
credentials across 3rd
party environments
http://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post
/23071271279/facebook-opengraph

7. 7@onemouse
Digital Badges
Has it impacted on learning?
Overall, I’d say yes it has:
• Badges are conversation starters about learning
• Badges are connectivist
• Badges are motivators to participation
• Badges are motivators to collaborate
• Badges are recognition and assessment.
Ultimately the information linked to badges will
include how it was earned, when it was issued and
who by and, ideally, a link back to some form of
artifact relating to the work behind the badge.

8. 8@onemouse
Digital Badges
…and it not just for my students…
I am developing my own Backpack.
Linking them to my blog, to MOOC’s
I am participating in, and to my own
Learning Portfolio.
https://www.accredible.com/gallery
http://open.journalismco
urses.org/

9. 9@onemouse
Digital Badges
What were the biggest challenges?
• Validity and authentication of badges
• Earner limitations based on age (Mozilla only hosts
backpacks for users age 13+ for now)
• Confused comparisons to trade-based certifications
(electricians, automobile mechanics, etc.)
• The success of badges in education relies on
educators and trainers exploring their use and
sharing with others
• A risk that extrinsic motivators for tasks that
students already do for intrinsic enjoyment reduces
student motivation and undermines engagement.

10. 10@onemouse
Digital Badges
What I have realised:
• Badges provide an opportunity to reconsider and
reorder what we consider to be of value
• To recognise achievements that could be recognised
but are currently hidden or obscured
• To support lifelong learning,
by integrating both
traditional pathways,
alongside informal and
external alternatives.

11. 11
OpenBadges.org – Mozilla’s Open Badges project http://openbadges.org/
Open Badges Google Group – Forum Discussions
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/openbadges
Person 2 Person University https://p2pu.org/en/groups/the-world-of-open-badges/
http://blog.makewav.es/files/2013/08/Badge-platform-comparison-sheet2.pdf
Associated:
Accredible https://accredible.com/
Make Open Badges: Want to Make Your Own
http://billymeinke.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/open-badges-want-to-make-your-own-badges-
by-hand-heres-how/
Free badging platform called Badg.us http://badg.us/
Develop a badge system for Students http://www.forallbadges.com/
@onemouse
Digital Badges
Links: