badging (1)

DIGITAL BADGING: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

Cody Behles, Emerging Technology Librarian Rachel Scott, ILS Librarian University of Memphis

WHAT ARE DIGITAL BADGES? Digital badges are virtual artifacts that recognize skills mastered, participation, and other achievements. As learning, social, professional development, and evaluation platforms continue to migrate to online settings, digital badges enable the display of these artifacts and attached metadata in their native platform.

YE OLDE BADGES

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon” -Napoleon Boneparte

WHO USES DIGITAL BADGES?

Anatomy of a Badge: Badge Name & Description Badge Issuer Outcomes Target Audience Description

Evidence & Assessment Earning Activities (tied to outcomes) Digital Badges & Outcome Based Learning, Educause 2014

WHY USE DIGITAL BADGES? ★ Display Skills in Digital Platforms ★ Certify Skills or Participation ★ Gamification: Make Learning Fun ★ Make Learning Interactive ★ Scalable - Linked to Specific Assessment ★ Goal setting, reputation, affirmation

DIGITAL BADGES IN LIBRARIES? We will discuss digital badges in the following contexts: ★ Library Gamification & User Engagement ★ Information Literacy Assessment ★ Professional Development ★ Employee Training & Evaluation Programs

LIBRARY GAMIFICATION & USER ENGAGEMENT There are several examples of using badges to engage (YA) users. Summer Reading Programs ★ Explore Memphis used digital badges to gamify Summer Reading signups. Chose to attract teenagers and young adults. Youth Literacy/Reading Programs ★ Oakland Reads 2020 initiative to double the percent of Oakland students reading successfully by the end of third grade.

LIBRARY GAMIFICATION & USER ENGAGEMENT Best Practices● Tie into existing rewards structure ○ Depends on useful/appealing incentives ○ 3 explorer badges = 1 free personal pan pizza! ● Target specific accomplishment (certification, skill mastered, participation) ○ Logged in every day! Two books in two weeks! Not “good job” ● Do not enable a badge until configured and ready to use ○ Depends on integration into social networking platform ○ Delivery message should be personalized, when possible

INFORMATION LITERACY ASSESSMENT Outcome or competency-based education is catching on in education. ★ Credentialing achievements at a skill level creates buy-in for students. ★

Portland State University

http://pdxscholar.library. pdx.edu/ulib_fac/144/

University of Arizona: LIBR197R Badges Pilot

http://pumpedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/01/badges-and-buy-in.html

INFORMATION LITERACY ASSESSMENT Best Practices● Tie into existing structure ○ Badges can be used for existing assessments and assignments ● Create skill-specific badges ○ Badge design and text make skill mastered explicit ● Create competition ○ Make some badges easily obtained, some more challenging/desirable ○ Display within course context

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Library associations and institutions issue badges to recognize participation, skills mastered, courses completed, or credentials achieved.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Best Practices ● Start with small, meaningful, and unaddressed Professional Development ○ If organization is targeting tweeters, create and promote badges ● Make badges skill-specific ● Enable badges in advance of the event or at the time of completion

EMPLOYEE TRAINING & EVALUATION PROGRAMS ★ Opportunity to credential in-house training ★ Motivate employees to learn new skills ★ Acknowledge task mastery informally and formally ★ More portable than other employee records

EMPLOYEE TRAINING & EVALUATION PROGRAMS Best Practices ● Don’t do this without administrative buy in; our grass-roots approach failed. ○ Start with administrative training goals ● Tie into existing rewards structure ○ Can serve as a visible form of recognition to accompany formalized reviews. ● Make badges skill specific ○ Can help to incentivize tedious training/work? ● Works best for large corporations with centralized HR and training.

BADGING SUCCESS STORIES? Academic Settings ● ● ● ● ● ●

The University of Arizona Libraries - http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=2676 Portland State University Library (grant funded) - http://www.rethink.pdx.edu/?q=node/139 Penn State - http://gaming.psu.edu/gamification/digital-badges/ University of Central Florida - http://infolit.ucf.edu/faculty/badges/ Purdue University - http://www.itap.purdue.edu/studio/passport/ Curation Culture course at University of Montevallo - http://www.curationculture.org/badges/skills-relatedachievements

Public Libraries ● ● ● ● ●

DC Public library - https://host4.evanced.info/dclibrary/sr/homepage.asp YALSA Badging for lifelong learning - http://www.ala.org/yalsa/badges-learning Bellingham Public Library - http://www.bellinghampubliclibrary.org/summerreading/forms/ASRBadgeCodes.pdf Chicago Public Library - https://chicagocityoflearning.org/badge-details?id=395 Teacher’s GT Badging in Education - http://www.edudemic.com/guides/the-teachers-guide-to-badges-ineducation/

BADGING CLASS? Digging Into Badges: Designing and Developing Digital Credentials ● Review and analyze examples of digital credentials both inside and outside institutions. ● Identify specific courses or other campus activities that could be acknowledged with digital badges. ● Learn how to develop a constellation of badges. EDUCAUSE / ELI Course Course Facilitator: Jonathan Finkelstein, Founder and CEO, Credly

YOU’VE EARNED IT?

Let’s Build a Badge!

BADGLIOGRAPHY Abramovich, Samuel, Christian Schunn, and Ross Mitsuo Higashi. "Are Badges Useful in Education?: It Depends upon the Type of Badge and Expertise of Learner." Educational Technology Research and Development. 61, no. 2 (2013): 217-232. Bell, Steven, John Shank, and Jonathan Finkelstein. “Digital Badges for Learning: Exploring the Possible Impact on Higher Education and Libraries.” Blended Librarian, December 14, 2012, http://blendedlibrarian.badgestack.net/sessions/digital-badges-for-learning-exploring-the-possible-impacton-higher-education-libraries/ Carey, Kevin. “A Future Full of Badges,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 8, 2012, http://chronicle.com/article/A-Future-Full-ofBadges/131455/ Deterding, Sebastian. "Gamification: Designing for Motivation". Interactions – New York. 19, no. 4 (2012): 14-17. Ferrari, Ahniwa. “Badging the Library: Part 1.” WebJunction. February 21, 2013,http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/badging-the-librarypart-01.html Ford, Emily, Nicholas Schiller, and Dawn Richardson. 2014. “Digital Badges in Libraries: Skills-Based Instruction, Code-Shifting, and Collaboration” PDXScholar Ford, Emily. Achievement Unlocked! A Digital Badge Primer & Workshop. PDXScholar. Hammond, Neil. “Using Open Badges to Give Focus and Meaning to Descriptor-based Assessment.” Education Thinking. December 19, 2012, http://neilhammond.blogspot.com/2012/12/using-open-badges-to-give-focus-and_19.html

Hickey, Dan. “The Transcendent Potential of Digital Badges and Paradigm Shifts in Education.” HASTAC. July 28, 2013,http://www.hastac.org/blogs/dthickey/2013/07/28/transcendent-potential-digital-badges-and-paradigm-shifts-education Hickey, Dan and David Raths. “How Badges Really Work in Higher Education,” Campus Technology, June 20, 2013,http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/06/20/how-badges-really-work-in-higher-education.aspx Kim, Bohyun. “Keeping Up with Gamification.” ACRL. May 1, 2013,http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/gamification Knight, Erin , “Reflections on Reflections on Badges,” World of E’s, April 2, 2012,http://erinknight.com/post/20348999445/reflections-onreflections-on-badges Marquis, Justin. “Five Easy Steps to Gamifying HigherEd.” Classroom Aid. August 16, 2013, http://classroom-aid.com/2013/08/16/5easy-steps-to-gamifying-highereed/ Nicholson, S. (2010). A conceptual model of the library gaming experience. Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages (pp. 23-30). Medford, NJ: Information Today. Penn State Educational Gaming Commons. “Digital Badges.” Penn State. n.d., http://gaming.psu.edu/gamification/digital-badges/ Rawsthorne, Peter. “Implementing a Really Simple Badge System.” Critical Technology. December 5, 2012,http://criticaltechnology.blogspot.ca/2012/12/implementing-really-simple-badge-system.html