Digital Badges - Part 1 of 3. Setting up Digital Badges.

This post is intended to be the first of three posts about Digital Badges. 
Part 1 is the 'How' Part 2 the 'Why' and Part 3 the 'Outcomes'. I am writing the 'How' before the 'Why' as I am still grappling with an idea - "Do Digital Badges led to extrinsic motivation and fixed mindsets'? (would love anyone's opinion on this)....

Digital Badges are 'Brownie Badges for your Blog'. They could be for any achievement; from completing Triathlons to Learning a musical instrument. Here is my recommended process of how students can earn these badges.

1) Explain the concept of Digital Badges to your students (maybe bring a Girl Guide/Brownie/Scout uniform to show 'old school badges') Have students brainstorm a list of what badges could be awarded for. This list does not have to be definitive. I had 3 criteria for my students;

1. It has to be an achievement that is accessible to anyone i.e. winning a musical scholarship for 10 year old is accessible to all 10 year olds as any 10 year old could apply. Riding the tallest rollers coaster at Disneyland is an achievement - but not everyone has the opportunity to do this.
2. It has to be able to be self-managed by students. By this I mean students need to be able to know if they have achieved this, so a 'kindest person in the class award' is not appropriate as it would require others (teacher) to determine. Having 20 'gems' in your writing book can be self managed though, as the teacher indicates these in their feedback and students can count them.
3. It has to be measurable. 'Being good at cricket' is not measurable. 'Being in a Rep Team for cricket' is.

2) Have student make badges. I used www.openbadges.me as it works with our students iPads and Chromebooks and is pretty easy. You could also use Google Drawing or Paper and Pen (then take a photo). You only want one student making each badge, so have students write their name or cross out ideas as they begin to create their badge.

3) Store badges in a shared location or have students share badges with you. This is where my method splits into 3 methods.. 

Method 1 (quick and easy) is to have all the badges stored in one Google Drive folder that is shared with all students. 
Method 2 (requires some work from the teacher - but may be essential) Is to have all the badges, along with a description of how to achieve them, on a Class Website/Blog.
If you are all about quick and easy jump down to Step 5!

Method 3 (slower, but with more transparency) is to have students share the badges with you, then....

4) Create a Google Form for each badge. See the form example below. The main purpose for having a form is so a teacher can look at the 'Google spreadsheet' that the form automatically creates and quickly see students that have been awarded badges. The Google Form collects students login name, adding extra transparency to the process. Overall, I feel that the form makes students take more responsibility than simply having a folder they can access and download badges from - but really depends on the students as to what method to use!

Forms would then need to be embedded or linked from a central location (your class blog/website) for students to see what badges are available.
Here is a link to a live form to see how they look.

5) Let students Save the badges and upload to their Blog. At any time, students can go to the shared folder or Blog/Website that hosts the 'Badge Forms' or 'Badge Images and descriptions' and save/copybadges. They will then need to upload/paste the Badge Image into a Blog Post or Digital Portfolio.

My expectation is that some reflection needs to be included when students post their badges to their own blog. e.g. "Here is my Eco-Warrior badge for being part of the Eco-Warrior team in 2015. I am proud to be in this team as a lot of students wanted to be in it. I am also proud because I think the work we do is really important, like composting and recycling".