#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, especially if this is your first time with us (or first Twitter chat!)
Above all else, know you are safe here. Question, push back, learn. We're a community dedicated to mutual support and growth. Here's a preview of today's questions.
Please take a moment to introduce yourself. I'm Noah in Denver. Co-founder of this chat and #BadgeSummit. I'm passionate about Digital Badge Credentials as storytelling devices to communicate deeper, richer narratives about who we are as learners and achievers! #badgechat
For the next 30 minutes, my tweets will be dedicated to #BadgeChat. Please do join or lurk with us!!! Excited to have some #EduGoalsMooc amigos joining us this week!
Q1: Advocacy is important in any society. How might there be a role for Digital Badge Credentials in motivating and/or recognizing Civic Engagement?
#badgechat
A1: I think it is important recognize achievements. A badge to show how a student has been civically involved is a great way to show what they do outside of the traditional curriculum. #badgechat
A1 (cont) I also think there's huge potential for democratizing who we recognize as leaders in these spaces as Badges are blind to gender, race and last names #badgechat
Great point Nick! Students make awesome happen outside of 4 walls and 2 bells and there's no reason we can't notice, name and credential it! #badgechat
Q1: Advocacy is important in any society. How might there be a role for Digital Badge Credentials in motivating and/or recognizing Civic Engagement?
#badgechat
A1: the city of Louisville has created a badge program to help encourage innovation at the local level. Its really cool! https://t.co/ADF35frE4F#badgechat
A1: I like it. We already give "I voted" stickers. Digital badges might lead to greater awareness of opportunities to get involved as they are shared on social media. #badgechat
A1: the city of Louisville has created a badge program to help encourage innovation at the local level. Its really cool! https://t.co/ADF35frE4F#badgechat
A1 (cont) I also think there's huge potential for democratizing who we recognize as leaders in these spaces as Badges are blind to gender, race and last names #badgechat
Q1: Advocacy is important in any society. How might there be a role for Digital Badge Credentials in motivating and/or recognizing Civic Engagement?
#badgechat
A1: I think schools should require civic engagement in some form for hs graduation. Getting kids active in the community brings greater ownership of their community. #badgechat
Yes!! And with evidence attached to DBs, filling requirement might be more meaningful for some learners than the old "fill out the time sheet" form of validation #badgechat
Exactly! So many complain that although movements grow so much due to social media too many get complacent with rting or just spreading the word #Badgechat
A2: Things That recognize the skills that made the civic engagement possible. Organizing events, directing food drives, things of that nature. The focus should be on the skills demonstrated, not just being present or donating money. #badgechat
A2: It's probably important to avoid credentialing the trivial if we're going to make it meaningful. I think @thenerdyteacher hits on a powerful opportunity with badging engagement with the community like through community service #badgechat
A2: So many kinds of achievements marked by digital badges from marching, designing social media campaigns, speaking at events, being journalists/podcasters at the events, etc #Badgechat
A2: I like the idea of using badges to develop trust in local political candidates. It is difficult to take time as a voter to verify whether every candidate I'm voting for has actually contributed to my community. Verfied badges could speed that process. #badgechat
Super interested in this idea of associations...could teachers' unions/associations meaningfully issue Badges to teachers for civic engagement? Speaking at School Board meetings, making __ calls, writing an op-ed, etc #badgechat
A2: Things That recognize the skills that made the civic engagement possible. Organizing events, directing food drives, things of that nature. The focus should be on the skills demonstrated, not just being present or donating money. #badgechat
A2: As a member of several nonprofits who volunteers a lot of time, I see digital badge credentials which recognize that kind of service that's very valuable to myself and society
#badgechat
A2: I like the idea of using badges to develop trust in local political candidates. It is difficult to take time as a voter to verify whether every candidate I'm voting for has actually contributed to my community. Verfied badges could speed that process. #badgechat
A2: #BadgeChat - I think schools should use badges to recognize their teachers for being active in their community. What a great way to showcase your staff in the community.
A3: Piggybacking on @badgrTeam and @thenerdyteacher points about credentialing teachers, Schools/Districts/Unions could be issuers and one value could be in identifying who their leaders are #badgechat
A1-I think it’s important I show what you have done, as well as what is out there that can still be done. Badge are open to anyone willing to party and learn. #badgechat
A3: Local community organization could create the badges based on the devices they provide. Food banks, animal shelters, and similar organizations could create their badges and work with schools to get them to students and their digital portfolio. #BadgeChat
A2: I like the idea of using badges to develop trust in local political candidates. It is difficult to take time as a voter to verify whether every candidate I'm voting for has actually contributed to my community. Verfied badges could speed that process. #badgechat
Totally! And part of value to orgs could be tracking who their most reliable contributors are, eyeing opportunities for leadership laddering and more! #badgechat
A3: This part could get tricky. The “Trust" is so important here (that @SenorG mentioned). Govt orgs, School Districts, non-profits… Some badges could be used to polarize and some to unite groups of people #BadgeChat
Agree. I think the microcredential idea really plays to the status quo system and moving that oil tanker is going to take discipline -ie. not credentialing the trivial. #BadgeChat
A2: It's probably important to avoid credentialing the trivial if we're going to make it meaningful. I think @thenerdyteacher hits on a powerful opportunity with badging engagement with the community like through community service #badgechat
A3: As universities look beyond grades, badges from civically minded organizations could help highlight the great work students do outside of school. It would cut back on the number of artificially inflated resumes. #badgechat
A3: The issuers can (should?) be as varied as the utility variance. Hard to envision a single centralized issuer, but perhaps a single regulation body that sets some basic ground rules (i.e. an FCC for dig badge). #badgechat
A4: I highly recommend @alfiekohn 's book, "Punished by rewards" for an introduction into the dangers surrounding the use of external rewards. It is a great perspective to have in mind while designing badging programs. #badgechat
A4: With any badging system, it’s the reputation of the issuing agency that matters most. Are people actually doing work to earn badges or is it a pay to badge system. #badgechat
A3- I am wonderingif it could be a group effort. My co-teacher and I are wanting to start badges in our classes possibly. Could they be monitored by the community member and teachers that put them together? Any ideas on this would be appreciated!#BadgeChat
Yes! We're already seeing movement related to this in things like the Extended Transcript (such as https://t.co/oep88W6nP2) and the verifiability through evidence "baked" into Badges goes a long way to correcting the problems of those "artificially inflated resumes" #badgechat
Yes! Who is best positioned to understand what is required to be successful? And what is the definition of success? Only once that is established should we pick a gatekeeper #BadgeChat
A3: Piggybacking on @badgrTeam and @thenerdyteacher points about credentialing teachers, Schools/Districts/Unions could be issuers and one value could be in identifying who their leaders are #badgechat
A4: Though he couldn't be here tonight, @donpresant raised concern about Earners gaming the system. Will some chase Civic Engagement Badges for reasons other than because being involved is the right thing to do? #badgechat
A4- I think we need to make them worthwhile for all involved. I think that they should show real authentic work. I don’t think that they should be an unnecessary process of fake work just to get a badge. I feel that’s when you will lose interest. #BadgeChat
Absolutely...I see so many correlations with the current #ICO boom in the #Blockchain world. It’s a land-grab in which reputation is vital. There will be the inevitable scams...which is why having the conversation NOW matters. #badgechat
Great chat everyone! Huge thanks to the regulars and BIG props to all of the first time folks who joined. And to the lurkers clicking like and following along, we value you and your own form of active engagement! #badgechat
Such an important point!!! Having a great answer to the person who asks, "Why should I care?" is the number 1 most important design consideration we have! #badgechat
I also think that's a tricky path because on one hand I've read that's how so many are motivated is through gamification but I also feel it should be for intrinsic reasons #Badgechat
Such an important point. I think it is essential that these types of badges be designed to emphasize the actual experience of getting involved is the reward, not the badge. #badgechat
Thank you for the learning during #badgechat Please join us this Sat., 2/24 for the #EduGoalsMOOC chat on Student Motivation with experts @SenorG@iamDrWill 4pmUTC/11amET/8amPT
I think every static system is open to gaming. Think pitcher-catcher. Too many hits? Raise the mound. Too few homeruns? Lower it. Build for the tension. #BadgeChat
I agree philosophically. I'm also in favor of opportunities that can be opened up due to Badge earning, such as our colleague who suggested that earning credentials for equipment in the Makerspace expands what a member is permitted to do in the space #badgechat
They will allow individuals or organizations who issue badges to add endorsements by other parties to add to their credibility and trustworthiness across different communities. Link to the new Open Badges Specification Endorsement description: https://t.co/TKXASm3btg#badgechat
