4.3. Open Digital Badges

The role of badges as competency credentials and as bridges from informal to formal learning increase the potential of open badges for changing teaching, learning and assessment processes. One potential for open badges is to award credentials for alternative forms of learning experiences acquired outside formal education settings. Hickey (2012a, para. 3) identifies three types of primary goals for using badges:

1. showing what somebody has done or might be able to do,
2. motivate individuals to learn or do and
3. transform or create learning systems.

Image Source: Bryan Mathers image collection 

Gibson et al. (2016, p. 16) outline three primary roles of Open Badges for supporting learning journeys in higher education:

1. bringing visibility and transparency to learning, teaching and assessment;
2. revealing meaningful, identifiable and detailed aspects of learning for all stakeholders;
3. providing a new mechanism to recognise skills, experience and knowledge through an open, transferable, stackable technology framework (Virkus, 2019).

Joseph (2012) presents six frameworks for examining digital badging for learners to explain why people align themselves with badges and what their goals are in using badges. The six frameworks include:   

1. badges as alternative assessment;
2. gamifying education with badges;  
3. badges as learning scaffolding;
4. badges to develop lifelong learning skills;
5. badges as digital media and learning driver, and
6. badges to democratise learning.

These are the main reasons for using Open Digital Badges as reflected in the literature (Virkus, 2019).