Digital Badges: What it is and Why is it Important?
Digital badges serve as a recognition for online learning and help the aspiring professionals to get their qualifications verified while searching for a job.
A digital badge is a recognition for the learning(s) outside the traditional academic records. Digital badges validate the accomplishment, skill, or competencies earned in learning environments, where the learning environment is typically online. It includes higher education, online learning, training programs, boot camps, certifications, internships, volunteer work, continuing education, etc.
As the adoption of digital learning is growing at an exponential rate, the organizing bodies are documenting informal education more engagingly through credential badges. Digital badges are becoming the preferred way to recognize micro-credentials, study units that focuses on skills or competencies.
👉Digital Badge: What is it?
Being a complement to conventional degrees, certificates, and diplomas, these badges help the participants translate their learning experiences into skills — the employers seek. It is also convenient for the employers to understand a prospective employee as badges provide evidence of field-specific training, agility in a software solution, expertise in communicating complex scientific information, project management skills, and so forth.
Yes, digital badges are an integral part of online education today!
👉Digital Badge: How does it work?
A digital badge shows who earned the badge, how it was earned, who issued it, and evidence of work as applicable. It possesses the details such as Badge name, Badge Criteria, Badge URL, Issue Date, Issuer, and the Recipient.
The criteria for earning a badge and rubrics that assess a learner gets established by an Instructor, a College, a University, a National Association, Development and Credentialing bodies such as those from Credbadge, Acclaim, Badgr, etc.
The digital badges may be:
· Membership-based: if it is provided for being a member of a sport- say volleyball or basketball
· Competency-based: if it proves the participant’s ability in programming, project management, or any other intermediate learnings
· Internship-based: if it recognizes the specific job-related skills during the tenure of an internship
· Achievement-based: If it acknowledges the professional’s accomplishments over a period or as specified by the organizing body
👉Digital Badges, who is doing it?
Many major companies such as Oracle, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, SAS, etc., have launched professional development programs that carry a digital badge.
Many Universities like Colorado State University, Institutions in the State University of New York System, University of Buffalo, Fresno City College -sponsored by the University System of Maryland, University of Notre Dame, Wichita State University, and, etc., offers a breadth of digital badges with a focus on workforce training and continuing education.
Over 3000 credentialing organizations like Credforce, Credly, Accredible, etc., offer digital badges to nurture talent, recognize achievement, connect and deepen engagement with the organizations that employ the winners.
👉Digital Badges, the way forward!
Recent evidence suggests that employers are accepting the badges as a means to evaluate potential employees. More institutions of higher education may partner with employers to design badges that are relevant to the workforce needs.
According to MarketsandMarkets, global digital badges market value was US$ 83.3 million in 2018. It is projected to reach US$ 205.6 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 19.8% from 2018 to 2023.
👉Digital Badges, the most popular issuing platforms
The organizations’ issue badges through an online credential or badging platform. These platforms facilitate the organization to design, issue, and manage the badges. The advanced platforms offer integration into learning management systems to automate the issuing process.
The issuing process includes:
· determination of skills or achievement
· set criteria to earn the badge
· development of course curriculum
· evaluate the participant who receive the badge
· design and issue the badge through a digital credential platform
The most popular digital badge issuing platforms are enlisted below.
1. CredBadge
About Credbadge: The qualified applicants get entitled to receive the badge by the CredBadge technology platform through their institutions. Qualified candidates gain employer visibility across digital platforms and social media channels. To name a few clients, they are The Strategy Institute, BPO Certification Institute, Data Science Council of America, Investment Banking Council of America, United States Private Equity Council, among others. It is secure and accessible anytime, anywhere across the globe.
Developed by: Credforce, the world’s credentialing company
Developed for: Institutions, credentialing bodies, and certified professionals
Features and Benefits:
For certification holders:
· Showcase qualification across social media, on the resume, and among professional networks
· Provide instant verification over e-mail to specific recipients
· Describe your proficiency and skillsets in single click interface
· Ensure zero duplication of the qualifications
For employers:
· Reduce the cost of background verification owing to single-click verifiable record
· Receive an instant notification on the validity or expiry status
· Receive information that is tamperproof and accurate
· Share employee credentials with stakeholders and clients
2. Credly
About Credly: Credly makes the talent more visible by empowering organizations to recognize candidates for demonstrated skills. In 2018, it acquired Pearson’s Acclaim and today, the Credly Acclaim platform offers a comprehensive global solution for recognizing achievements, capabilities, and skills.
Developed by: Credly, Inc.
Developed for: Organizations
Features and Benefits:
· Build a brand and grow business
· Bulk issuing and enterprise scalability
· Integrate with popular applications like Canva, Moodle, etc.
· Automate credential issuing
· Promote credentials across social media platforms
· Credly’s Acclaim platform’s dashboard access
3. Badgecraft
About Badgecraft: Badgecraft offers a tool to assess competence, validate learnings, and support professional development. The organizations and professionals can earn, create, issue, share, and display digital open badges online.
Developed by: Badgecraft UAB
Developed for: Organizations and professionals
Benefits:
· Multilingual web platform to support 18 languages currently
· Badge earners can store open badges in the backpack
· Share achievements online and offline
· Carry your badge wallet anywhere anytime
4. Open Badge Factory
About Open Badge Factory: Open badges are digital credentials issued by schools, vocational organizations, companies, and employers for students, staff, members, clients, and partners. The open badge factory platform is certified by IMS global. They have displayer/issuer plugins for the most popular LMS systems like Moodle, WordPress, Optima, and more.
Developed by: Mozilla Foundation
Developed for: organizations and companies
Benefits:
· Suitable for small and big organizations
· User-friendly and cost-efficient
· Track badges to evaluate the value
· Advertise open badges in open badge passport
5. Bestr
About Bestr: Bestr is an Italian credentialing platform that validates competencies in the higher education system and connects them with employers. Bestr supports varied digital credentialing standards, where institutions can have their own specialties for verification, sharing, and security features.
Developed by: CINECA
Developed for: University, Research, Companies, and learners
Benefits:
· Integrates with social media
· Contributes to learners’ employability
· Certify students with digital secure portable certificates
· Verify the authenticity of the credentials and endorse
6. ForAllRubrics
About ForAllRubrics: ForAllRubrics is the platform for teachers and learners. It is free for teachers. It is a tool for competency-based assessment for students’ performance in classrooms. Moreover, the administrators can evaluate teachers too.
Developed by: Forall Systems, Inc.
Developed for: Teachers and students
Benefits:
· Create standards, checklists, and badges
· Score on mobile devices
· Issue digital badges based on performance
· Print rubrics on paper completion, save or share as a PDF doc.
· Administrators can evaluate teachers
7. Learning Machine
About Learning Machine: This is a new generation of digital credentials that offer security for the stakeholders by using open standards and blockchain-based verification. It enables organizations to develop templates and automate credential issuance. The Learning Machine Issuing System facilitates the participants to issue blockchain records at scale.
Developed by: incubated by MIT and evolved in alignment with the W3C
Developed for: Organizations, Governments, and Educational Institutions
Benefits:
· Increased security
· Self-sovereign records
· Prevents fraud
· use of the global decentralized network for verification
8. Badgelist
About Badgelist: Badgelist provides data-driven learning tools so that each earned badge is backed up by machine-readable metadata. It provides positive emotional engagement among the learners as it is achievement-focused learning.
Developed by: Knowledgestreem, San Francisco
Developed for: Professionals, K12 education and higher education
Benefits:
· Increase visibility
· Generate valuable data
· Improve learner experience through personalized guidance
9. NOCTI
About NOCTI: Being the national leader for creating custom and standard assessment solutions, NOCTI delivers solutions to increase technical competence. It certifies new and incumbent workers in private sector. It is a valuable partner in the CTE community to boost America’s workforce. The organizations can issue badges on-demand for different initiatives and programs delivered through NOCTI’s online testing system.
Developed by: NOCTI
Developed for: Secondary and post-secondary students, teachers, business and industry
Benefits:
· store and manage NOCTI badges
· import badges earned outside of NOCTI’s system
· share badges through social media channels
· earn college credit recommendation badges
10. NOCTI Business Solutions
About NOCTI Business Solutions: NOCTI Business Solutions offers many certification programs for companies and workers to improve their professional knowledge and skills. It ensures the workforce competency by providing everything from testing to training.
Developed by: NOCTI
Developed for: workforce
Benefits:
· Create an online locker to store badges
· Share badges on the company profile, resume, portfolio, social media, etc.
Wrapping Up:
Digital badges are open source and store important information of the participant. It provides authenticity and widens learning opportunities. By attracting and engaging all participants, it paves the way to earn, share, verify, and identify opportunities for growth.
