This presentation details a university-wide, one credit hour digital badge initiative that certifies student learning outcomes in writing courses. Strategies for implementing badges are discussed.
The use of digital badges is trending upward in higher education (Filsecker & Hickey, 2014; Young, 2012). A digital badge is defined as a "validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest, that can be earned in many learning environments" (HASTAC). Stemming from gamification principles, badges are used in a variety of contexts, including recognizing skill-based competencies, participatory awards, professional development, and digital portfolios. Ahn, Pellicone, and Butler (2014) identify three categories for badge uses: (1) badges as motivators, (2) badges as pedagogical tools, and (3) badges as signifiers or credentials. Ostensibly, a badge is a digital image that is distributed to a learner once he or she has demonstrated that the criteria for earning the badge have been met. The image is usually designed to reflect the accomplishment being recognized or the institution awarding the badge. A digital badge can differ from analog badges, such as Boy Scout merit badges, in that it can contain metadata which details information about the learner, the badge issuer, and the evidence that was submitted in order to earn the badge. Upon receipt of a badge, earners may choose to share their badge collection to an online portfolio host such as Credly or Mozilla Backpack as well as any online social media outlet or personal website.
To support the issuance of badges, the badge system provides both the learning and technical infrastructure that delivers badges to learners for meeting common benchmarks and standards. Typically, badge earners progress through instructional modules, usually self-paced, and a teacher, supervisor, or peer evaluates their work. According to the MacArthur Foundation, a sponsor of many digital badge initiatives, (http://www.macfound.org/programs/digital-badges/), a badge system is defined as an "assessment and credentialing mechanism that is housed and managed online. Badges are designed to make visible and validate learning in both formal and informal settings, and hold the potential to help transform where and how learning is valued." The ecosystem for using badges is typically rooted in one of two assessment models: merit badges and gaming achievements, where the former model acknowledges specific knowledge and skills in informal learning environments, and the latter model recognizes learning achievements gained through pursuit of other learning outcomes (Abramovich, Higashi, Hunkele, Schunn, & Shoop, 2011). In educational settings, badges often embrace a hybrid of the two assessment models in an attempt to recognize learning (both formally and informally) and motivate the learner through game-like encouragement. Educational badges are "visible proof of some quality of participation and contribution that previously wasn't even defined" and this learning framework could indeed be a "tipping point" for traditional assessment (Davidson, 2011, para. 2). Recently, proponents of digital badges have begun to recognize that "well-designed badges can serve as signifiers of what knowledge and skills are valued, guideposts to help learners plan and chart a path, and as status mechanisms in the learning process" rather than simple tokens of participation or affirmation (Ahn, et al., 2014, p.4). A badge system can vary by design; learners may be required to satisfy multiple tasks before earning a badge, or a badge may represent each achievement. Some systems may allow learners complete control of the instructional sequence, and other system designs may require learners to follow a prescribed learning pathway.
The presentation will profile a digital badge initiative at Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, SC, population 9,000 undergraduates. The program, titled Coastal Composition Commons (http://ccc.coastal.edu/), recognizes student proficiency in course learning outcomes for first-year writing courses. The two courses, ENGL101: Composition and ENGL102: Composition & Critical Reading, are central to the Core Curriculum and required of first-year students at CCU. The Coastal Composition Commons, or CCC, has changed the landscape of the first-year writing program by serving as the fourth credit hour for these traditionally 3-credit hour writing courses. The CCC has over 2,300 active learners and 63 faculty members. There are eleven badges available at the time of this writing, eight of which are required as part of the first-year writing program curriculum. These eight badges are tethered directly to the course outcomes and represent 24% of the student's final course grade.
If accepted, this presentation will discuss how digital badges were implemented in a first-year composition program for undergraduate learners, specifically for assessing competencies in literacy skills that were aligned with existing course learning outcomes. As such, badges will be viewed as a fine-grained feedback and high-stakes assessment tool. Digital badges served as assessment, but also were designed to support student motivation. While research on digital badging and motivation is increasing, to date there has been little research on the relationship between digital badges as assessment instruments and motivation in a higher education classroom. The purpose of this engaging slideshow presentation is to explain the effects of a digital badge system on undergraduate learners' levels of intrinsic motivation, how it related to their expectancy-value, and to understand general attitudes towards digital badges in learning environments so that future educators can harness the usefulness of a digital badge assessment model. Participants will be welcomed to engage in conversation, ask questions, and navigate through our digital badge platform site (http://ccc.coastal.edu/) on their mobile devices, and handouts will be distributed.