“Digital badges are a credible means through which learners can establish portfolios and articulate knowledge and skills both in academic and professional settings.”  (Muilenburg & Berge, 2016)

I just completed the blog critique and multimedia assignment. The following link is my video on this assignment: https://youtu.be/GlAIGCshn-0?si=Iu-ybq0NMl7_oL_l

It was my first attempt to research and utilize the digital badges. I read journals and blogs to get more knowledge about this tool to gamify online learning environments. A digital badge is a visual award system for learners to foster the motivation of online learners, recognize the online learners' achievement, and establish credibility. Digital badges have the same functions as when we award small prizes to reward our learners in the class because of their achievements or when we implement games in our face-to-face class to motivate our learners. Interestingly, there is metadata or information attached to the digital badge to verify the information about the skills or courses that learners achieved to earn the badge.

I learned a few digital badge tools e.g., Canvas Badges, Accredible, and Certifier, to create the badge graphics, attach the metadata, issue the badge to the learner, and find the strategy to integrate digital badges into the Canvas learning management system. Badge graphics can be created by using digital badge tools or other tools such as Canva, PowerPoint, or Adobe. Surprisingly, many free badge graphics on the internet can be used.

Canvas Badges, Accredible, and Certifier have a free account that I can use to create badge graphics, attach the metadata, and issue the badge to my learners.  All the tools are very easy to use and user-friendly. There is no limited number of how many badges you can issue for your learners except Accredible. You can issue up to 20 credentials either badge or certificate for Accredible. 

Unfortunately, I cannot integrate the digital badge tools into the learning management system e.g., Canvas. You must have a paid subscription. I found an alternative on how to use this gamification strategy without integrating the digital badge into our online course by creating a “hidden” module with release conditions (learners must complete the module or pass a quiz to release the badge module. The badge module contains a page with a message about the badge that the learners earn. However, the weakness of using this strategy is the instructors have to monitor the course to regularly check the learners who meet the release conditions so that instructors can issue the badge through the selected digital badge platform.

Surprisingly, I discovered that my institution’s LMS, D2L Blackboard, has an “AWARDS” feature under Assessments where we can directly create and issue digital badges and/or certificates to our courses. You can create the badge graphic, assign the metadata associated with the badge, and release conditions for learners to earn this badge. However, my institution only allows the learners who earned the digital badges to share their badges internally e.g., their profile or e-portfolio. Unfortunately, I was not able to show this “AWARDS” feature in my video due to privacy/proprietary information.

In general, I would apply digital badges to my online courses as one of the strategies to motivate and engage my online learners in their learning. I believe that my online learners will be happy when they earn digital badges and the fact that they can share their badges on their professional and/or social networks e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.