Over the past few years,
postsecondary institutions have expanded their use of online learning. Originally conceived as a way to
extend credit courses and degree programs to off-campus students, online learning
is now also being used to articulate and deliver a wide range of noncredit
programs. This, in turn, has led
many online learning providers to adopt a new kind of credential—the “badge”—as
a way to reward students for successfully completing an online learning course
or series of courses. Badges can
serve many purposes, to be sure.
My goal in this posting is to suggest a couple of ideas about the use of
badges as a way to formally recognize completion or achievement.
First,
if the badge is to be a viable credential, it is important that the online
learning community come to agreement on what constitutes a “badge” in this
context. For many years,
continuing education units at our institutions have used an international
standard for recognizing noncredit learning: the Continuing Education Unit or CEU. The CEU is endorsed by
the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, which defines a CEU as follows : “One CEU equals ten contact hours of
participation in an organized CE/T experience, delivered under responsible
sponsorship, capable direction and qualified instruction.” The CEU is widely recognized and used by
institutions and a variety of professional societies. Institutions and other providers of online learning
badges can ensure acceptability of their credential by tying the badge to this
widely accepted measure of noncredit learning.
Second,
it is important that institutions that offer badges formally adopt this
credential and keep records of students who have earned them. It is essential that the institution
itself recognize the badge as a credential, so that potential employers,
professional societies, and others can confirm that the student has, indeed,
earned a badge at that institution.
We
are at a stage in the maturation of online learning where we need to
institutionalize innovations that have arisen around institutional experiments
with technology-delivered education.
The badge has evolved as a way to recognize online learning. Now, we ourselves must define and
recognize it so that it has lasting value to the student.
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