Exploring the potential of badging: Badges = engagement + data

Badges = Engagement + DataExploring the Potential of Badging

Kelvin Thompson, Ed.DUniversity of Central Florida

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

#FDLAconf13 #badgify@kthompso

A BADGING STORY IN 8 TWEETS

WHAT ARE BADGES?

Badges Are…

“visual representations of 21st century skills and achievements”- Open Badges Initiative of the Mozilla Foundationhttps://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges/About

Badges Are…

“a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in [diverse] learning environments”- Macarthur Foundation on behalf of Digital Media + Learning Digital Badges for Life Competitionhttp://www.macfound.org/media/files/BadgesforLifelongLearning_Info.pdf

WHAT CAN I READ?

http://bit.ly/CT_badges

http://bit.ly/7things_badges

WHO IS BADGING?

https://play.rit.edu

http://bit.ly/shu_badges

http://bit.ly/eli_badges

HOW CAN I BADGE?Badging Platforms

http://openbadges.org

http://bit.ly/purdue_badges

https://credly.com

STUDENT ENGAGEMENTBadging = Engagement + Data

Student Engagement

…two critical features…

The first is the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and other educationally purposeful activities. The second is how the institution deploys its resources and organizes the curriculum and other learning opportunities to get students to participate in activities that decades of research studies show are linked to student learning.

National Survey of Student

Engagement web site

http://nsse.iub.edu

http://bit.ly/QrbLuF

Student Engagement

… such activities as student-faculty interaction, peer-to-peer collaboration, and active learning…

Chen, Gonyea, and Kuh (2008)

http://bit.ly/MyZZv1

DATABadging = Engagement + Data

BADGING = ENGAGEMENT + DATA

CASE STUDY: UCF’S INFO LIT MODSAn Institution-Scale Pilot

UCF’s InfoLitMods

Subject Information Literacy

Type Academic-supporting

Level Undergrad & grad

Size Institutional scale

Badge Source Graphic designer

Badge Platform UCF Middleware + Credly

Focus Competencies

Grades/Badges Badges… (but)

List/Easter Eggs Badge list

Viewable By Self or Public

Status Underway

http://infolit.ucf.edu

• 13,840 assessment completions by

• 4,433 students in

• 422 course sections taught or led by

• 94 faculty members who created

• 430 instances of

• 4 information literacy modules with an average score of

• 85.30% across all modules' summative assessments.

InfoLitMods Year One (2008-2009)

• 38,423 assessment completions by

• 8,082 students in

• 159 unique courses taught or led by

• 160 faculty members who created

• 1275 instances of

• 13 information literacy modules with an average score of

• 85.19% across all modules' summative assessments.

InfoLitMods Year Four (2011-2012)

How Does It Work?Structure of Pilot Project

http://credly.com

CDL Developers

Support

So How’s It Going?Initial Findings (as of 9/3/2013)

Initial Data

4082 - assessments that should have delivered a badge

4062 - badges sent via institutional email addresses

2154 - individual students who’ve earned badges

14 - students earning badges from non-assigned mods

4 (1 student) - Number of badges claimed via Credly

Badging @ UCF Next Steps

• InfoLitMods

– Earners driven by assignment (currently)

– Watching for student-driven uptick later

– Troubleshoot module-to-middleware process

• Phase II: “Gold Seal” Badges for FacDev

• Beyond: Multiple conversations re: badging

BADGING = ENGAGEMENT + DATA

CASE STUDY: BLENDKIT2012

BlendKit2012

Subject Blended learning

Type Professional Development

Level

Size 1230 enrolled

Badge Source Graphic designer

Badge Platform Developer + Mozilla Framework

Focus Competencies

Grades/Badges Badges only

List/Easter Eggs Badge list

Viewable By Self

Status Complete

BlendKit2011

• Open readings, document templates, how-tos

+• Five weeks of facilitation:

– Weekly encouraging messages

– Weekly 30 min. webinars featuring guest blended learning instructors & discussion with others

– Weekly reading/activity reflection prompts for blogging (more interaction with others).

– Social networking opportunities for more interaction

• Participants choose with which of these to engage!

BlendKit2012 Modifications

• an LMS-based communications hub for registered participants

• three participant roles for registrants:

1) completer, 2) participant, and 3) auditor

• online badges for completion of course activities

• certificates for successful completers of BlendKit2012

• new guest faculty for weekly webinars

• additional faculty case study audio interviews

BlendKit2012 Badges Data

• Participants may be engaging with materials in isolation

• Badges based upon evidence• Individual engagement more evident• Example

Reading Reaction on public blog (fewer) v. entry on Reading Reaction Form (more)Paragraphs of personal reflection made evident!

BlendKit Next Steps

• Build upon successes (yes, we had some!)

• Use UCF middleware + Credly• Consider streamlining/automating without

sacrificing rich qualitative data• Integrate with LMS (Instructure Canvas)

grade book

BADGING = ENGAGEMENT + DATA

CASE STUDY: EME5050

EME5050

Subject Ed Tech

Type Academic

Level Grad

Size 25

Badge Source Purdue Passport

Badge Platform Credly

Focus 2nd level Competencies

Grades/Badges Grades + Badges

List/Easter Eggs Easter Eggs

Viewable By Class

Status 2nd Iteration Underway

Full Text at: http://bit.ly/badge_intro

EME5050 Next Steps

• Evaluate current design/modify• Maintain student notifications• Maintain badge leaderboard• Consider re-making more attractive

badges• Study perceived value-add for students

BADGING = ENGAGEMENT + DATA

Badging Lessons Learned

Clear criteria (announced or not)

Visible evidence

Verification

Badge

Badging Observations

• Each stakeholder determines value

o Issuer, Earner, “Observer,” (Displayer)

• Potential value in each phase of badging:

o Underlying data/record

o Notification email

o Claiming (“Save and Share”)

o Making public

o Linking to specific badges

Unanswered Questions to Ponder

• Why do badges appeal to some but not others?• Does badging really engage the unengaged?• What is the right balance of automation and

personal attention for course badging?• What is the relationship between badges and

formal credentials?• What is the right balance of curricular and co-

curricular badging at an institution?

Questions/Comments

Contact

Dr. Kelvin Thompson

kelvin@ucf.edu

@kthompsohttp://bit.ly/kelvin_info

http://bit.ly/fdla13slides_thompson