PROMISE
AND POTENTIAL: Digital Badge Systems Are Promising Learning Tools for
Effectively Demonstrating Students’ College- and Career-Ready Skills, New Alliance
Report Finds.
Amos,
Jason. (November 4, 2014). Vol. 14 No. 19. Digital Badge System: The Promise and
Potential is available at http://all4ed.org/reports-factsheets/DigitalBadgeSystems/.
This
article addresses the use of digital badge system for students in secondary and
higher education programs. Students can
earn a badge to show completion or mastery of certain skills. Amos cited (2014), “…the set of badges earned
by any given individual can reflect the interests and experiences that make the
student unique,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent
Education and former governor of West Virginia.
According
to this article, digital badge systems are becoming popular and drawing a lot of
interest from different educational programs because they show accomplishments
by students. “Emerging systems of digital badges enrich course curriculum for
students in both formal and out-of-school environments leaving them with
valuable learning experience that greatly support their capabilities in post secondary education and the workforce,” cited by Amos. This article suggests more schools should
adopt the digital badge system to help improve career-ready skills.
The
Badge system reminds me of badges earned the Boy and Girl Scout Troops. I can remember my daughters earning their first
Brownie badge and each badge earned was such an achievement for them. My brothers were Boy Scouts and I can
remember my Mom sewing their badges on their shirts.
One
of the senior greeters at a store has badge pins covering her apron that
signifies the years of service she has with that company. I like the badge system and think that it
would be appropriate for the developmental math students that I teach to show
mastery of each DMA module.
Great article to share Barbara! I really like the Badge System as a way to show achievement and success in higher/post-secondary education. The first thing to come to mind when I began reading was Girl Scout badges too! Whenever I received one when I was in girl scouts, I was so proud and just wanted to show it off to everyone. I'm sure it would be the same way with these badges in higher education.
ReplyDeleteI also like your article Barb! I am very familiar with kids earning badges when play videos on PlayStation or Xbox. Kids will try to earn the highest score or beat the game in order to earn badges. Maybe digital badges can help kids stay motivated when it comes to school work.
ReplyDelete