I have been interested in the concept of badges in education for some time and I will admit I had some
preconceptions that were incorrect. Through my research I have discovered wide support from classroom
teachers to the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In addition I located badge generators and guides for
creating and awarding badges not just to students, but also teachers who achieve levels of expertise in the use of
technology and other professional development skills and topics.
Below you will find a bibliography of websites that I found beneficial for my growth and learning in this topic
and after that my directions for using a badge creation site to make your own badges.
Badges in Education
Ash, Katie. "'Digital Badges' Would Represent Students' Skill Acquisition." Education Week Digital Directions.
Version Vol. 05, Issue 03, Pages 24-25, 28,30. © 2013 Editorial Projects in Education, 13 June 2012.
Web. 3 Sept. 2013. <www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/06/13/03badges.h05.html>. The author
profiles the debate that has and is occurring over the use of badges in education. There is some
disagreement about using the badges to formalize traditionally informal education related to soft skills.
Ash’s article described the use of badges in the MOUSE program. The program helps develop the
technology help desk skills of students. Other topics covered in the article were gamification in the
classroom, and building a badge economy. In conclusion the author shared more supportive quotes and
evidences of the effectiveness of using badges for assessment and reward.
Deutsch, Nellie. "The Evolving use of Badges in Education." EmergingEdTech. Education Technology. Internet
and instructional technologies for teachers & other educators.. EmergingEdTech, 12 June 2013. Web.
4 Sept. 2013. <http://www.emergingedtech.com/2013/06/the-evolving-use-of-badges-in-education/>.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch briefly provides support for using virtual badges as rewards for learning. In the
article she records the use of badges in Khan Academy, the Mozilla Open Badges Project and
concludes with information about online learning and the use of badges for motivation.
Duncan, Arne. "Digital Badges for Learning | U.S. Department of Education." U.S. Department of Education.
Version Archived. U.S. Department of Education, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 4 Sept. 2013.
<http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/digital-badges-learning>. This archived text record of U.S.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's comments at the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and
Lifelong Learning Competition share the support and call for changes in education to transform
education using technology. Mr. Duncan specifically emphasized the development of badges as a way
to transition from seat time based credentials to competency based. Duncan feels that badges have the
potential to speed the transformation that needs to occur in schools and classrooms. He summarized
how badges have been used in various environments and challenged the participants at the competition
to continue to innovate and create ways to provide students with a world class education.
Martin, John. "Badges." Badges. Google Sites, n.d. Web. 4 Sept. 2013. <http://badges.jemartin.com/home>.
This Google Site created by John Martin with some community edits is organized in four segments.
The first defines badges and provides a list of resources. The next provides links to experience earning
badges followed by a section on building badges. The final segment lists different ways to use badges
for acknowledging achievement by students and teachers. Throughout the pages in the site there are
links to more information on specific topics.
Sorensen, Keith. "The Five Points of Technology and Education: We need more stinkin' badges (or, how to
increase student participation without using grades as a reward)." The Five Points of Technology and
Education. Bloggerr, 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 4 Sept. 2013.
<http://keithosorensen.blogspot.com/2013/04/badges.html>. The blog author, Keith Sorensen, make a
case for using badges as a tool for motivation in school. He detailed the use of badges in boy scouts,
girl scouts, the military and video games. Sorensen provided directions for setting up the badge system
in a classroom. His comments made it clear that this I not a behavior management system, but a new
and different way to celebrate student learning accomplishments. The comments added to the blog post
had their own value and listed more resources.
Using http://classbadges.com to create badges for your classroom is easy. Begin by
completing the Teacher Registration.
Ignore the warning that you don’t have any badges! You need to Manage Classes first.
Add your classes……
I’ve added one.
Next add students.
After you have added your classes and students it’s time to create badges!
Click on the first choice in the left panel menu: Badges. Click the Add Badge bar in the
window and proceed to the badge creation location.
1. Name the Badge
2. Choose Class 3. Enter text to describe the achievement.
4. Change the Art (I searched for “energy” related icons, there are many)
5. Watch as the changes appear here as you create!
1.
2.
3.
Save your badge!
4.
5.
Now you can AwardBadge
Click
Choose the class>students will be listed>check mark the box>click
To retrieve the badge your student will need to login. And it would appear in their account.
When a student logs in this is what they see. There are many ways to share the badge.
This is what a downloaded badge looks like.