Introduction
Digital badges have emerged as an innovative way of recognising and acknowledging learners’ achievements and skills in higher education. Learners earn badges by completing specific tasks or demonstrating a particular skill set. They offer a flexible and accessible way to recognize non-formal and informal learning, thus complementing traditional academic qualifications.
This guide aims to establish good practices when using digital badges at the University of Southampton. It sets out guidelines for designing accessible and meaningful digital badges and outlines the processes for awarding and managing them.
Designing meaningful and accessible badges
Digital badges need to be meaningful and valuable to learners.
- Badges should align with the defined learning outcomes.
- Badges should represent a significant achievement or skill acquisition [1].
- Awarding criteria should be clear and jargon-free.
- Badges should have a clear connection to learners’ academic or career goals.
- Attendance at an event or series of compulsory events should not be used as awarding criteria.
Digital badges should be designed to be accessible to and inclusive of all users, including those with disabilities.
- Use clear and easy-to-read text for badge descriptions, including alt text for images.
- Use appropriate colour contrast to ensure legibility.
- Avoid flashing or rapidly changing images or animations that may cause seizures.
- Make sure the badges are designed to be scalable so that they can be easily viewed on different devices.
Awarding and managing badges
Digital badges should be awarded and managed in a transparent and consistent manner:
- The criteria for earning badges should be clearly communicated to learners.
- The process for earning badges should be fair and consistent across all learners.
- Badges should be awarded in a timely manner. [2]
- Badges should be stored in a secure and accessible digital repository, and learners should have ongoing access to their badges.
- Badges will be periodically reviewed by digital learning to ensure awarding criteria appropriately recognises learners’ achievements and skills.
Impact on credit bearing courses
Badges are not equivalent to academic credit. Badges are not a substitute for traditional academic qualifications, certifications, or accreditation. Instead, they offer a complementary way to recognise and acknowledge learners’ achievements and skills in non-formal and informal learning contexts.
Recognising developed skills with digital badges during a credit bearing module is effective. Learners can share their badges with potential employers. This may be particularly relevant for if a student does not complete their programme or aims to work in a skill oriented industry.
Digital badge metadata
Every digital badge granted by the University shall encompass the badge image and the accompanying metadata. The metadata elements include:
- Badge name
- Badge description
- Recipient email address
- Awarding criteria for badges
- Issue date
- Expiration date (optional)
Each digital badge issued at the University must consist of badge iconography image along with the specific metadata associated with the badge. This metadata is key to raising the perceived value of the digital badge.
Impact on learners’ privacy and data
When designing badges, it is imperative to avoid using personally identifiable information (PII), such as learners’ ID numbers, or other sensitive data. Ensure badges are designed using non-identifiable information to protect learners’ privacy.
Digital badges should be designed to include only the necessary information, such as the name of the badge recipient, name of the achievement or skill and the date it was earned, without revealing any additional personal information. This information should be entered into the appropriate fields so that badge recipients can control what is visible when choosing to share a badge. Using Canvas Badges, our recommended badging platform, provides learners with the option to control their badge privacy settings and allows recipients and awarders to revoke access to their badges if necessary.
Use with existing systems
To effectively use digital badges in higher education, integrations with existing learning management systems and platforms should be considered. This can facilitate the seamless integration of digital badges into the learning experience and enable learners to easily access and share their badges and limit the expenditure for faculty staff. For example, digital badges can be integrated into platforms such as LinkedIn and other social media sites, Blackboard, or other similar platforms to enable learners a space for sharing their badges.
Revocation or withdrawal of digital badges
The University reserves the right to withdraw a digital badge from the digital badge program. In the event of a program of badges being withdrawn, previously issued badges will remain, while no further badges will be issued under that category or name.
The University may revoke a digital badge if it was mistakenly issued to an individual, or if the recipient did not evidence the assessed knowledge, skill, or experience.
Summary
Following these guidelines enables digital badges that are accessible and meaningful to learners, and awarded and managed in a transparent and consistent manner. The use of digital badges in higher education offers a flexible and sustainable way to recognise learners’ achievements and skills, complementing traditional academic qualifications and accreditations.
Appendix
[1] Examples of what is appropriate for awarding digital badges
- Achievement – badges acknowledge that knowledge has been developed and can be demonstrated either with a showcase of a skill or a micro-credential.
- Personal development – badges recognise a recipient has undertaken development to learn develop or maintain a skill, professional development courses and extracurricular courses are good examples of this.
- Extra-curricular experiences – badges are awarded to users that show they have invested time and resources to being engaged with extra-curricular experiences such as mentoring, volunteering and supporting these experiences.
- Milestone – badges recognise the achievement of a significant milestone within a user’s journey of skill/knowledge acquisition.
[2] Defining a timeline for awarding digital badges
- Awarding badges as close as possible to the fulfilling of the criteria is best practice.
- Badges awarded for an achievement, personal development, and extracurricular experiences it is appropriate that the badge is awarded no later than one month since the evidence of the achievement.
- Badges that are awarded for progress tracking should be awarded before users progress to the next milestone.