A digital badge is a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest that can be earned in many learning environments.
Open digital badges make it easy for anyone to issue, earn, and display badges across the web—through an infrastructure that uses shared and open technical standards.
How cool it is to award kids for their little achievements every time they do something good. Doing so not only helps them stay motivated but also is a great way for educators to help kids do well in every aspect. For teachers, badges make classroom goals visible to students. Badges show the criteria that students must meet to earn them. This helps motivate students, because they are able to see what they need to do to reach a goal or master a skill. And yes! That smile is always a bonus on kids’ faces!
The following pointers will help you understand more about why you should be using digital badges with kids in your classroom:
– Recognition for the Achievements
Badges show accomplishment by the kids in their classroom. The little achievement kids make means a lot to them and getting acknowledged for them is something that will bright up them. This will help them come up and do better every time they begin something.
– Encourage Group Work
Digital badges are a good way to help your kids learn about the collaboration. Educators can give different group activities to bunch of kids and help them complete those activities by giving them a goal to get another badge to their collection.
– Reflects Growth
The collection of badges is a reflection of growth and how well the badge holder has stand out from the rest. This uniqueness of having a badge helps students aim higher and do better in their tasks/skills.
– Self Motivation
Badges motivate kids to be better, so better and come out as a better version each and every time.
– Grades are Not Everything
Badges allow recognition beyond class assignments, such as turning work in on time, or even volunteering or checking a book from the public library.
– Showcasing Skill
Badges show that students have specific knowledge and skills that might not be evident on transcripts or report cards. It helps them to polish their skills and incline them to learn and explore new and more things.
Check out the following Resources for Badges in the Classroom to have a hint of the same:
For All Badges is an iOS app, when integrated with Mozilla’s Open Badges platform, and allows students to save badges to their “backpack.”
Edmodo is a full, social learning platform with over 35 million users. With so many teachers and students already on board, it is worth mentioning that badges are integrated into this platform. After logging in to your Edmodo dashboard, go to the top toolbar>progress>student badges to check it out.
Class Badges is one of the more popular badging platforms. Class Badges allow the teacher to easily award badges aligned with learning goals. The video below is a great introduction to get you started.
What are your views on the use of digital badges with kids in the classroom? Share with us in the comment section below.
