A digital badge is essentially a digital image that contains embedded metadata describing information about the task performed to earn the badge, criteria for assessment, and often evidence that was submitted by the learner to earn the badge. When it comes to documenting informal learning experiences, digital badges can function as effective “micro-credentials.”
In the context of an undergraduate writing course designed for students enrolled in an RN-BSN nursing completion degree, digital badges were created as a way of documenting student accomplishments for their coursework. The purpose here was twofold: to recognize student achievements in the course and to have an effective means by which students could share those accomplishments with their current employers. In other words, digital badges were framed as a way of helping students use classroom achievements to professionally brand themselves—that is, to connect skills learned in the classroom with skills that would be attractive to their employers.
Many of the badges directly connected work required for the course with criteria for earning a particular badge; the badge, in turn, represented skills required by students’ employers. For example, students could earn badges in areas such as workplace communication, designing patient literature, and group collaboration, as well as for writing proposals, memos, and other types of documents.
Mark Mabrito