Using badges to motivate and engage studentsPernille Stenkil Hansen and Inger-Marie F. Christensen, University of Southern Denmark

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Welcome

• Let’s get to know each other

• Kick-off poll

Image from colourbox.com

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Agenda

09.30 Welcome

09.45 What are badges and why use them in HE?

10.00 Ways of integrating badges into courses and study programmes

10.25 Showcase and discuss best practice

10.45 Break

11.00 Designing and issuing badges in Bb Learn

11.30 Design exercise: design your own badge and badge activity

11.50 Implementing badges: What potentials and challenges do you see?

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What are badges?

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Open-Micro-Credentials by Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem

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Credentialing

”Another interesting aspect of badges is the potential to signal finer-grained skills, knowledge or dispositions”.

”Rather than guessing a person’s skills from a single credential, stakeholders can gather a nuanced picture of a person’s skills through a collection of smaller credentials”.

(Ahn et al. 2014)

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Open badges are…

• Free and open

• Transferable

• Stackable

• Evidence-based

Open badges make it easy to:

• Get/give recognition for the things you learn/teach

• Verify skills and display your verified badges across the web

(https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges)

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Digital badges in HE – 3 perspectives

Badges as credential

Badges as motivator

Badges as a pedagogical

tool

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Why use badges in HE?

”An inherent assumption from the gamification perspective is that an external indicator, such as a badge, can act as a motivator to encourage individuals to participate, act or pursue tasks”

“In systems where badges are visible to the learner they can serve as a way to visualize the learning path of content and activities.”

(Ahn et al. 2014)

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Ways of integrating badges into courses and study programmes• Main purpose: motivation and engagement

• Awarding badges– as a pass – signposting main learning path– for the acquisition of study skills and academic skills

• signposting important “general” skills– that acknowledge level of performance

• bronze, silver, gold– for extra credit:

• platinum badge for submitting all assignments and/or doing extra work– for extracurricular work – acknowledging informal learning

• NOTE: avoid side-tracking students from main learning goals by offering badges for efforts that lead in another/irrelevant direction

Teaching for Tomorrow: Module badges

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Exit survey on the Teaching for Tomorrow course• Link to electronic questionnaire sent via e-mail

• Exit survey sent to 54 participants (initially enrolled)

• 50 % completed the survey fully = 27 participants

• 11 % gave some answers = 6 participants

Badges awarded

• Module 1: 44

• Module 2: 36

• Module 3: 30

• Module 4: 28

• Module 5: 24

• Module 6: 23

To what degree did you experience the badge assignments as a suitable way of assessing your learning?

• All (27 informants)

• Completed (14)

• Intend to complete (10)

Low/somewhat low degree = 11 %

High or some degree = 63 %

To what degree did the badge assignments help you reflect on your learning?

• All (27 informants)

• Completed (14)

• Intend to complete (10)

Low/somewhat low degree = 22 %

High or some degree = 63 %

To what degree did receiving a badge motivate you to complete the modules of the course?

• All (27 informants)

• Completed (14)

• Intend to complete (10)

Low/somewhat low degree = 30 %

High or some degree = 59 %

Accreditation of informal learning

• Badges received on the MOOC Open education offered by Open University, UK

• Signposting most significant activities

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges

Carpe Diem MOOC • Offered by Gilly Salmon, Swinbourne University of Technology

• CourseSites badges

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Let’s talk about badges in HE

• Enroll in CourseSites course

• Go to CourseSites: http://bit.ly/badgesBBTLC2016

• Password: badge2016

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Showcase and discuss best practice 1. Turn to your neighbour(s): Share and discuss best practice of

using badges to motivate and engage students (10 minutes)

2. Go to CourseSites>Badge Assignment>Badge 1: Showcase and discuss best practice

3. Individual work: Upload a short description of your examples in the blog(10 minutes)

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Time for a break…

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Designing and issuing badges

• Designing badges • The Badge ecosystem

• Open badge anatomy

• Setting up badges in Bb Learn

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A badge is more than a picture…..

Open Badges Anatomy (Undated) by Kyle BrownCC-BY-SA

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An example of a design

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Where to start? Develop a concept

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Setting up badges in Bb Learn

1. Set up the badge activity– assignment, quiz, blog, column in Grade Center, text/video for review

2. Create folder for certificate(s)

3. Go to Course Tools / Achievements to create badge and trigger(s)

4. Provide students with clear instructions

5. Students engage with the activity

6. The badge is released automatically or after teacher has graded/given feedback

7. Badges can be published to Mozilla Open Backpack

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1. Set up the badge activity

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2. Set up certificate folder

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Certificates

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3. Create badge and trigger(s)

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Select achievement type

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Name the achievement

• Choose folder for certificate• Decide: visible to students before receiving?• Type in description: Badge awarded for… /

learning goals achieved!

Define triggers – set up one or more rules/criteria

Attempt activity = badge released

Badge released according to score achieved

Badge released when student has reviewed item

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Select reward – create badge

• Type in issuer

• Set expiration date if required

• Choose image from catalogue or

• Browse to upload own image

• Decide: Publish to Mozilla?

• Save and exit

• You have created your first badge

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Design exercise: Design your own badge and badge activity

1. Individual work: design your own badge and badge activity (10 minutes) – use the template provided.– In what context would you use badges?– What do students need to do to earn the badge (criteria and

activity)?– How can you create a relevant visual identity – badge image?

2. Go to CourseSites>Badge Assignment>Badge 2:Design your own badge and badge activity.

3. Individual work: take a picture of yourcompleted template and upload it to the blog(5 minutes).

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Implementing badges: What potentials and challenges do you see?

1. In groups, discuss the implementation of badges: What potentials and challenges do you see?(10 minutes)

2. Go to CourseSites>Badge Assignment>Badge 3: Implementing badges – discuss potentials and challenges

3. Individual work: Upload a summaryof your discussion in the blog(5 minutes)

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Evaluation of today’s workshop

• Exit poll

• Questions

• Thank you forparticipating

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References

• Abramovich, S. (2016). Understanding digital badges in higher education through assessment. In: On the Horizon, Vol. 24 Iss 1 pp. 126 - 131

• Ahn, J.; Pellicone, A. and Butler, B. S. (2014). Open badges for education: what are the implications at the intersection of open systems and badging? In: Research in Learning Technology. Vol. 22.

• Hurst, E. J. (2015). Digital Badges: Beyond Learning Incentives. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 12:3, 182-189.

• MacArthur Foundation (undated). Badges for lifelong learning. https://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/BADGESFORLIFELONGLEARNING_INFO.PDF (accessed March 29, 2016)

• Grant, S. L. (2014). What Counts As Learning: Open Digital Badges for New Opportunities. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. http://dmlhub.net/wp-content/uploads/files/WhatCountsAsLearning_Grant.pdf (accessed March 23, 2016)