The slides shared above were part of a presentation for ALT NE (the North East regional group of Association for Learning Technology). I add them to this post as they provide some useful resources for those who wish to know more about open badges. A recording of the presentation done by Deb Baff and myself is also available on my You Tube channel.
For the AULC conference Mirjam and I will share how we used open badges in a language learning context. Knowing AULC as I do, I am sure there will be those who would like to try out the technology and the point of this post is to support you in doing just that. Go for it!
Collect a badge.
We have all managed against all the odds to do all we can to protect each other from a global pandemic. Now you can get recognition for playing your part in making the world a safer place.
In the slides above, at slide number 12 you can scan a QR code on your phone and pick up a Socially Distanced badge. Or you can simply go here to claim it.
You can display your badge using a free Open Badge Passport account. Just make sure that you have your email address/es in your profile and then follow these instructions to share on your website, social media accounts or make a page for curating your badges. There's more on this You Tube tutorial made for the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures.
Design a badge.
If you are thinking of creating badges for issue to your students there are many things to consider. These are summarised in an article I've written on Innovative Pedagogy published this month.
Of course you can do your thinking using traditional technologies such as paper and pens but I couldn't resist sharing a badge planning tool with you thanks to Bryan Mathers and his Fabulous Remixer Machine. The Badge Bloom was useful when communicating our badge ecosystem for Erasmus Plus Virtual Exchange. You can see our badge bloom here.
I have set up a private gallery where you can share your badge ideas with each other and get inspired. The most useful part of engaging with badges is the conversations we have together about what we value in our teaching and learning. To create your own remix just click on the example given and change the text and colours to your heart's delight. Save your creation as a new remix on the gallery. You can comment on those of others and share your ideas on social media.
Let's embrace the affordances of the internet as creators and not merely consumers.
