Devedžić and Jovanović (2015) stated that digital badges support goal setting, integrate learning, provide feedback, recognize skills and prior learning, and create a sense of belonging.

Their portability and verifiable nature make them a flexible and accessible way to recognize and communicate skills (Bowen & Thomas, 2014)

here are badges for progress, statistics that keep users motivated, and also a clear menu that helps to navigate the application easily.

Everyone who goes through the exercise of “what is journalism?” quickly learns there are no obvious, uncontroversial answers. We had a conversation this morning about somebody who has a blog about beer. We said, well, this person does reporting, they actually interview people, they look at statistics, they’re not just sharing their opinion on beer. And it felt like, yeah, that’s journalism. Now, would we make that decision a month from now? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to get into specifics, but we’ve had some tricky edge cases. Inherently, it’s tricky.

Test ways to build earned credentials (certificates, badges, coursework) into degrees; build banks of experience (on-the-job training, internships) that earn credit; admit students simultaneously to two- and four-year institutions; guarantee transfer agreements so students don’t take numerous courses that don’t transfer into a four-year degree; set goals for meaningful employment upon graduation; and work collectively to measure our progress and hold ourselves accountable for the outcome.

“It was kind of fun. Like even though I was green, that doesn’t mean my green tops your yellow right? Whatever I did, I just did it with a lot of energy.”

MOOCs), badges, and microcredentials

Interestingly, the employers were aware of the need to avoid including specific technologies or competencies that were narrowly identifying the company's niche skills. By generating broader competency statements, they were also creating more sustainable position descriptions that could guide the company into the future, beyond the current specific technology or minute skill needs

I remember in the Master and Margarita, she makes him a hat that says "Master" on it. it seemed like a very strange thing to do, but maybe it was common practice to wear "master" badges and hats?

Can Education Keep Up with Technology?

What has changed, what remains the same, and what general patterns can be discerned from the past twenty years in the fast-changing field of edtech?

Badging may be seen as an alternative to traditional forms of educational assessment and recognition. Traditional systems for recognizing learning – letter grades, transcripts, or even diplomas– may not be able to fully demonstrate students’ actual learning or achievements. Digital badging would allow metadata to be attached to each badge, bringing together valuable information about the criteria for earning the badge, the institution or instructor behind the badge, the date the badge was earned, descriptions or copies of assessment tools, or even examples of actual work submitted to receive the badge. [4] Additionally, as a form of micro-credentialing, badging would help document specific learning achievement along a larger path towards general achievement.

Shaping the Educational Technology Innovation Ecosystem

Ian O’Byrne, an assistant professor of literacy education at the College of Charleston, replied, “In the future we’ll see more opportunities for online, personalized learning. This will include open, online learning experiences (e.g., MOOCs) where individuals can lurk and build up capacity or quench interests. I also believe that we’ll see a rise in the offering of premium or pay content that creates a space where one-to-one learning and interaction will allow mentors to guide learners while providing critical feedback. We will identify opportunities to build a digital version of the apprenticeship learning models that have existed in the past. Alternative credentials and digital badges will provide more granular opportunities to document and archive learning over time from traditional and nontraditional learning sources. Through evolving technologies (e.g., blockchain), this may provide opportunities for learners to document and frame their own learning pathways.”

A bitmark consists of four basic elements:an asset fingerprintasset metadataan owner accounta digital signature

aspirations

ever-growing

many visions for blockchain in education seem to advocate writing it all to the blockchain

This post is the third in a series of five blog posts designed to explore, inform, and encourage public discussions about the possibilities, opportunities, and challenges arising at the intersection of Open Badges and blockchain technology.

Over the past year, we have been working on a set of tools to issue, display, and verify digital credentials using the Bitcoin blockchain and the Mozilla Open Badges specification. Today we are releasing version 1 of our code under the MIT open-source license to make it easier for others to start experimenting with similar ideas.

Notes and comments on ‘Digital Badges in Education’: Part I: Trends and Issues

Yet, these are not certain, and the future of the ecosystem as I hope to shape it depends upon a growing core of influencers who are genuinely committed to and uncompromising about the value of the commons.

democratizing technology and authoritarian technology.

There are inherent affordances and limitations to the technology that make some things possible and other things more likely. At the same time, there are complex individual and societal forces that impact how it develops, especially the power structures that develop alongside a given technology.

but they are instead examining how it developed in a give context.

We saw this happen with Microsoft. It started out with a big vision: How do we get a PC on every desk and in every home? It was profoundly democratizing.