The Digital Badges Team was charged to evaluate the existing badges program and articulate the future direction of the program by investigating how badges scale, how badging can be sustainable, and the capacity of LLS to support the program as part of the larger strategy for instruction offerings provided by LLS. For a quick recap of what work around digital badges was prioritized during the reboot, I recommend reading Torrie Raish’s earlier post: Digital Badges Sub Team Introduction and Goals.

After identifying the priorities of the charge, we launched a pilot with 12 sections of ENGL 015 where students participated in two digital badges in place of an in-person traditional library instruction workshop. As part of this initiative we completed the following tasks: surveyed instructors and students, evaluated student work, reviewed the overall design of the badges, and assessed how this program can scale. Based  on the pilot implementation, assessment metrics, and an instructor focus group, the team recommends the following for the badge teaching load going forward as part of LLS instruction offerings:

• continue providing badges as an instruction method for ENGL 015 and other foundational courses.
• finalize all documentation for best practices for implementing badges within a course
• implement changes to badges suggested by the review committee during Summer 2019.
• maintain the same offering (2 badges for 12 sections with a minimum of 6-7 core badge evaluators) as our capacity threshold. Additional sections may be added on a case by case basis with special consideration based on the availability of badge evaluators. Instructors will be able to select their own badges.
• implement the criteria for inclusion of badge use within a course. For example, continuing to target foundational classes, focusing on instructors who want to use badges, identifying courses that have a need for research instruction, and timing badges to support student work.
• build continued awareness and collaborations across University Libraries for the badging program. This includes the creation of internal support to train evaluators such as through a canvas course or badge. This also includes strategic planning for the inclusion of our colleagues at campus locations.
• work to articulate the workflow for instructors requesting badge support for their courses developed over Summer 2019 and then communicate the workflow to these instructors. Potential workflow: review website and update as needed, have instructors fill out a badge request form, instructors consult with LLS before using badges for the first time.
• continue to develop badges as a teaching delivery method used in LLS and implement the recommendations identified so that the workload is sustainable.