“It’s a very hot topic and I think people are really trying to think about how to make badges relevant for a learner,” said Jessica Finnefrock, senior vice president for product development at Blackboard. “It’s the right time to experiment with it.”
That experiment involves allowing educators to grant badges to students who accomplish certain achievements, whether it’s a singular activity like completing an assignment, or the mastery of an entire concept or course.
With Open Badges, the students can then take those badges anywhere, displaying them online through social media profiles like LinkedIn.
Students can pick and choose which badges they want to display to potential employers, and which they want to just use to denote personal progress.
This fall, Blackboard and Mozilla will offer a six-week MOOC exploring the concept of digital badges, and how they can act as a bridge between higher education and the workplace.
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