While digital badging shows enormous potential for transforming education by providing transferable visual representations of earned credentials, its place within the realm of higher education remains unclear.  Initiatives exist to clarify that uncertainty of purpose – but without a consistent, cross-institutional credentialing system through which to gauge objectives and streamline qualifying criteria – despite its teaching and learning merits, digital badging … in the words of American poet Robert Frost … has “miles to go before I[t] sleep[s].”

“Educational badges, in addition to potentially changing a learner’s achievement goals, might also change how much the learner values a subject (by having them choose goals to pursue) or what their expectations are for success (by regularly flagging success or lack thereof)” (p. 220) asserts Abramovich et al. in a 2013 study on learner motivation. The researchers followed a group of learners engaged in a digital “intelligent” tutoring program and found that  the “… relationship between badges and motivation for low performing students was limited to
participatory badges. Skill badges earned by the low-performing students did not correlate with … change in performance avoidance goals,” to reflect that”… different types of badges will have different effects on student motivation to learn but … also … that different types of badges will also affect learning performance since motivation can predict future learning performance” (p. 230). Essentially, without the learner’s intrinsic motivation, the extrinsic reward system (badging) did not act as a universally positive reinforcing agent for authentic learning. These findings speak to the administrative caution necessary to implement an effective digital badging initiative, not only at the college level but in any learning environment. The study concluded that “[a]dvocates of educational badges need to further understand the interplay between different type of learners and different type of badges” (Abramovich, p. 230). Best practices of instructional design must extend to micro-credentialing, therefore, as a crucial effort in ensuring that incentive badging aligns not only with learning objectives but with intrinsic learning goals.

The digital badge alone does not precipitate meaning to the learner; mirroring the RASE framework wherein resources are scaffolded by activities, support, and evaluation, digital badging initiatives should represent more than simply a participation trophy – these credentials hold more significance to the learner when they are steeped in meaningful learning outcomes.”Badges afford recognition of granular learning and informal learning recognition. Open badges are uniquely positioned to provide information storage and knowledge retrieval and to demonstrate learner competencies and accomplishments over social networks. The flexibility of badges creates opportunities for individualized learner choice and autonomy over one’s learning trajectory” (Carey and Stefaniak, 2018).  In their recent qualitative study, Carey and Stefaniak (2018) conducted in-depth interviews with higher education personnel responsible for integrating digital badging initiatives; their findings suggest that skills-based credentials are preferred by learners over participation-based credentials.  While this data alone does not necessarily reiterate larger themes of connected learning, coupled with the learner’s motivation in seeking transferable skills the findings reinforce the need of the individual to pursue learning activities that support identities outside of the school environment.  “Acknowledgement outside the awarding institution or organization was the top choice selected by participants for what makes a badge motivating to earn” and function “… as a vehicle to represent skills outside the immediate community. Considerations for Digital Badge Programming in Higher Education Institutions who are interested in implementing digital badging must take into account scalability. Regardless of the level and extent that badging occurs (i.e. classroom level, program level, department level, college level, cross-university), it is important that badge programmers consider the degree of transferability” (Carey and Stefaniak, p. 1225).

Finally – and perhaps most concerning in planning a digital badging initiative within a hybrid learning environment such as my own – digital badging, or any mobile technology effort wherein learners may be prompted to engage with content across learning contexts, must serve to support, enhance, and uphold best practices in curriculum development and learner agency.  A 2017 study by Shewmaker and Nguyen suggest that mobile devices – particularly in the classroom – can serve as distractions that limit full engagement.  “It should be noted that any use of technology for learning also presents the opportunity for student distraction, and therefore, disengagement….” and that “…students who compose written work through short-hand typing on a mobile device appear less likely to demonstrate deep critical thinking than students who compose their written responses on a computer or on paper. Together, these results suggest that educators can employ many different tools to create engaged learning environments but each tool has both primary functions and limitations” (Shewmaker and Nguyen, p. 98). With these findings in mind, integration of a digital badging initiative within a mobile and online LMS should seek to enhance and scaffold learning content in ways that encourage the full engagement of the learner.

What is most poignant to me moving forward is the fact that my initial assertions about mobile learning have been duly reinforced throughout both the studies cited herein and the course as a whole.  The teacher – above all – must serve as a facilitator of learning.  Providing appropriate scaffolding through technology aims to advance the learner in all aspects by providing seamless experience.  This continues to be my focus as I move forward.

Videos:

Education Design Lab (2018). [Video] About The Lab’s 21st Century Skills Badges ft in Scione, L. (2019) Is your college part of the the 21st Century Skills Badges initiative? eCampus News (online).

Long, P. (2017). [Video] Microcredentials and the Evolution of Badges to Recognize Learning. EDUCAUSE Review (online).

References:

Abramovich, S., Schunn, C., and Higashi, R.M. (2013).  Are badges useful in education?: it depends upon the type of badge and expertise of learner.  Educational Technology & Research Development 61(2):217-232.

Carey, K.L. and Stefaniak, J.E. (2018).  An exploration of the utility of digital badging in higher education settings. Educational Technology and Research Development 66(5): 1211-1229.

Heflin, H., Shewmaker, J., and Nguyen, J. (2017).  Impact of mobile technology on student attitudes, engagement, and learning.  Computers & Education 107: 91-99.

Mind Map Team – Illustration