#BadgeChat was founded in December, 2014 by a group of educators who are passionate about credentialing learning and achieving. While there are thousands of us around the globe issuing badges to learners, there was not yet a regular twitter chat for those of us in the K-12 space to gather for learning and sharing about badging. After reaching out to leaders in the field (like the good folks at Mozilla and The Badge Alliance) for their thoughts, #BadgeChat was born.
Welcome to #BadgeChat! We use the standard Q1, Q2, etc for questions. Please use corresponding A1, A1, etc in your replies and remember to include #BadgeChat in your tweets.
Hi, #Badgechat, glad to be here this week. I've been involved with badges since 2012 as a researcher, application developer, and standards contributor. I'm the director of the @BadgrTeam at @ConcentricSky.
A1: My first badge was the Badgr Web Explorer! It's a demo badge, with some simple instructions to show you how the #openbadges technology works for users. https://t.co/HTMRVqmZsu#BadgeChat
Awesome to see so many folks here right at the start! Shoutout to @markjotter whose with us almost every week asynchronously and appears to be joining in real time today! #badgechat
@Martin_H_Dunphy#BadgeChat A1: My first badge was the Web Navigator badge that @toolness built to show off the then-fresh v0.5 Open Badges Specification and Backpack. It took some years after that before good issuer tooling was widely available.
In reply to
@Martin_H_Dunphy, @Martin_H_Dunphy, @toolness
Our #PathwaysGroundFloor easter egg for today's #BadgeChat is to earn the Badgr Web Explorer Badge before 7:30pm EDT (in the next hour). If you've already gotten this one and don't want another, just share the link to me for your prize.
A1: My first badge was the Badgr Web Explorer! It's a demo badge, with some simple instructions to show you how the #openbadges technology works for users. https://t.co/HTMRVqmZsu#BadgeChat
A1: Pretty sure my first Open Badge was self-issued so I could see what the big deal was:) First Digital Badge was probably playing with a colleague on @Edmodo back in 2013-14 #badgechat
Randy Macdonald, Program Manager for Innovation Academy, an after school CS & STEM program for MS & HS students in Oregon also a program manager for the @OregonCSTA PD program for K-12 CS Ed in OR. Just beginning to use digital badges for @OregonCSTA PD. #badgechat
Biggest barrier for me and a lot of others is just getting started! It can feel so daunting like staring out at a whole ocean that you can forget that getting started doesn't mean crossing the ocean, just getting your feet wet #badgechat
I've too gotten stopped at the "am I ready to begin" phase dozens of times with different ideas for badging. Which is why I'm kicking myself a little harder to get started now that Pathways is out. I want to explore its potential with ya'll #BadgeChat
A1: Wow - had to go to the backpack on that one - Intercultural Competence and then SIOP from when @participate was VIF International Education #badgechat
A2: Learning by Doing! It's so easy to go full geek mode and unleash the Open Badges Fire Hose on someone new...it's important to slow down, stick to the high level stuff that matters and offer a nice on-ramp #badgechat
samesies! It was prominently linked from a lot of the early documentation. Now it's somewhat defunct, so we created https://t.co/vxnVlxi8gb as a new coat of paint on the concept. (Earn it in the next 47 minutes to earn a #PathwaysGroundFloor easter egg) #BadgeChat
A2: For me is knowing where to start! Knowing what badges are out there and instructions for obtaining them! This is definitely a starting point! #UMedTech#PLN#badgechat
A2: A solid participatory demo goes a long way towards understanding, but I think showing a portfolio of Badges with meaningful credentials would also help. Show them the end game! #BadgeChat
@Martin_H_Dunphy#BadgeChat A2: I think it's the same as for "advanced" users -- we need to build web services that use badges meaningfully within how they enable you to navigate their interfaces and the world. If we give badges power, they will have power.
A2. It's important to emphasize that it's not "something else to do"... but rather a way to show what you know, so you don't have to sit through training...again #BadgeChat
A2: A solid participatory demo goes a long way towards understanding, but I think showing a portfolio of Badges with meaningful credentials would also help. Show them the end game! #BadgeChat
A2: Metaphors and analogies only get you so far. I think the best way to help new users is to create some accessible onramps to earning and awarding badges #badgechat
Great point Dodie! Our profession is full of Flavors of the Week that were basically just repackaging the old as the new. People see through it and disengage. Helping those we serve see that this is actually a valuable *new* way of recognizing learning is powerful #badgechat
A3: In @aurorak12, we have 5 "Summit Badges" that can all unlock career exploration with area employers that recognize and value the skills credentials that students earn. These are the most valuable and they are what get Ts + Ss to buy in #badgechat
A3. Still building our system... For each badge, it can be earned in bronze, silver, or gold - bronze - I know it, silver - I use it w/ Ss, gold - I share how I use it #badgechat
A3: I don't have any badges of credential value just yet, but I have an EdX class on my list for the next few months: 'Python for Data Science'. As I understand it the class completion comes with #openbadges Badge and a certificate: #Badgechat
#BadgeChat A3 Though I did also have a lot of fun building the system to automatically award badges depending on how close to the total eclipse one was last summer https://t.co/C8WRHV82lt Learned the GMaps JS API!
A3: Personally earned badge I’m most proud of is the Badge Wiki (https://t.co/2hlIGcaJWB) Barn Raiser Badge, issued to community members who help build Badge Wiki, a knowledge repository for the Open Badges community. #BadgeChat
A3: Personally earned badge I’m most proud of is the Badge Wiki (https://t.co/2hlIGcaJWB) Barn Raiser Badge, issued to community members who help build Badge Wiki, a knowledge repository for the Open Badges community. #BadgeChat
A3: Personally awarded badges I’m most proud are the @OregonCSTA SuperQuest badges I’ve been awarding to educators who participate in our 3-day summer PD workshops
#BadgeChat
It's helping us build a PD system that's not about providing training and hoping it sticks- we want implementation and monitoring...we are building a system to help achieve that.
I am venturing into this realm. Many Ss into gaming/levelling up but dont want to turn others off with gimmicky implementation. If I can make it "real" with perceived value in upper HS sci/math then I can buy in to badging and ensure Ss buy in #badgechat
A4: What makes me most excited about the future of Badges is CHANGING THE WORLD!!! I passionately believe we are revolutionizing storytelling and how we communicate the deep, rich narrative of who we are as learners and achievers! #badgechat
#BadgeChat A4: What makes me most excited about the future of #openbadges is that we will build an ecosystem where users are in control of their own data and can connect to a world of services that help them understand their communities (and how they can fit in).
Totally!!! And you have this community to lean on for feedback and support! One key design principal I can offer you is to start with identifying a powerful answer for the student who asks, "Why?" #badgechat
A2 Have seen interesting potential in bitmoji sticker badges #badgechat
Just want to plan and start the year off "right" so iy has meaning for me and Ss
There is a lot of small-world thinking in the badges space. I don't let it get me down -- I just know that when we build the applications that prove this is a big world, it'll be so fun to enjoy it with ya'll. #badgechat
A5: We are not alone. There are a lot of amazing and talented people creating awesomeness in this space and together we're going to change the world #badgechat
Good points - For me, showing that you care and put thought into design is the first step in having a "valuable" badge, at least in the relationship between T&S. Then if your community can give it some other internal value for understanding and connecting, that's LVL2. #badgechat
A5: Easter eggs! And also the idea of an #openbadges ecosystem with connected apps helping users realize new opportunities through personalized learning. #BadgeChat
Thanks for another great #badgechat. If you want to earn your #PathwaysGroundFloor easter egg, you've got just 30 more minutes to earn the https://t.co/vxnVlxi8gb Web Explorer Badge or share a prior assertion at me. Sign up on my profile for fun limited ed learning experiences ;)
A5: My takeaway is that there is support and a community of leaders out here willing to help others! In addition, start small and build a portfolio. #UMedTech#badgechat
