Digital Badges as an Open Passport for Learning

Abstract

Join Malcolm Brown, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative director, and Veronica Diaz, ELI associate director, as they moderate this webinar with Kyle Bowen. As we continue to reshape the form and method of instruction, it is increasingly important to recognize learning in all of its dimensions. Institutions have historically used "credit" as a blunt instrument to recognize course completion. Digital badges provide a new way to visually represent learning, achievements, skills, interests, or competencies that are linked to evidence of students' work. Purdue University recently launched Passport as a way to engage students and provide a new means of assessing learning. Instructors created online learning activities that are presented as a series of challenges. In a "choose your own adventure" style, students self-select how to complete each challenge. Instructors monitor student progress to help determine future instruction and use each step in the challenge completion process as a summative assessment. Using this type of flexible approach makes it possible to capture both formal (classroom) and informal learning experiences. As students are awarded badges, they can be presented as part of an online and mobile portfolio or published as a Mozilla Open Badge. This webinar will explore the key concepts and lessons learned around Purdue's badge initiative and future directions for the technology.