Designing a successful digital badge system takes thoughtful planning and deliberate involvement of multiple stakeholders. Using a proven strategy, this workshop will guide participants through the process of identifying scope, enlisting buy-in from key stakeholders, aligning badges to curriculum, crafting meaningful metadata, and educating earners and others.
Digital badges and digital credentials help institutions, employers, governments, associations, and communities recognize lifelong achievement through portable, verified, and digital credentials. Digital credentials help connect talent to opportunity at scale, using digital evidence of achievement to build an education-to-workforce pipeline among participating institutions and businesses. Digital badges can improve the education-to-workforce pipeline for learners, institutions and businesses. Although there is a good deal of curiosity regarding digital badge systems, few resources spell out how to design a successful badge system. Institutions sometimes flounder without clear purpose, or badge systems fail from a lack of buy-in and support. This fast-paced workshop will break the process into manageable steps for participants. By the end of the workshop, participants can expect to have outlined a plan for their context.
As leaders in the digital badge space we will:
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Give a brief presentation on digital credentials and their value in the education-to-employment landscape, followed by a Q&A
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Use a variety of case studies to allow participants to engage by identifying the challenges and developing best practices during the session
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Lead a small-group activity that involves participants designing a strategy to empowering individuals through recognition of achievements demonstrated both inside and outside of traditional education.
As a result of this workshop, participants can expect to be able to:
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Identify major steps in a badge design process.
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Discuss consequences of skipping steps.
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Articulate places where local industry and employers can assist with system design.
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Create a plan for a badge system.
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Formulate a communications strategy for educating all stakeholders of the value of the badge.
The workshop scope and sequence will help participants outline a plan for their digital badge initative using the sequence below.
1. Introduction to badges (5 minutes)
1.1. Brief overview and examples
1.2. Emphasis on systems
2. Identifying scope and purpose (10 minutes)
2.1. Articulating reasons
2.2. Naming stakeholders
2.3. Considering frameworks and standards
2.4. Activity: Badge Planner Doc
3. Creating sustainable value (10 minutes)
3.1. Employers and industries
3.2. Buy-in and guidance
3.3. Councils and summits
3.4. Activity: Identifying your champions and setting as course
4. Instructional Alignment (10 minutes)
4.1. Where does this fit?
4.2. Familiar pattern: Objectives—Assessment—Instruction
4.3. Metadata
4.4. Overcoming faculty resistance
4.5. Activity: Write metadata for one badge
5. Final Lift (5 minutes)
5.1. Importance of a communications plan
5.2. Examples of many forms
5.3. Who needs what message?
5.4. Activity: Sketch a message
6. Recap and QA (5 minutes)