Today I thought I’d talk about badges, because everyone likes to feel like they’re achieving something and badges are a great way of doing that.
Badges
What are badges? Well. You can probably relate to the badge reference when you think about the badges you or your friends received in brownies/girl guides/cubs/boy scouts, etc. These badges were received for achieving a certain criteria with regard to a specific goal. Take for example some of the badges I’ve achieved in the Articulate Insiders community (shown in the image above) – these badges were achieved by: finishing 50 challenges, completing 10 social media challenges, and providing a survey-style opinion. Another example you might be able to relate to: the gold stars your elementary school teacher provided on your assignments/activities for a job well done.
We see badges in many domains; for example, social (e.g. brownies/cubs) and technology (e.g. video games), but how do we begin to use badging in education?
Using Badging in Education
Badges can serve to motivate students to work harder to achieve course goals; individuals innately want to succeed, so receiving an ‘award’ of sorts for completion of an activity can make a world of difference when it comes to learner motivation.
To begin employing badging in your classroom, you will want to define goals to achieve the badges. These goals should align with your course goals and learning outcomes. Once defined, create a mode for delivering the badges. For example, in a face-to-face classroom setting, you may wish to use a physical leaderboard (e.g. a table created on bristol board of each student and each goal, with physical stickers or badges affixed to the board to indicate completion/progress). In an online course, you may wish to generate electronic certificates or an electronic leaderboard (similar to the one illustrated above) that displays each learner’s badges.
Resources
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