Christine Horgan

Hi Jeffrey:

A very short rope, Jeffrey, and not one likely to do you much harm . . . but your comments got me to thinking . . .

PSE qualifications are noted on resumes (and places like Linked In), and that's acceptable/expected.. . so why not badges?

So . . . where do we think digital badges will settle? if, as I hope, they become an alternative credential to PSE/apprenticeship credentials, then some sort of external listing of those credentials becomes important.

At the risk now of transferring that rope to my own neck, Jeffrey, those of us who work in PSE run the risk of only thinking about PSE qualifications. I've forgotten the percentage of high school students in Alberta, Canada, who go on to PSE, but it is alarmingly low. . . so the biggest users of digital badges might not be those with degrees/journeyman qualifications.

Wherever digital badges settle, I do want them to be meaningful and useful.

Cheers, Chris

Verena: I'm at SAIT. Where are you located, Verena?  Yes,it'd be nice to hook up with like-minded folks in Calgary. Cheers, Chris

Ah, Peter:

 I feel that I am about to fail this second part of badge earning -- unless there are marks for effort. (I hear shades of "Could try harder" that was often attached to my elementary school report cards :( )

3. Digital and internet technologies: Not a clue. As a mostly non-technie person, I haven't a clue how/where/in what badges should be created. I do know, however, that whatever the how/where/in what is, it absolutely has to be idiot-proof for the user and idiot-proof for whoever needs to check out the badge.

4. Technologies used to attach a badge: how about something that I "own" and control --similar concept to my Linked In page or an e-portfolio--where I can house all my badges regardless of where they were earned.

As for revoking badges, good grief, does that mean my hard-earned M.Ed. could be revoked when I retire? A badge earned is a badge earned regardless of time.

Cheers, Chris

Peter:

As a Brownie, I earned only a couple of badges for stupid things like sewing on a button, and they were sewn onto my uniform sleeves. BTW, button sewing was a useful skill.

Would rosettes (ribbons for those in North America) for equestrian activities count as badges? I think they do. They are a very visible and universally-recognized badge of achievement in the equestrian world (regardless of one's discipline). My most recent rosettes get displayed in my dining room  and are then retired to a drawer when the next crop of ribbons/rosettes arrive.

Cheers, Chris

Peter: For me (at my current level or ignorance), I'd say having some way to capture the processes attached to earning the badge is important. If, for example, I were hiring someone and the badges were part of his/her professional development activities, how could I place a value/worth on the learning? We have formal/informal forumulas for attaching a value to various types of PSE qualifications . . . perhaps we need some way to judge the value of badges. How? right now, not a clue . . . over to those with more experience. Cheers, Chris