Digital Badges: A Conversation on the Teaching and Learning Implications
for Higher Education
Brett Bixler, The Pennsylvania State University
Chris Lucas, The Pennsylvania State University
Ken Layng, The Pennsylvania State University
Abstract: In today’s era of high unemployment, there is a disconnect between the skills of the
unemployed and the skills required for unfilled jobs, resulting in lost job opportunities. In higher
education, the ability to show valid and reliable student assessment is critical for program success
and accreditation. Digital Badges could potentially revolutionize higher education instructional
practices, assessment, and student portfolios, bridging the gap between institutional credentialing
and potential employers. The session will include a brief overview of digital badging that includes
a breakdown of an idealized badging structure, the potential pros and cons of digital badging, the
current status of badging in higher education, methods for incorporating a badging initiative, and
the relevant literature for acquiring additional information. The main portion of the session will be
a group “think” on the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats that digital badging
affords for teaching and learning in higher education. Participants will leave the session with a
firm understanding of how badges may transform current teaching, learning, and assessment
practices, and methods they might employ to begin their own badging initiative.
Literature Review
Digital badges hold both great promises and threats for higher education. They can enhance their affiliates’ digital
identities, enable global perspectives, foster improved instructional design, facilitate better instructional
management, define skills and professional development, promote institutions, and establish new business and
monetization models (Bixler & Layng, 2013; Duncan, 2011). They can help employers locate ideal candidates for a
position. At the same time, they threaten traditional models of assessment and the accreditations of assessed
individuals and programs that follow (Olneck, 2012). Badges force us to examine our current assessment and
credentialing structures (Olneck, 2012). Traditionally, a university degree is seen as the source of authority and
competence. If an individual acquires a suite of badges from various external sources, they can become evidence of
competence in a given area or discipline. When prospective employers begin to accept suites of badges as truthful
evidence of competence in a discipline, the traditional university degree begins to lose value (Carey, 2012).
While the very nature of “pure” badge design seems to demand validity, reliability, and credibility, many questions
in these areas remain open (Casilli, 2012). Indeed, the entire research base for digital badging is in its infancy. For
example, champions of digital badges extoll their motivational benefits, but it is unclear if badges are seen by all as
motivational. Motivational studies by Deci (1972) indicate that external rewards can be demotivating over time. If
badges are viewed as a reward and not as a symbolized recognition of achievement, their motivational benefits are
suspect.
As over 100 organizations have or are implementing the use of badges and badging systems (Badges/Issuers, n.d.),
policy and administrative infrastructures needed to support a badging system are becoming increasingly important.
The technological infrastructure needed to support a badging system is complex but obtainable. The policy decisions
surrounding badging and the changes badging brings to assessment and accreditation are far more complex, and will
require time to plan for and implement (Hickey, 2012).
Goals and Objectives
Upon completion of the session, participants will be able to:
 List common teams and concepts related to digital badging.
 List the common strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses related to digital badging.
 Reflect upon their curricula/program/organization in terms of implementing digital badging initiatives.
Description of Topic to be Discussed
A digital badge is a clickable graphic that contains
an online record of 1) an achievement, 2) the work
required for the achievement, 3) evidence of such
work, and 4) information about the organization,
individual, or entity that issued the badge. Mozilla
has created an Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI)
standard that includes a display platform called the
Badge Backpack so that badge earners will have a
free, hosted, public location for management and
display of their digital badges. Thus, badges earned
by individuals from disparate organizations that
use custom badging platforms may be aggregated
in one location for others to view (Bixler & Layng,
2013). Digital badges can be used, among other
things, to depict course completion, establish
micro-credentials, represent honors, show event
participation, and demonstrate community
membership.
Figure 1. Earning a badge (Bixler & Layng, 2013)
Facilitation Techniques
This session will begin with a brief presentation on digital badging concepts and terminology, followed by an open
discussion with the audience. The open discussion will center on the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and
threats that digital badging affords for teaching and learning in higher education. “What if” implementation
scenarios will be examined in this light; i.e., “How might one approach administration about implementing a
badging initiative?” It is anticipated that the participants will come to understand (1) that digital badges transcend
any specific discipline and are a universal game changer in the areas of higher education assessment, accreditation,
and student portfolios, and (2) methods they might employ to begin their own badging initiative.
References
Badges/Issuers (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2013 from the MozillaWiki Wiki:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges/Issuers
Bixler, B., & Layng, K. (2013). Digital badges in higher education: An overview. Retrieved from
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UqNeLzIu0i0EkiqdJEivIJrqVJ5Afikl7OSKKOzQgI8/
Carey, K. (2012, November 11). Show me your badge. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/show-me-your-badge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Casilli, C. (2012, May 21). Badge System Design: What we talk about when we talk about validity. Retrieved from
https://carlacasilli.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/badge-system-design-what-we-talk-about-when-we-talkabout-validity/
Deci, E.L. (1972). Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic reinforcement, and inequity. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 22, 113-120.
Duncan, A. (2011, September 15). Digital badges for learning: Remarks by Secretary Duncan at 4th annual launch
of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Lifelong Learning Competition. Retrieved from
http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/digital-badges-learning
Hickey, D. (2012, June 10). Digital badges as transformative assessment. Retrieved from
http://remediatingassessment.blogspot.com/2012/06/digital-badges-as-transformative.html
Olneck, M. L. (2012). Insurgent credentials: A challenge to established institutions of higher education? Retrieved
from http://www.hastac.org/files/insurgent_credentials__michael_olneck_2012.pdf