This session will open a dialogue on the value of digital badging, delve into hands-on uses, and engage participants in collaboratively building an innovative approach.
While approaches and uses of digital badges within education continue to gain traction, questions remain as to the pedagogical value of badging in various contexts and learning environments. The MERLOT Teacher Education Board, as a means of restructuring the conversation around digital badging, decided to collaboratively build a learning object focusing on establishing sound pedagogical uses of badging and identifying strong use cases and effective practices. Given the varying knowledge of badging amongst the board, each person identified an area of research, from the basic definitions of badging to the challenges and diverse perspectives on contextualizing badging.
This innovation lab seeks to reopen this conversation with conference participants, and delve into practical, hands-on uses of digital badging. We'll culminate with small group projects to engage participants in the creation of a new approach or innovative technique that leverages digital badging for their target learners. The session will take the following structure:
A 5 minutes quick-start conversation discussing prominent views (both positive and negative) on digital badging
Participants self select a 10-minute interactive demo led by one of the members of the MERLOT Teacher Education board based on their interest, knowledge or skill level with digital badging. Stations will target the following groups:
New to Badging
Topic: What is a Digital Badge and a Brief History of Badging
Handout: Mozilla Infographic
Knowledge of Badging/Veteran Badgers
Topic: Why Use a Digital Badge and Benefits for Educators; Learner Motivation
Handout: Badge Constellation Worksheet
Participants will persist in their groups to connect the concepts to practical uses of badging. Stations will tackle the following challenges in 15 minutes:
New to Badging
Topic: Effective Creations of Badging Systems
Challenge Question: Connect the practices in the infographic to a meaningful use of digital badging in an authentic situation or course at your institution. Be sure to include a rationale for usage.
Takeaway: Collaborative Notes in Google Docs
Knowledge of Badging/Veteran Badgers
Topic: Organization of Badging Tools in Personal Collections and Content Builder; Collaborative Tools to Discuss and Reflect on Pedagogical Value of Tools/Practices
Challenge Question:
Takeaway: Collaborative Notes in Google Docs
Reconvene as a group for a closure activity of sharing approaches and takeaways from the small groups for the last 10 minutes, with the reporting of products over social media
Questions and answer for the final 5 minutes
This session seeks to leverage the differentiated knowledge amongst conference participants on the effective uses of digital badging to simulate the structure of the Teacher Education board's original collaboration. Engaging participants in activities to get them thinking, playing and sharing, the goal of the session is to leave participants with new approaches to not only digital badging, but leveraging collaboration to evaluate innovative practices and technologies for effective teaching and learning.