ED 653 Instructional Design

badges support capturing and communicating learning paths, signaling achievement, motivating learning, and driving innovation and flexibility, as well as building identity, reputation, and kinship. Thus, badges can provide a way to translate all types of learning into a powerful tool for getting jobs, finding communities of practice, demonstrating skills, and seeking out further learning.

Halavais, Alexander M. C. "A Genealogy of Badges: Inherited Meaning and Monstrous Moral Hybrids." Information, Communication, and Society 15, no. 3 (2012): 354-373.